Why is this important?
Food waste prevention is one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. According to UN’s agenda, the amount of food wasted shall be reduced by half by 2030 (compared to 2014). However, prospects for preventing food waste are not too optimistic. Experts estimate that the probability of achieving this objective is lower than 25%.. They also stress that joint efforts are needed throughout the entire food-related value chain (i.e. at production, distribution and sales stages, as well as from consumers) in order to increase the chances of achieving satisfactory results. At the Żabka Group, we are well aware of the scale of this challenge and are actively seeking solutions that will enable us reduce food waste, both in our own operations and at franchisees, but also at the households of our customers and among our suppliers.
Our contribution
The convenience ecosystem created by the Żabka Group supports customers’ use of solutions that contribute to minimising food losses.
Combating food waste is one of the strategic commitments of the Żabka Group and a key issue for our stakeholders — over 80% of franchisees, employees and customers have identified it as the most important area of responsibility of our organisation. Nearly 90% of the items available at Żabka are intended for immediate consumption, meaning they conveniently satisfy our nutrition-related needs — hunger or thirst — and eliminate the need of stocking up on foodstuffs.
More than 15 million people live or work less than 500 meters away from a Żabka store. This allows us to support them in purchasing only as much food as they need at a given moment.
A balanced box diet delivered, on a daily basis, to homes and offices throughout Poland allows consumers to accurately plan the amount of food needed for the entire day and avoid the risk of generating waste.
The rapid delivery of a wide variety of products to our customers’ homes supports the process of planning only those purchases that are needed right away.
What have we done so far?
As a dynamically growing chain with an annual growth rate of more than one thousand new stores, we face the challenge of halting the negative effects of economies of scale. As far as product life cycle management is concerned, we see that such a rate of growth directly translates into an increase in absolute amounts of food wasted. We are working on a systemic solution which will allow us to achieve the goals defined in the Responsibility Strategy, while also accounting for the assumed rate of growth of our organisation over the coming years. At the same time, we are analysing information from the entire value chain and undertake measures to minimise the causes of waste at each stage of the process — from supply planning, through storage, to distribution. We try to reduce food waste at Żabka stores by running pilot programmes with our franchisees, allowing them to minimise their losses while boosting the profitability of their businesses. We also duly manage the food that has not been sold to customers – we strengthen our cooperation with charity organisations specialising in finding good use for unsold foodstuffs.
Selected activities
We minimise
food waste
We minimise food waste
At our distribution centres, we are progressively introducing solutions that improve the efficiency of supply management processes, increase the flexibility of product shipments to franchisees and, consequently, contribute to optimising the number of products offered in the stores. Goods are delivered to each store based on an individual analysis supported by artificial intelligence algorithms. Owing to analytical models based on sales data and knowledge about local residents, potential competitors and characteristic features, we are capable of selecting types and amounts of products offered in a manner that prevents food from being wasted. Additionally, we rely on over 250 thousand special planograms that support the process of displaying products in the store – they optimise our offering, taking into account the number and width of shelves, but also sales performance of a specific store. Bearing in mind the growing challenges stemming from the dynamic expansion of our chain, we have started working on a comprehensive action plan covering all aspects of our value chain. The first pilot programmes will be launched in the second half of 2022.
We provide
food to those
in need
We provide food to those in need
Close cooperation with social welfare organisations finding good use for unsold foodstuffs by effectively distributing them to locations where they are actually needed is one of the methods we rely on to manage the scale of food waste. Products with a short shelf-life date are transferred to, among other places, Caritas, the Federation of Polish Food Banks and the Kamiliańska Social Assistance Mission. Foodstuffs provided to branches of non-governmental organisations are later shipped to local communities via various institutions, such as canteens, social and therapeutic daycare centres and homeless shelters. Żabka products are used there for preparing hot meals. The food is donated directly to individuals and families in the form of packages. We cooperate with our social partners in order to increase the efficiency of distribution of food products to people in need of such a form of support. In 2021, we donated almost 630 tonnes of food to non-profit organisations — 15% more than the year before.
Responsibility Report 2021
