Active maintenance of aesthetically pleasing displays

When I was working at the bakery, I was frequently prompted to fill up the counter top with tarts and pastries. “If you leave only a few [items on the counter], the customers may think that the items have been left on the counter [for] the entire day and are no longer fresh,” my supervisor rationalised. It is indeed a common practice of food providers such as bakeries, buffets and even supermarkets to ensure that their displays are well stocked in order to appeal to potential consumers.

This practice, coupled with the food providers’ insistence to provide fresh, quality food to the consumers, means that much of the food items would end up in the rubbish bin at the end of the work shift. Take my experience at the bakery for example: Although some of the tarts could be kept overnight without compromising on its quality, tarts that have been left on the display in the day would often shows signs of drying and a flaky pastry base – unsuitable for sale the next day.

While some bakeries would slash their prices a few hours before closing to attract customers, other bakeries may allow their employees to pack the food home or donate the unsold bread to charity redistribution organisations. Food from the Heart (FFTH) is one such organisation that was founded in response to an article in The Straits Times in November 2002 that reported about the large quantities of unsold bread that were thrown away by bakeries daily. Since its founding in 2003, FFTH has since reached out to 23,400 beneficiaries and salvaged 336,000kg of bread just last year. This amounts to S$2,094,687 in savings in 2013 alone!

It is, however, important to note that FFTH does not collect from all of its partnering sponsors daily, i.e. vast amounts of unsold items are still being wasted everyday. I would also like to raise the question of the suitability of the food items redistributed – sweetened items such as cinnamon rolls or chocolate croissants not only do not last as well as loaves of whole-wheat pain de mie, but also are less suitable for distribution to the elderly, for example.