Starbucks Japan begins selling food at a discount before closing time
While Starbucks may be most frequented in the morning and over lunch, you now have a new reason to visit in the evening as well. Starting Monday August 23, the coffee chain is selling its food items on a discount just before closing time. This new initiative is implemented at 1,600 Starbucks locations across Japan in an effort to help reduce food waste.
In general, food items such as baked goods, sandwiches, cakes and desserts will be 20 percent off within three hours before closing time. However, the discount starting time may vary by store depending on the day’s excess stock.
Even though the majority of Starbucks’ waste comes from leftover coffee beans, a significant 15 percent of the waste is still made up of unsold food. Some of the coffee bean refuse is recycled into fertiliser and animal feed, but nothing has been done about the food waste, until now. Moreover, a portion of the sales from the discounted food will be donated to Musubie, a local non-profit organisation which provides meals to children across Japan.
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