Anti-waste: announcing your end-of-day leftovers
There are twelve croissants left an hour before closing. Instead of throwing them out, let the regulars who asked for it know. Here’s how to do it without training customers to wait for the discount.
By the HoorayPass teamPublished September 30, 20266 min readJump to sources
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Why it’s worth thinking about
Food waste isn’t only a household problem. According to the United Nations Environment Programme’s 2024 report, 1.05 billion tonnes of food were wasted worldwide in 2022, about 19% of the food available to consumers. Food service accounts for 290 million tonnes of it, retail for 131 million.
For a bakery, café or restaurant, every unsold item thrown out is a cost already paid: the flour, the butter, the labour. Selling it at half price beats throwing it away.
The principle
As closing time nears, you announce what’s left, with a discount and an end time, to customers who agreed to receive your offers. The message is short and specific:
Example message: "12 butter croissants left. 40% off until 6 p.m., at the counter. Morning Bakery"
Three rules make it work: a real quantity, an end time, and sending only to customers who said yes.
An example calculation
- Usual price (assumption)
- $3
- End-of-day discount
- 40%
- End-of-day price
- $1.80
- Croissants sold instead of thrown out
- 12
- Sales recovered
- $21.60
The cost of making them is already paid: without the announcement, these croissants brought in nothing. These figures are assumptions; run the numbers with your prices.
Consent and a message cap
An announcement of leftovers is a promotional message. In many countries, anti-spam laws require the customer’s consent, identification of the business and an easy way to unsubscribe. Check the rules in your country or province.
Wallets have their limits too: Google Wallet allows at most 3 notifications per card per 24 hours. And a customer who gets an offer every evening ends up not reading them.
The right time
- One to two hours before closing: early enough for people to drop by, late enough to know what’s left.
- To customers who usually come around that time, for example those who often stop by at the end of the day.
- Not during the rush: the announcement targets the quiet spell, not the moment the line is already out the door.
The costly mistakes
- Training customers to wait for the discount. If the offer comes every evening at the same time, some will wait for the evening instead of coming earlier. Keep it irregular and limited.
- Announcing what’s already gone. A customer who comes for nothing doesn’t come back. Give a quantity and remove the offer once everything is sold.
- Forgetting food safety rules. Only sell what can still be sold, under your region’s storage rules.
- Writing to everyone. Only customers who accepted your offers get the message.
What the card does
With HoorayPass, announcing end-of-day leftovers is one of the automatic messages: you enter what’s left, and the card notifies the regulars who accepted your offers, within the promo cap you chose. Unsubscribing is instant, on every channel.
To spread your other promotions across the year, see the calendar. The yearly promotion calendar
In short
- An unsold item thrown out is a cost already paid: selling it at a discount is better.
- A real quantity, an end time, and only to customers who said yes.
- Not every evening: otherwise, your customers will wait for the discount.
- Follow your region’s food safety rules and anti-spam laws.
Sources
- United Nations Environment Programme, Food Waste Index Report 2024 (UN summary)(opens in a new tab)
- Google, triggering push notifications (limit of 3 per 24 hours)(opens in a new tab)
- CRTC (Canada), anti-spam law guide, an example of consent and unsubscribe rules(opens in a new tab)
- Federal Trade Commission (United States), CAN-SPAM guide, an example of identification and unsubscribe rules(opens in a new tab)
