• The first anti-waste grocery store in the “We” network in the South-West opened this Wednesday in rue Sainte-Colombe in Bordeaux.

  • It offers items discarded by large retailers while the specifications impose structural overproduction and criteria for templates and packaging.

  • At least four other grocery stores attached to the network should open in Bordeaux in the coming years.

Two hours after its opening, this Wednesday, in rue Sainte-Colombe, in Bordeaux, 45 people have already passed through the doors of the new anti-waste store "We".

Among them, Camille, 38, who lives in this downtown district, a stone's throw from the very busy rue Sainte-Catherine.

"I already do a lot of my shopping with the too good too go app, so I thought I'd give it a try," she explains in front of the pasta section.

I saw some interesting things, like the potatoes, and I think I'll come back from time to time.

Created in May 2018 in Brittany, the “We” anti-waste network buys back surpluses from producers that would sometimes have ended up in the trash.

“The specifications impose strict regulations on the appearance of the products, perhaps the size of an apple, the curvature of a cucumber, packaging that is not damaged, explains Vincent Justin, co-founder of the network. .

And, these specifications also impose penalties on brands if they have a supply shortage.

We then end up with a production 5 to 10% higher than what the market needs”. 

Quality but cheaper than in the supermarket

The principle of the “We” grocery store is to buy back these products at 20 to 30% less from producers and to offer them at a price 20 to 30% lower than that charged by traditional large-scale retailers.

"It is estimated that 30 tons per month and per store are recovered", specifies Vincent Justin.

Jeanne, 25, is used to filling her basket in urban convenience stores, on the shelves where products close to their expiry date are sold off.

After a first round, she becomes a little disillusioned: "I don't have the impression that I will come back, it is still expensive prices at the base and I did not expect that", she explains. .

Vincent Justin is aware that the prices are not those of the most discount brands.

"Our choice is not to favor sectors that are not of high quality", he points out.

We find?

for example?

25 to 30% organic on the shelves.

Like all other businesses, the grocery store cannot sell fresh products whose use-by date (DLC) has passed.

On the other hand, it can offer dry products (rice, pasta, etc.) whose best-before date has been passed because this does not represent any health hazard.

The grocery store offers 1,000 to 1,500 references when a more traditional supermarket offers almost ten times more and its shelves vary according to what is available in excess from producers.

The network created its own brand to promote products that needed to be repackaged.

" For instance?

for eggs that are too small (less than 53 g), we have specific packaging, illustrates the co-founder.

And that is a Neufchâtel cheese that does not have the right grammage and has lost its appellation contrôlée.

We called it “heart” because we can't use the term Neufchâtel.

Before, he left to make kiri or laughing cow dough”.

If it is the first grocery store in the Southwest and the 25th store in the network in France, the company does not intend to stop there, eventually betting on four or five brands in Bordeaux.

Today, the network employs 300 people, including 70 at the Rennes plant, which supplies grocery stores with milk and buttered biscuits, for example.

Planet

After the great west, the anti-waste grocery store "We" arrives in Paris

Bordeaux

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  • Planet

  • Food waste

  • Waste

  • Bordeaux

  • Aquitaine