Been A Slice: Brewing Beer From Bread to Fight Food Waste
by Bob Froese • Founder & CCO
December 6, 2025
Been A Slice: Brewing Beer From Bread to Fight Food Waste
What if Canada’s most wasted food could become a source of nourishment instead of landfill?
Bread is the single most wasted food product in North America. While millions of Canadians face food insecurity, grocery stores and bakeries discard mountains of perfectly edible bread every day.
Bob’s Your Uncle partnered with Second Harvest and Common Good Beer Co. to create Been A Slice — a beer brewed from surplus bread to spark conversation, raise funds, and return food to the food system instead of the trash.
The idea wasn’t just clever. It was urgent, sustainable, circular — and incredibly Canadian.
The campaign received widespread national and international coverage, appearing in Adweek, Forbes, CityNews, The Toronto Star, and more.
Coverage
Adweek — “These Folks in Canada Brewed Beer From Stale Bread to Make a Point About Not Wasting Food”
“Charitable group Second Harvest recently brewed 500 cases… to raise funds and call attention to its food-rescue efforts throughout Canada.”
“Retailing for $2.95… the beer, called Been a Slice, will be sold in select stores, bars and restaurants around Toronto.”
“Second Harvest… has rescued 130 million pounds of edible food — mainly dairy, produce and protein headed for landfills.”
Adweek positioned the beer as both a craft innovation and a sustainability message: a drinkable proof of why food waste matters.
Forbes — “Fighting Food Waste Through Bread-Brewed Beer”
“I was intrigued to hear about a Canadian charity, a brewery and a marketing agency partnering to use bread to open a conversation about a prevalent issue in the food community — food waste.”
“The concept behind Been A Slice is simple: take bread nearing its best before date and turn it into a small batch beer… proceeds then flow to Canadian charity Second Harvest.”
“Second Harvest has rescued more than 127 million pounds of edible food… bound for landfills since it was established in 1985.”
“‘Bread is the single most wasted food product and we thought ‘what if’ we could repurpose stale bread and turn it into beer,’ Bob Froese, CEO of Bob’s Your Uncle marketing agency told me… ‘It would make a perfect circle.’”
Forbes emphasized the strategic creativity: the campaign created a self-sustaining loop — using food waste to fund food rescue.
CityNews — Broadcast Coverage
URL: https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2018/10/24/toronto-charity-using-bread-to-make-beer/
CityNews showcased the partnership visually, highlighting:
● The brewing process
● The bread collection pipeline
● The message around methane emissions from food waste
● How every can purchased supports Second Harvest
This segment helped bring the story to mainstream audiences far beyond the marketing industry.
Toronto Star — “This beer is fighting the massive issue of food waste”
“Been a Slice is a limited-edition beer made from food waste in the form of bread from Prairie Boy bakery. Profits from the beer will go to Second Harvest.”
“Food waste that ends up in landfills creates methane that represents eight per cent of greenhouse gases globally.”
“‘Bread is inexpensive to make, but we overproduce it,’ explained [CEO] Lori Nikkel… Consumers expect abundance, leading to waste.”
“Common Good Beer Co. and Second Harvest announced the partnership… a brew available at the LCBO in early November.”
This article connected the campaign to climate impact — reinforcing the environmental stakes, not just the charity angle.
Why This Matters
Been A Slice represents the best of what Bob’s Your Uncle stands for:
creativity with purpose, sustainability with humour, and challenger ideas that reshape the system itself.
1. A circular economy idea that actually delivers
Bread → Beer → Funds → More Rescued Food
A perfect loop — simple to explain, meaningful to support.
2. A behaviour-changing awareness platform
Food waste is abstract.
Beer is relatable.
The campaign made a complicated issue visible, tangible, and drinkable.
3. A model for purpose-led food & beverage branding
This is where Bob’s Your Uncle excels:
- A real problem
- A bold idea
- Strategic storytelling
- National retail and PR integration
- Strong category insight (bread is the #1 wasted food)
4. A Heroes to Kings transformation
Second Harvest was already a hero organization — Been A Slice helped elevate them into a national thought leader on sustainability.
Case & Videos
https://www.bobsyouruncle.com/work/been-a-slice