According to World Wide Fund For Nature, over 2.5 billion tonnes of food gets wasted annually, which equates to 80,000 kilograms of food being wasted every second. In response to this global issue, Too Good To Go, an social impact company, has made a significant impact in combating food waste through their innovative platform.
Gaining popularity through social media trends, Too Good To Go has succeeded in saving over 500 million meals from going to waste, with the help of 180,000 business partners worldwide. The companies focus is to save food from going to waste while providing the community reduced prices and helping businesses profit from their surplus.
The business model is centered around “Surprise Bags” from local restaurants, cafes, and bakeries. These bags contain items nearing their “sell-by” date, but are still perfectly edible. These bags can be reserved through their app for pick up and they sell for 50-75% of their contents’ original retail value, making them a great affordable meal option.
The app has grown especially popular among students due to the fun surprise aspect, as well as the cheap pricing. Local businesses, such as UCBC, Cafe Nero, Bronx House Pizza, Whole Foods, and many others, offer these bags daily. However, due to the apps newfound popularity, the surprise bags can be difficult to secure, as the businesses can sell out quickly.
This week I was able to reserve a surprise bag from UCBC, and I can confidently say it’s worth a try. For just $9.99, I received 10 bagels, and various baked goods. The items were still freshly baked this morning, they’re simply the surplus from that same day. Darien High School junior Sienna Sorrells said “They made the order infront of us as we arrived, I was surprised to see it was the same things they would’ve sold us full price that morning”. The quality of the surprise bag exceeded our expectations and proved the immense value this app has.
Overall, Too Good To Go is an effective and accessible solution to global food waste. The app allows individuals to make a positive impact through simple, everyday choices, while also saving money on a delicious meal.
