SPAR Ireland and its independent retailers recently handed a €517,139 donation to their official charity partner, Make-A-Wish Ireland, for monies raised through a variety of fundraising initiatives and collection boxes in more than 400 SPAR stores nationwide, as well as donations from selected SPAR own-brand products. Chosen by SPAR retailers, the Make-A-Wish children’s charity grants the wishes of children aged between three and 17 and living with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Commenting at the cheque presentation, Colin Donnelly, sales director, SPAR, said, “Helping make the wishes of seriously ill children come true is a way to give hope and strength for their individual journeys, and we are proud to play whatever part we can.” Since 1992, Make-A-Wish Ireland has granted wishes for more than 2,500 brave children across the country, and donations like those of SPAR Ireland help it to fulfil those wishes. As Susan O’Dwyer, CEO, Make-A-Wish, commented, “The contributions from SPAR truly make a difference and help us grant the wishes of seriously ill children. We are very grateful to SPAR and their retailers for their wonderful support.”
Coffee traders are trying to have two-year-old bags of arabica coffee that were removed from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) warehouses in recent months graded again and recertified, so they can return to ICE’s stocks, according to traders and analysts. The so-called ‘recertification process’ is unusual, particularly with such a large volume – nearly 270,000 60-kilogram bags – reports Reuters. While it is not illegal, market participants say that the process raises questions about the quality of the coffee because it effectively considers the regraded stock as new beans. Generally, when traders take coffee out of certified stocks, they intend to sell it to roasters. In this case, they would sell it back to ICE and make a profit, since the recertification erases penalties that are applied as coffee ages in warehouses. The older the coffee, the larger the discount.
SPAR Scotland has expanded its partnership with food waste prevention app Too Good To Go to include all 107 company-owned stores in Scotland. The move follows the success of trial stores and forms part of the retailer’s commitment to reducing food waste and CO2 emissions across the business. SPAR Scotland added that it saved over 7,200 meals from going to waste and prevented over 17 tonnes of CO2 emissions in these trial stores. The partnership allows customers to buy ‘magic bags’ of miscellaneous surplus stock that is close to the end of its shelf life, but still within its best-before period. Shoppers need to download the free Too Good To Go app on their smartphones and register via email or Facebook to avail of the service.
© 2022 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
