Residual stock specialist Company Shop is on the hunt for more surplus food after opening its biggest-ever store.

The company acquires surplus food from retailers and manufacturers and sells it on at discounted prices in its member-only stores to those who work in the food production industry.

The new 14,000 sq ft store, at Company Shop’s HQ in Tankersley, South Yorkshire, replaces its previous 4,000 sq ft site, which MD Mark Game said had become too small. “Our old store had been open for nearly 20 years but only had five checkouts,” he said. “It just got far too busy and we grew out of it.”

Company Shop has 50,000 members, 20 stores at food manufacturing sites, 12 web stores and another standalone store in Corby. Products are typically sold at a third of the retail price.

Game said the new Tankersley store was already attracting 10,000 visits per week. “Our new store gives us much greater capacity to expand the amount of residual product we can receive from retailers and manufacturers to ensure perfectly edible food is not thrown out,” he said. “No food fit for human consumption should be classed as waste if people can still eat it.”

He added that there was more demand for surplus food than ever. Any food unable to be sold in its stores is donated to local charities, including FareShare.

But because manufacturers and retailers were becoming savvier at tackling food waste, Company Shop was having to “run faster and harder” to source more products, Game added.

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