Food loss and waste (FLW) continues to have economic, environmental, and reputational risks for retailers. However, standardised baseline data to engage this challenge is often absent in developing economies. We quantify FLW for all the retail outlets from a major retailer operating in southern Africa by using the World Resources Institute’s FLW Accounting and Reporting Standard and its reporting template for three-month trial period. The data enabled us to reflect on the appropriateness of the Standard for retailers in these economies, which proved adequate subject to recommended changes to the template before implementation.