Canadian bakery tackling U.S. waste

Mississauga, ON — The new bread brand River Road Bakehouse is showing its commitment to reducing America’s food waste.

River Road Bakehouse, an Ontario based bread bakery that launched this year, is hitting shelves across the U.S. with the mission of helping reduce the nation’s food waste. Studies by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) suggest Americans waste about 35 million tons of food per year. River Road Bakehouse rolled out the #RoadtoZeroFoodWastecampaign to support food waste awareness and education.

“Food waste is a fundamental problem in the U.S.,” says John F. Kennedy, VP of marketing at River Road Bakehouse, in a news release. “The launch of River Road Bakehouse and the #RoadtoZeroFoodWaste program is an engaging way for consumers to try great bread and think twice about food waste reduction.”

The brand has partnered with the University of Guelph, an Ontario-based agricultural institution with a $15,000 donation to the Guelph Food Waste Project. The partnership will support food waste research aimed at uncovering new and actionable insights that will contribute to reducing food waste across North America.

“At the University of Guelph, understanding causes and volumes of food waste is our passion, and partnering with River Road Bakehouse is a natural fit,” stated Michael Von Massow, associate professor, Food Agriculture and Resource Economics, in a news release. “Together we will give North Americans the information and tools they require to reduce food waste in their day-to-day lives.”

In addition to their partnership with the University of Guelph, River Road Bakehouse is partnering with 12 non-profit organizations across North America, each with a mandate to reduce food waste in the communities that they serve. Supported charities include:

• Lovin’ Spoonful’s – Boston
• Food Recovery Network – Chicago Chapter
• Food Recovery Network – Buffalo Chapter
• Food Recovery Network – Grand Rapids Chapter
• Waste Not Want Not – Florida
• Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina – South Carolina
• The Nashville Food Project – Nashville
• Farm Folk City Folk – Vancouver
• LeftOvers Calgary – Calgary
• Second Harvest – Toronto
• Food Sharing Ottawa – Ottawa
• FOUND NS – Halifax

To support these charities, River Road Bakehouse developed an educational food waste quiz on their website. For every user’s first completion of the quiz, River Road Bakehouse will donate $0.25 to one of the above charities of choice, with an additional $0.25 donation if the results of the quiz are shared by the user on social media. A $0.50 donation to an organization is the equivalent of diverting one meal from landfill and supplying it to someone in need.

Operating out of zero-waste bakeries, River Road Bakehouse breads are made using simple ingredients, and traditional European baking methods. The brand’s family of breads include baguettes, ciabatta buns, brioche and sesame burger buns, ciabatta loaves, roasted garlic ovals and dinner roll clusters.

“We’re a brand with a purpose and a promise,” said Kennedy in the press statement “Our purpose is to help drive the conversation about food waste, and while doing so we promise the very best tasting quality artisan bread by offering an Artisan Taste Guarantee.”

Designed to provide the best-possible customer service experience, the Artisan Taste Guarantee Program allows for customers to receive a full refund if they are not satisfied with the freshness level or quality of their River Road Bakehouse product.

River Road Bakehouse products are available in the U.S. at Meijer, Publix, TOPS, Food City, and Roche Bros.