A Cape Town KWIKSPAR is turning unsold groceries into a big win for hunger relief and the environment!
Cape Town, South Africa (15 October 2026) – A wonderful reason to celebrate, as we observe World Food Day on Friday, 16 October!
KWIKSPAR Alphen Constantia in Cape Town has raised roughly R107,000 for hunger relief simply by ensuring that great food doesn’t go to waste.
Since April 2025, the team at this special store has chosen to donate every single rand made from its surplus food sales directly to FoodForward SA.
Instead of throwing away fresh, perfectly good items at the end of the day, the store packs surplus food into discounted ‘Surprise Bags’ sold through a mobile app called Refreshi.
Local shoppers can easily reserve and buy these bags at a fabulous 50% to 60% discount off standard retail prices. They then collect their discounted groceries during designated pickup windows.
It is a win-win that lets budget-conscious shoppers stretch their grocery budgets while also creating surplus funding, which can be used to support local charities, donate to food banks, reduce energy costs or even fund greener packaging!
SPAR stores across South Africa are stepping up as enthusiastic partners in the movement.
A recent study across 50 independently owned SPAR, SUPERSPAR, KWIKSPAR, and SPAR Express stores showed incredible community support. Shoppers purchased more than 23,200 Surprise Bags between April 2025 and July 2026. Monthly bag sales soared from just 430 in June 2025 to almost 2000 by June 2026!
Across Refreshi’s network of over 700 partner locations nationwide, retailers have already recovered over R15 million in net proceeds.
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Grade 1 Viyaan's Incredible 3D Model of His School Earns PraiseWhile most stores use these funds to cover operational costs, KWIKSPAR Alphen Constantia chose to spread the love further by donating 100% of their proceeds directly to FoodForward SA, a charity that does incredible work in supporting communities facing food insecurity.
A compassionate act like this creates a huge impact at a crucial time of need. In South Africa, around 10.3 million tonnes of edible food is lost or wasted each year – around a third of the country’s total production! – even as nearly one in five households experiences food insecurity.
Rising basket costs make daily living challenging for many families. Creative partnerships like this one make it simple for businesses and consumers to be a part of the solution and benefit from it.
“Hunger in South Africa is not a problem of too little food. It is a problem of food not reaching the people who need it,” says Andy Du Plessis, Managing Director of FoodForward SA. “Partnerships like this one with Refreshi open another route for quality surplus food to reach people while giving ordinary South Africans an affordable way to be part of the solution this World Food Day.”
The positive impact goes beyond financial realms, too.
By keeping food out of landfills, the 50 participating SPAR stores alone prevented roughly 43.5 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and saved 22.4 million litres of embedded water – the equivalent of nine Olympic-sized swimming pools!
Sound like something you could get behind on World Food Day? Download the free Refreshi app, find a Surprise Bag nearby, reserve and pay in the app, and collect it in store during the specified collection window.
“Start with one bag this World Food Day,” says Jakob Holbak, CEO and founder of Refreshi. “Then make it a weekly habit.”
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