BurgerFuel launches rescued bread-based beer

Bread is one of New Zealand’s most wasted food products, with over 29 million loaves going to waste in New Zealand every year domestically according to Love Food Hate Waste - and that doesn’t account for unsold bread from supermarkets and shops. Now the BurgerFuel franchise has teamed up with Citizen, the innovators behind an award-winning circular solution to ‘rescue & upcycle’ unsold fresh supermarket bread to create a craft beer designed to address needless food waste. The result is a limited-run product while stocks last, which will be available online. It will also be sold in-store at BurgerFuel Napier. 

LagerFuel and LagerFuel Light is brewed in partnership with Sawmill Brewery, and uses the fermented sugars of wasted supermarket bread in the brewing process. With sustainability in mind, the ultimate long-term goal is to utilise the high-quality, nutritious spent-grain flour by-product from the LagerFuel and LagerFuel Light brewing process and upcycle that grain to bake into future BurgerFuel wholemeal buns.

The spent-grain flour buns have been tried, tested, and given the seal of approval by BurgerFuel's Food & Menu Development Manager, Chris Mills. 'A lot of work has gone into the development of our buns over the years,' says Chris, 'There’s no added sugar in our recipe, that sweetness is achieved with pumpkin and potato flour. And, by incorporating the spent grain, we can reduce the amount of refined white flour required in each bun by 4 percent, which enhances the flavour, but also with the added environmental benefit.'

BurgerFuel's Head of Brand and Marketing, Nikki Soons, says the launch is the first phase of a longer-term vision. 'We’re hoping that people will love the beer, resonate with the purpose, and help us sell through our first batch, meaning there’s a real potential for selling into liquor retail and supermarkets. Then we could see not only a great tasting, positive impact craft beer on shelf, but spent grain flour BurgerFuel buns on the 2023 menu, completing the circularity objective of the initiative.'

LagerFuel and LagerFuel Light will be available online at Citizen.co.nz/lagerfuel and in-store at BurgerFuel Napier from Wednesday 5th October.