IGD Sustainable Futures Award

Woohoo, Toast has won the prestigious IGD Award for Sustainable Futures!!

Last week (Tuesday, 3^rd October), more than 600 senior executives gathered at the IGD Awards to raise a toast to the food and industry’s achievements over the last 12 months.

Toast received the industry accolade for its use of surplus fresh bread to produce its award-winning beer. We also raise awareness about food waste and pour all our profits back into the charity Feedback, which works to galvanise public action and influence policy on food waste.

Category judge Alan Hayes, Sustainability & Strategy Manager at IGD, said: “Toast Ale was a standout winner to the judges and exceeded all the criteria we were looking for in this category. The company has created fantastic products that drives significant environmental benefits, not only addressing the problem of bread waste but also tackling the underlying causes.

“Over a short period of time the company has experienced significant growth, creating an award-winning beer from bread that would otherwise go to waste. Bringing forward innovative business models, Toast Ale will have tremendous impact addressing a very real issue for the industry and consumers, while donating all funding to Feedback charity.

“We’ve seen evidence of this campaign contributing positive connections within industry, which has seen it being recognised by mainstream big players in the sector. While the approach is radical it is effective, and we would encourage similar models of this kind in the fight against food waste.”

Joanne Denney-Finch, IGD Chief Executive, said: “For more than 25 years, the IGD Awards have celebrated the achievements of our truly world-class industry. These are hotly contested awards and this year the bar was set as high as ever. Yet again we received a very large number of entries, which is testament to the innovative, high-quality work taking place across our industry.

“We’re living through challenging times, yet our industry never fails to impress in its determination to continue surprising and delighting shoppers. Many congratulations to all our winners and finalists.”

About the IGD Awards

The winners of the IGD Awards were selected by a panel of industry experts, including representatives from IGD and companies from across the food and grocery supply chain. For the first time ever in 2017, three awards were voted for by shoppers – the IGD Food-to-Go Operator of the Year, the IGD Online Retailer of the Year and the IGD Retailer of the Year – through IGD’s ShopperVista service, the drumbeat of the British grocery shopper.

IGD is an education and training charity for the food and grocery industry that undertakes research for the benefit of the public.

For a full list of the winners of the IGD Awards 2017, please visit igd.com/awards