M&S has launched its ‘Surprise Bags’ in 354 stores
M&S shoppers can now pick up a cut-price bag of leftover bakery items for £3.80, as the high street giant expands its use of the Too Good To Go app. The retailer has rolled out “Surprise Bags” to 354 stores across Britain and Ireland, with each bag promising three or four bakery products worth at least £10.20.
It means anything from pastries and cookies to loaves and rolls that haven’t sold by the end of the day can be snapped up for a fraction of the usual price. The bags are ordered in the Too Good To Go app, with customers reserving and paying ahead of collection. M&S says collections will run Monday to Saturday, typically in the final hour before closing at participating stores.
The move is also another sign of how the platform has shifted from its early days, when it was more strongly linked with independent cafés, bakeries and small food businesses trying to avoid throwing away unsold stock.
Too Good To Go first arrived in Britain in 2016, and much of its early appeal centred on helping smaller operators find buyers for food that would otherwise be wasted. Since then, big brands have increasingly joined in, turning the app into a major marketplace for surplus food across supermarkets, coffee chains and restaurant groups.
Too Good To Go lists Aldi, Morrisons, Greggs, Starbucks, Pret, Burger King, YO! Sushi, Greene King, GAIL’s and Krispy Kreme among its partners. Its UK operation has previously said more than 40,000 businesses had signed up to sell surplus food in Britain, including Aldi, Greggs, Costa, Morrisons and EG Group. The company’s wider food-waste network also includes names such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, KFC, Nando’s, Domino’s, Caffè Nero, PizzaExpress and Harrods.
For shoppers, the appeal is straightforward: discounted food that might otherwise end up in the bin. For businesses, it can bring in some return on unsold items while encouraging customers through the doors at quieter times. Too Good To Go says its “Surprise Bag” system works by setting a collection time, with customers reserving and paying through the app.
The company was founded in Copenhagen in 2015 and launched in Britain in 2016. It says it now has 120million registered users and 180,000 active business partners worldwide.
M&S said the broader roll-out follows a trial in a smaller number of stores and forms part of its efforts to cut food waste. The retailer said it has already redistributed more than 57,000 tonnes of surplus food to charities, equivalent to more than 130million meals, and has set a target of halving food waste by 2030.
Lucinda Langton, head of sustainability at M&S Food, said: “Too Good To Go is a brilliant example of how we’re turning our commitment to reducing food waste into practical action. “By giving customers access to surprise bags of surplus bakery products, we can help ensure more of our food is enjoyed.”
Chelsea Kerr, managing director at Too Good To Go UK and Ireland, said the partnership would make it easier for more people to save food while getting “great value”.
Food waste remains a major issue in Britain, with around 10.7million tonnes of food estimated to be wasted each year, according to figures cited by M&S. And with more major chains signing up, the model continues to move well beyond its roots in local independents – becoming both a mainstream way to tackle waste and a popular route for households to cut everyday food bills.
