No Loaf Lost: New bakery surplus reduction guide launched

Unless a bakery never has a single leftover loaf, there is an opportunity for surplus reduction.

While more and more bakeries are finding ways of stopping their leftover loaves going to waste, the Real Bread Campaign was unable to find a guide dedicated to helping small bakeries reduce the surplus they create in the first place – so here it is.

The Real Bread Campaign is seeking media support to promote a feeding bellies not bins message to shoppers that a great bakery is one with empty, not full, shelves towards the end of the day.

Pick ‘n’ mix

No Loaf Lost includes insights from Real Bread bakery owners and food waste reduction experts.

The guide is divided into five sections:

• Reasons to slice surplus
• Identifying when, where and why surplus arises
• Ways to minimise mismatches between production and sales
• Involving and communicating with customers and staff
• What to do with any surplus that is still produced

Rather than a one-size-fits-all solution, it has been designed for each bakery owner to select the things that could work for her or his business.

Plan and pledge for action

The Real Bread Campaign encourages bakeries that download the guide to make the No Loaf Lost pledge to monitor their surplus, make and implement a reduction plan and publically promote this work.

The free (doughnation encouraged) No Loaf Lost guide is available to download from the Real Bread Campaign site.

Download the No Loaf Lost guide

Notes
Founded in November 2008, the Real Bread Campaign defines Real Bread as made without the use of processing aids or any other artificial additives. From this universally accessible starting point the Campaign works to find and share ways of making bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet.

The Campaign’s work championing the rise of Real Bread and challenging obstacles to it includes: the Together We Rise therapeutic and social baking initiative, lobbying for an Honest Crust Act to protect shoppers from incomplete and misleading labelling and marketing, the annual Real Bread Week (24 February – 4 March 2018) and Sourdough September awareness drives, The Real Bread Finder map and Real Bread Loaf Mark.

The Campaign’s network includes hundreds of bakeries and thousands more people who care about their daily loaf, with paid-up supporters in more than 20 countries.

Courtauld 2025
The Real Bread Campaign has created No Loaf Lost in its role as a Courtauld 2025 engagement partner. The Courtauld 2025 shared ambition is ‘to cut the resource needed to provide food and drink by a fifth in ten years’ from 2015 to 2025, which includes a 20% reduction in food and drink waste, a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas intensity and a reduction in impact associated with water use in the supply chain.’