Surplus food app throws a lifeline to artisan producers hit by Covid-19

The Cornish Cheese Co is teaming up with Too Good To Go, a business-to-consumer marketplace for surplus food, to open up a new route to market for cheeses that were destined for the bin due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cheese producers have been hit particularly hard by the closure of the hospitality sector and the cancellation of a huge number of events due to Covid-19. Many artisan producers are facing the prospect of discarding perfectly good short shelf-life cheese unless they can find a new route to market.

Through its app, Too Good To Go is able to prevent food waste by selling surplus produce directly to consumers. “Food waste was already a critical global issue. One third of all food produced is wasted, accounting for 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Covid-19 has only exacerbated the problem,” explains Too Good To Go co-founder Jamie Crummie.

“With the majority of the hospitality sector still closed, thousands of tonnes of food are sitting idle. Businesses like the Cornish Cheese Co are seeing their perfectly edible produce at high risk of going to waste.”

The Cornish Cheese Co had lost 90% of its business at the start of lockdown in March, and more than 10 tonnes of its Cornish Blue Cheese was at risk of being thrown out.

“We can’t stand by and watch this happen. By partnering with manufacturers and wholesalers we are able to prevent food waste further up the supply chain and ensure that their produce is enjoyed by consumers rather than going to waste,” Jamie says.

Too Good To Go is working with a number of wholesalers and producers to ensure edible food that would normally supply the hospitality industry finds its way to consumers and not the bin. For example, the company is working with Buckley & Beale to save artisan chocolate from going to waste, Capital Wholesalers in Scotland to sell blocks of butter and Bermondsey Mixer Co, who found themselves with too much gourmet tonic water.

Over the course of the next six weeks, users of the app will be able to purchase the Cornish Cheese Co’s Cornish Blue, with each order containing 1kg of award-winning blue cheese worth £24 on sale for £8.