Food fads are not in short supply, but few actually deal with the abundance of food that goes unconsumed. And when grocery stores end the day, a purge of items deemed unworthy of sale leads to dumpsters full of food. An entrepreneur in Germany however wants to tackle both of those issues with a brand new store that only sells leftover food that everyone else would just throw away.
Nicole Klaski wanted to play a role in creating a zero-waste society and when she saw the vast amount of perfectly good food being tossed out as trash, she wanted to take action.
On February 4th, Klaski opened up The Good Food in Cologne, and it’s not only the food that’s unique, but the pricing as well. None of the items have a fixed price. Instead, customers are asked to pay what they feel the food is worth.
Many of the items sold at The Good Food are only slightly past the “sell by” date, but still perfectly fine to eat. Others are produce items with a few blemishes that farmers or grocery stores would not sell purely because of its appearance.
For some, these imperfections or lack of complete freshness just won’t cut it for them, but Klaski thinks there are enough people who will look past that. In an interview with DW, Klaski stated that she wasn’t too concerned about the potential health risks that could arise from selling expired food. “The expiry dates on products are only a suggestion for the consumer. Most of the products last much longer,” she told DW.
A key task for Klaski will be to closely monitor the food she has for sale to ensure items don’t stay on the shelf when they cross into that danger zone. Customers are made aware that food items sold at The Good Food won’t have the same shelf life as their counterparts at the regular grocery store, but if a health issue does occur from the sale of food waste, Klaski told DW that she would be willing to bear that responsibility.
