Turning leftover bread into beer… (yes you did read that right!)

We take a look at how brands are increasingly looking to reduce food waste leading to NPD with a real social agenda at its heart.

Let’s face it, we’ve all done it – thrown away that end bit of bread that nobody wants or only used half a loaf – rejecting the remainder in favour of a newer and fresher one…

Allow me to introduce Toast – the craft beer brand on a mission to reduce food waste turning leftover bread from bakeries and manufacturers into ale! Genius indeed! An NPD idea with an interesting and unusual story, a social cause underpinning the brand strategy and if that wasn’t enough all the profits go to the charity Feedback who is seeking to end food waste.  As a consumer I’m eager to try this beer. I don’t even like beer but there is something amazing about a brand so committed to reducing food waste that I’m willing to give it a whirl.

And Toast isn’t the only brand recognising that increasingly consumers support brands that seek to reduce food waste with numerous NPD ideas hitting the shelves from some of Britain’s best loved brands. Hellman’s has recently launched a ketchup with both ‘green and red tomatoes’. Using the often rejected green tomatoes Hellman’s is taking on the ‘reduce waste’ mindset and offering a new product that for all we know might offer a new and more exciting taste than just regular red ketchup…

So what could be next? If bread can become beer who knows where categories could go next. But one thing is for sure, the desire to reduce food waste is here to stay and the more innovative and loud brands shout are about their efforts to do so, the more consumers will admire them.

So, as I ‘toast’ NPD ideas over a cold beer later tonight, I’ll try and come up with the next big idea to reduce food waste. Perhaps an ice-cream brand that uses out of date bananas or a bakery brand using leftover sweet potatoes for a brownie treat with an added health twist. Watch this space!