We are proud of sending no unsold food to landfill, and of having achieved a 28% reduction in Iceland’s food surplus since our baseline year in 2017/18 – and we are constantly looking at new ways to improve food redistribution while also benefiting our customers.
We are therefore excited to have launched a new trial with our redistribution partner Olio that will further bear down on food waste in stores by giving customers the opportunity to buy a ‘magic bag’ of mystery reduced priced items at a set low price. Customers can reserve their bag online and then come to the store to buy it for £2 – with the assurance that the bag will contain items with a total value of around £10.
This concept is initially being trialled in five locations (Iceland stores in Chorley, Leyland, Tyldesley and Oxford Botley, plus The Food Warehouse in Oxford) with the aim of rolling it out more widely if it proves successful. On the first day of the trial we sold 23 bags across the five stores, receiving positive feedback from customers.
So far Olio have done one other successful trial of this system, with an average 87% of the bags being sold daily.
Customers who live close to any of the participating stores and want to get involved are encouraged to download the Olio app and keep a daily lookout for Iceland Magic Bags being posted.
Here is an example of the mystery bag one of our customers picked up last week
