Bob’s Your Uncle Turns Bread into Beer for Second Harvest

Toronto-based creative agency Bob’s Your Uncle has partnered with Second Harvest, the largest food rescue charitable organization in Canada, to create a limited-edition beer made from bread. The resulting beer, called “Been a Slice,” is a new and unexpected way to raise awareness for the charitable organization.  

How does a beer help bring the concept of food rescue to life? By taking bread approaching its best before date and transforming it into a delicious beer. Been a Slice shows that good food that’s unwanted can be repurposed instead of wasted. It’s beer “back from the bread.”

A limited release of 500 cases will be available in select LCBO stores, The Beer Store and a number of Toronto bars and restaurants the first week in November. Proceeds from sales will go directly to Second Harvest, which has rescued more than 127 million pounds of edible food – mostly protein, dairy and produce – bound for landfills since it was established in 1985.

“Been a Slice beer brings a much-needed focus to an important community and environmental issue, raises funds for a vital cause and, of course, is a refreshing beer,” Lori Nikkel, CEO, Second Harvest. “That’s a great spin on the traditional triple bottom-line win.”

Although Been a Slice is currently only available as a limited time offer, fans of the brew and supporters of Second Harvest can help bring it back to the shelves on a more permanent basis through a Kickstarter campaign.

Been a Slice is being promoted through PR, social media, an OOH campaign and POS in bars and restaurants. In addition, an influencer event will be hosted at Luxe Appliance Studio in Toronto on November 7. The event will feature recipes created by the in-house chef at Luxe that pair with a bread-based beer, and also build on Second Harvest’s goal of reducing food waste. There will be a demonstration on how to create these delicious recipes yourself and how to properly pair with Been a Slice beer.

Second Harvest works with partners across the food supply chain, from farmers to retail, to capture a portion of the approximately $31 billion worth of food that is sent to landfills each year. It provides the equivalent of 30,000 meals a day in Toronto and 4,600 meals a day across Ontario, delivering food to 253 social agencies and 15 food hubs throughout the province.

Been a Slice Beer

Client: Second Harvest

Marketing: Lori Nikkel

Agency: Bob’s Your Uncle

CEO: Bob Froese

CCO: Dorothy McMillan

Associate Creative Director: Daryl Klein

Art Director: Philippe O’Rourke

Copywriter: Brian Flay

Account Director: Kira Campbell

Account Manager: Jessica Abela-Froese

Digital Project Manager: Tony Geer

Brewer: Common Good Beer Co.

Bakery: Prairie Boy Bakery

Developer: My Brother Darryl

Animators: Blame Your Brother

Videographer: Oliver Ward