Kiwi startup rescues bread waste for baking mixes

One of the largest sources of food waste in Aotearoa (New Zealand) is being given a second life thanks to Kiwi startup Rescued and its range of upcycled products.

Rescued, which is part of Countdown’s small supplier accelerator Kete, is taking leftover bread from a number of Countdown bakeries and turning it into easy-to-make vanilla, chocolate, lemon and gin botanicals and savoury baking mixes with customers encouraged to rescue their own fruit or vegetables and add them into the mix. The upcycled products are available for purchase in a number of Auckland Countdown stores.

Rescued owner and founder Diane Stanbra said it is a big milestone to be on the shelf in Countdown stores and making new products out of what would otherwise be wasted food.

“When we first began our journey to tackle food waste in Aoteroa through upcycling, one of our biggest goals was to be selling our products in the same place we’re rescuing from — and we’ve done it,” Stanbra said. “The support we’ve been given over the last eight months has been great, and it’s only up from here. There are so many opportunities for reducing food waste to landfill through upcycling, and we’re really looking forward to what’s ahead.”

Steve Mills, Commercial Director of Packaged Goods, Countdown, said the company is very excited to have Rescued products on-shelf and to be working with them to find solutions to food waste.

“At Countdown, our priority is to avoid creating food waste in the first place by making sure we’re not ordering or producing more than we need, but the nature of fresh food and serving over 3 million customers a week means that some level of waste is inevitable,” Mills said.

“To make sure as little as possible is ending up in landfill, we have a policy of donating food that’s still fit for consumption but can’t be sold, and we work with over 25 food rescue partners to make this happen. However, we do still have some food that’s currently ending up as animal feed or unfortunately going to landfill — especially with short shelf life products like bread that our food rescue partners struggle to find enough outlets for. That’s where Rescued has come in.

“We’ve worked really closely with Diane and the rest of the team at Rescued to find sustainable, circular solutions to these challenges and it’s amazing to finally have a new, delicious answer on shelf for customers.”

Countdown’s Kete program is currently supporting five small and diverse businesses to achieve success in a 12-month period. Each business chosen to be part of Kete is receiving a package worth over $250,000 including a $20,000 cash grant, customer marketing support, access to Countdown customer insights, product development and manufacturing support and mentorship from experts across Countdown.

Image caption: iStock.com/etiennevoss