Reducing food waste conveniently with semi-prepared food

The retail market is rapidly transforming. Increasingly pressed for time, consumers are demanding convenient meal solutions and are turning to meal-delivery services and out-of-home consumption at the expense of the traditional grocery retailing sector. While investing in convenience food may seem a promising strategy for retailers, some convenient food has been shown to increase food waste and contribute to unhealthy diets. This creates a dilemma for retailers aiming to balance convenience with sustainability, while accounting for heterogeneity in consumers’ health motivations. We propose that semi-prepared foods—minimally processed ingredients, such as washed and chopped vegetables, that reduce preparation effort while maintaining “fresh” quality—can be a sweet spot that combines convenience with lower food waste.In four studies, including two longitudinal field studies collecting actual food waste, we show that semi-prepared food decreases consumer food waste because it renders meal preparation more convenient and more feasible to integrate into a busy day. This effect is less pronounced for consumers with a high interest in eating healthily. These consumers less likely shy away from the time and effort of preparing a meal with unprepared ingredients and therefore perceive a smaller convenience gap between the two food types. Still, these consumers waste 43% less when given semi-prepared compared to unprepared food, while consumers who have little interest in eating healthily even waste 71% less of semi-prepared food. Encouraging for retailers, consumers are willing to pay a price premium of 13% for semi-prepared food when its waste reduction benefits are highlighted. Therefore, a strategy of ‘fresh convenience’ that entails offering more semi-prepared food can balance convenience and food waste reduction. Communicating the waste-reduction benefits of semi-prepared food may support revenues; however, commercial viability ultimately depends on category-specific costs and margins.