SpartanNash’s food donation breaks Guinness World Record

A grocery store chain based in Michigan broke a huge world record, all while supporting a good cause.

A group of 24 interns at SpartanNash built the world’s largest word made of packaged food in July of this year, using 5,791 items, according to a Wednesday announcement from Guinness World Records (GWR).

The items were then donated to local nonprofit Buist Community Assistance Center in Byron Center, Michigan, which provides food and clothing to people in need.

Using canned corn, green beans, fruit cocktail, boxed potatoes, brownies, cereal and pasta, the interns and a few company employees built the word “SpartanNash” in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, headquarters parking lot, according to GWR.

When it was done, the word measured 150 feet long and 16 feet deep, GWR said in its announcement.

Andy Clausen, SpartanNash’s vice president of National Accounts pitched the idea to break the world record at the beginning of the summer internship program earlier this year. 

“This was an incredible opportunity for the SpartanNash interns to get experience coordinating on a big goal as a team,” Clausen told GWR. “We planned this to allow for our interns to have something that sets them apart—not many people have a Guinness World Records title on their resume.”

“The interns came together to create solutions, have fun and serve our community  – a great example of our core behaviors in action,” Clausen added.

The previous record for the largest word made of packaged food was held by Freeform Foods International Association in Hong Kong, with a word made in 2018 with 1,111 items, according to GWR.