More than one-third of global food production, amounting to 1.3 billion tons of food valued at $1 trillion, is lost or wasted annually. If no urgent action is taken, global waste will grow by 70 percent by 2050. To address this challenge, innovations like sustainable waste management solutions are essential, according to leading industry consultants.
Invafresh, the industry leading fresh grocery platform, has announced that it has acquired Whywaste, a leading provider of end-of-life product solutions for grocery retailers and convenience stores, including ASDA, Tesco One Stop, SPAR International, and Coop Sweden, to help reduce food waste, maintain regulatory compliance and increase profitability.
“I’m excited to welcome Whywaste as part of the Invafresh team and look forward to working with them to expand the global footprint of our combined Fresh Retail platform offering,” said Tim Spencer, Chief Executive Officer at Invafresh. “Throughout the due diligence process, I was impressed by both the caliber of talent at Whywaste and the quality of their products. That talent and product quality has allowed Whywaste to establish themselves at the forefront of the rapidly growing sustainability movement by enabling grocery retailers to profitably reduce food waste.”
John Harmon, Senior Technology Analyst at Coresight Research, said; “We estimate that U.S. food waste totaled more than $650 billion in 2022, based on $1.25 trillion of food and beverages purchased for off-premises consumption combined with an estimate that 35% of food goes unsold or uneaten. 63% of grocery retailers view food waste reduction as very important in meeting corporate sustainability goals. The addition of Whywaste’s suite of waste reduction tools to Invafresh’s AI-enhanced demand forecasting capabilities could help retailers achieve those goals.”
This acquisition sets the stage for accelerated global growth for Invafresh and extends the functionality of their AI/ML enhanced Fresh Retail Platform with Whywaste’s end-of-life solutions including advanced date checking, markdown price optimization, and donation platform capabilities. Customers using the Whywaste platform on average realize 30% less waste and 17% increase in revenue from optimizing discount pricing. Merging the two platforms will provide grocery retailers with a platform to drive revenue, reduce shrink, deliver a superior shopping experience to their customers, and help retailers achieve their sustainability targets.
“With the innovation Invafresh brings to the grocery retail market with their Fresh Retail Platform, partnering with them is the natural evolution for Whywaste,” said Kristoffer Hagstedt, Chief Executive Officer at Whywaste. “Food waste is a global challenge, and our combined solution gives grocery retailers a proven approach to reducing shrink and helping them achieve their sustainability goals.”
