Green Price: Buy Eco-Friendly Products at a Discount and Help Reduce Food Waste

2023-06-16 06:18:01

The local eco-friendly supermarket Green Price specializes in selling products that are within 3 months of the best before date.

【Yahoo News Report】Food has passed the best before date, even if the quality is still good, most of them cannot escape the fate of being discarded. Green Price, a local eco-friendly supermarket, specializes in “rescuing” products within 3 months of the best use date. Since its establishment seven years ago, it has continued to expand, from “walking ghosts” in the corner of industrial buildings to having 9 branches. Terence, one of the founders, said in an interview with “Yahoo News” that he hopes to attract the public to try its products at a reasonable price, break the misunderstanding of expired food in the market, and make environmental protection no longer off the ground.

Writer: Lu Peiyao

Photojournalist: HLKP

Green Price was established in 2016 and has 8 branches so far. Next month, it will open a new store in Telford Plaza, Kowloon Bay. The company also has 70 employees. The founders Terence, Ben and Allison were still in their second year of university when they started their business. This year, it was included in the Forbes (Forbes) social enterprise category “Asia’s 30 Under 30 Elite List”.

The three were originally students of the Department of Business Administration. When they participated in the social entrepreneurship camp, they visited “Food Cherish” and learned that the group often received expired food but could not accept it due to lack of space. In addition, there are examples of supermarkets in foreign countries that specialize in food that has passed the best before date. The three decided to introduce the concept to Hong Kong. In 2016, they won the Good Seed Social Innovation Idea Competition and won a fund of 100,000 yuan, officially establishing Green Price.

“There were no shops or warehouses at that time, so it was very difficult to find the first supplier. I knocked on the door 50 to 100 times, but no one responded.” Fortunately, the university professor helped to pick up the first batch of goods from a friend who is a food company, so that three People set up stalls at the weekend market. The year after the company was founded, they shared a small shop with friends in the Kwun Tong factory building. ghost””.

創辦人之一Terence指，眾多貨品中零食最受歡迎。 — Terence, one of the founders, pointed out that among the many products, snacks are the most popular.

The grassroots market is not as expected

Later, the store entered Sham Shui Po, focusing on the grassroots market, but the sales were not as good as expected, and it closed after half a year. “Many of our products are foreign products. A bag of potato chips may cost 40 yuan per bag, and half of us usually cost 20 yuan.” , it is not too necessary for them (basic customers). Until the opening of the store in Wan Chai in 2019, the target customer source finally became clear, “There is a bank nearby, some high-level and foreigners came to buy it, and I found out that they are really good buy this concept , I feel that everyone should contribute to sustainability.” Green Price then expanded in industrial and commercial areas and large residential areas, such as Central, Tseung Kwan O, Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan, etc., and currently saves 2.55 million expired products every year.

The labeling dates of prepackaged food in Hong Kong are divided into “Best Before” and “Use By”. The former can still be eaten after the expiration date, and is mostly used in canned, dried or refrigerated foods; the latter means that even if the appearance and taste are the same after the expiration date, it is still inedible, such as sandwiches, sushi, sashimi, etc.

Green Price exclusively sells products that are within 3 months of the best before date. Terence pointed out that the store currently mainly picks up goods from wholesalers and retailers who are engaged in importing. “Suppliers have to tell what issues (problems) there are with the goods and they will buy them first.” If some goods need to be replaced with new packaging, the old packaging needs to be If you discard all of them, you can sell them at Green Price.

市面上大多奶類產品只會列明「此日期或之前食用」（Use By），Green Price只會售賣列明「此日期前最佳」（Best Before）的奶類產品。 — Most milk products on the market will only list “Use By” (Use By) date, and Green Price will only sell milk products with “Best Before” (Best Before) date.

超市中亦有不少著品牌子的化妝或護膚品，圖為雪花秀磨砂面膜，市價為每支58元，店中只售39元，更尚有一年多才「過期」。 — There are also many well-known brands of makeup or skin care products in supermarkets. The picture shows Sulwhasoo Scrub Mask. The market price is 58 yuan each, but the store only sells it for 39 yuan, and it has more than a year to “expire”.

Leftovers are less than 1% Regular testing and tasting

In order to ensure the safety of 6 products, Green Price cooperates with HKBU to regularly sample and test the changes in the nutritional content of the products; Terence and his colleagues will also test food regularly. Crunchy, it’s a matter of taste.” Some products tend to have a greasy smell. For example, nuts will be taken off the shelves when they expire. “Our goal is not to be purely safe, but to have the same taste and not to eat.” As for dairy products, Terence emphasized that the store will only sell products that are “ultra-high temperature sterilization” (UHT), which can be stored at room temperature for 6 to 9 months unopened.

Terence指，店內的奶類產品大多需精挑細選，必須售賣以「超高溫消毒法」（UHT）處理的產品，保質期才會較長。 — Terence pointed out that most of the milk products in the store need to be carefully selected, and the products must be sold with “ultra-high temperature sterilization” (UHT) to ensure a longer shelf life.

In order to attract customers, most of the products in the supermarket are sold at 50-40% off. The electronic price tag will indicate the origin, market price and expiration date of the goods. After the expiration, the price tag will automatically mark “expired” and adjust the price, “We have a system to calculate, some products of the same kind are less expensive, and the price will be higher; everyone compete (compete) for similar products will be lower “. Terence continued that in order to reduce the disposal of goods to landfills, regular discounts will be offered, and some will be donated to regional organizations. “We have very little leftovers, less than 1%.”

超市使用電子價錢牌，以免造成紙張浪費之外，亦方便電腦系統隨時調整價錢。 — Supermarkets use electronic price tags to avoid waste of paper, and it is also convenient for the computer system to adjust prices at any time.

電子價錢牌標示貨品名稱、到期日、市價、售價及原產地，一目了然。 — The electronic price tag indicates the name of the product, expiration date, market price, selling price and place of origin, all at a glance.

貨品到期後電子價錢牌會自動轉為標示「已過期」，價錢亦會進一步調整。 — After the expiration of the product, the electronic price tag will automatically change to “expired” and the price will be further adjusted.

not a clearance yard

“I think our environmental protection is different from going out.” Terence pointed out that the environmental protection products on the market are “too off the ground” and it is difficult to attract the public. Buying a supermarket product with a good packaging is not to make sense (reasonable).” He hopes that Green Price will be more popular in terms of products and services, and cooperate with different non-profit organizations to promote the knowledge of food date classification to the grassroots. Let’s see if there is any difference, it’s best to let them try it themselves.”

Terence believes that the public still has deep-rooted misunderstandings about expired food. Green Price is a channel for customers to try out such products. The value of it does not mean that you are buying inferior goods (inferior goods)”.

Terence指，超市分店裝潢光猛，貨品亦必須排列整齊，不希望予人「特賣場」之感。 — Terence pointed out that the supermarket branches are brightly decorated, and the goods must be arranged neatly, and they don’t want to give people the feeling of “outlet”.

After working hard for nearly 8 years, Terence has witnessed the change of Hong Kong people’s concept of expired food. I heard some mothers say to their children at the market: “Don’t study hard, brothers and sisters, what they sell will eat people to death”, and now some customers will voluntarily promote Green Price, “I found that I am doing it for the society. I lost a few things”. Green Price’s original intention is to combine “environmental protection” and “buy at a discount”. Because of the issue of environmental protection.”