Food Rescue Grocery builds on its success, moves to bigger location in Brandon

Every pallet of bread, potatoes or beef that arrives at the Food Rescue Grocery in Brandon keeps good food from going to waste.

Even better, the operation has been so successful it has been moved to a bigger location.

Food Rescue Grocery is a social enterprise that accepts excess food from retail and warehouse distributors: items that could not be sold in grocery stores, are considered excess or are stuck in the transportation chain. The "rescued" food is then sold to community members at a discount.

Since opening in May 2022, the store has prevented more than 740,000 pounds of food from ending up in landfills, according to operations manager Ross Robinson, who is also the executive director of the John Howard Society, the organization that oversees the store.

During the grand reopening at Brandon's Town Centre mall on Wednesday the store saw more than 200 transactions, Robinson says, suggesting increased grocery prices are hitting many consumers hard.

"The impact this has for people on fixed incomes — the numbers of seniors that are availing themselves of what we offer here … really has been a learning experience," Robinson said.

Elizabeth Morrow, the store's retail lead, says the grand reopening saw a line-up that extended from the front door into the parking lot.

"It's not a secret that food is drastically getting more and more expensive, so the cost of it alone is a problem for everyone," Morrow said. "Just being able to stretch their budgets and things like that is a huge bonus."

One of the store's major goals is promoting the idea of ending food waste, Morrow says. Whether foodstuff is coming to Food Rescue Grocery or going to another charity or soup kitchen, people need to look for ways to prevent good food from going to waste.

The food rescue charity organization Second Harvest estimates about 60 per cent of food produced is lost and wasted annually. About 32 per cent, or 11.2 million tonnes, of that food is edible and could be redirected, the organization says.

Bev Merlin says she visits the Food Rescue Grocery because she loves a good deal and helping prevent food waste at the same time.

"I've known about food waste forever," Merlin said. "I've always taught my children when they were younger about it." 

New location

When the Food Rescue Grocery opened, Morrow says, they never envisioned saving so much food. That's led to the push to find a bigger location.

"I don't think that anybody understood how insane this was really going to be and how much of an impact … we were going to be able to get into this store," Morrow said. "We just want to grow within our location where we are now, and expand our food."

Morrow says what's happening at the store is part of changing the conversation about consumption and waste.

"I think people are way more mindful when they come here, because a lot of the times we get really random stuff," Morrow said. "People have to use their imaginations on how they're going to utilize that … so people are being a lot more mindful of what they're consuming."

One of the big additions to the new store is the Refinery — a partnership with Brandon's ReNu Spa that gives clients the opportunity to buy soap, shampoo and other hygiene products when they bring their own containers, Morrow says.

Harsh Vyas, who visited the store for the first time on Thursday, was happy to see good deals on hand sanitizers.

"They're really helpful to the people in Brandon to get safety from the infection bacteria, which is increasing," he said.

He also saw his visit as a chance to learn more about food recovery and preventing waste.

"I'm really keen to know more about … these things and to know more about the store, what they have introduced," Vyas said.

Each community connection made through the store is helping change the conversation about food recovery, said Robinson — especially because the store spans multiple demographics. 

"What we're seeing is a low, slow burn … to get the awareness to the people, the decision-makers."