The Magnit chain, in partnership with the Rus Food Bank charity foundation, is scaling up the food sharing program – the free transfer of high-quality products that will soon expire to those in need. In August, the company will gradually connect 15 more large-format stores to the project – Magnit Extra superstores and Magnit Family supermarkets.
Source: "Magnit"
Stores are located in Balashov (Saratov region), Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Nevinnomyssk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novorossiysk, Penza, Pskov, Ryazan, St. Petersburg, Serov (Sverdlovsk region), Tver, Ufa and Chelyabinsk. In total, based on the results of the new scaling stage, Magnit’s food sharing program will operate in 20 cities.
As part of food sharing, the company donates free of charge to socially vulnerable people – single pensioners, large families – high-quality products with an expiration date, as well as some non-food products. The food basket includes 300 items (excluding products of animal origin). These are not only basic products (bakery products, groceries, etc.), but also vegetables and fruits, which allows you to create a complete healthy diet. In 2023, as part of food sharing, the retailer donated 300 tons of food to those in need. The total volume of products donated since the launch of the program exceeded 440 tons, and 313 thousand people received assistance. After connecting 15 more stores to the food sharing program, the volume of transferred food will increase several times over the next year.
Magnit has been implementing a food sharing project together with the Rus Food Bank charity foundation since 2022. Volunteers of the fund promptly, on the day of collection at dark stores and stores, transfer the products to beneficiaries. All products undergo double quality control – by Magnit employees and the foundation’s volunteers.
At the first stage, food sharing was launched on the basis of dark stores (“warehouse stores” for processing online orders) in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 2023, Magnit began testing food sharing in large format stores; at this stage, the project covered five more cities: Krasnodar, Tula, Rostov-on-Don, Izhevsk and Yelets. At the beginning of 2024, as part of food sharing, the retailer launched a pilot project in Krasnodar to donate non-food products to charity. These are washing and cleaning products, household appliances, home textiles, dishes, paper products, personal care products, etc. All products are suitable for use and safe, but with expiration dates or minor damage (for example, small chips, scratches or packaging defects). After a successful test, Magnit began scaling the project. In all stores that will connect to the food sharing program, the company will organize the collection and donation of non-food items to those in need.
“Last year we successfully tested food sharing on the basis of large format stores and now we are significantly expanding its geography and entering new cities, most of which have not had such projects before. The selected stores have all the necessary infrastructure and technical capabilities to effectively organize the collection and transfer of products to volunteers, without creating inconvenience for customers. In the future, we will consider the possibility of further scaling food sharing in new cities, including small ones where there are our supermarkets or superstores. Magnit is one of the pioneers in food sharing in Russia; we have significant expertise in this area, taking into account regional specifics and opportunities for further development of the project. Our experience confirms that the food sharing format through a specialized NPO is effective in solving social and environmental problems, and also contributes to the development of volunteer practices. However, a serious increase in food sharing nationwide is impossible without resolving the issue of VAT, the abolition of which is being actively discussed by the professional community and government officials,” noted Nadezhda Galaktionova, director for sustainable development of the Magnit retail chain.
The Magnit chain began testing “smart” scales in convenience stores
The Magnit chain topped the ranking of the most profitable grocery chains – 2024 from Forbes
