Too Good To Go, an app-based marketplace for surplus food, officially launched in Wisconsin’s capital city in August. The platform, originally founded in 2016, aims to reduce global food waste by connecting customers with unsold food items from local businesses.
Around the world, “40% of food is wasted each year,” said Allie Denburg, the associate director of strategy and operations at Too Good To Go. Everyone using the platform helps lower greenhouse gas emissions from food waste. “Our app connects food businesses with consumers who buy their surplus foods at a fraction of the original retail price. We like to say it’s a win-win-win, for businesses, customers and the environment.”
Too Good to Go now operates in all 50 states and in more than 50 U.S. cities. Denburg noted that within the United States alone, over 27 million meals have been saved since the platform launched. Globally, the app has saved over 400 million meals across 19 countries, according to the app’s website.
Through the Too Good To Go mobile app, businesses and customers can sign up for free. Grocery stores, bakeries, cafes and full-service restaurants list their surplus food in so-called surprise bags. Customers typically are able to purchase bags filled with an assortment of miscellaneous items for somewhere between $3.99 and $5.99, or for a third of the food’s original retail value.
“You get to try a new place and don’t know what you are going to get,” Denburg said.
McKenna Arnold, a junior at UW–Madison, says the app has made late night studying sessions with her friends more fun. “We will pick up surprise bags on the way to the library, you do know what you’re going to get but for cheap prices it’s hard to pass up,” Arnold said.
With the mobile app, you order and pay for surprise bags and pick-up at the specified location. The app additionally includes the “ask-a-friend” feature where someone else can go and pick up your order for you, adding another level of convenience.
The app’s launch in Madison has quickly resonated with the student-heavy population and community as a whole.
According to Madison Burrow, a UW-Madison graduate student and employee at High Crowd Café, one of the app’s participating business suppliers, the app has brought more customers into State Street restaurants. “We’ve seen more foot traffic,” Burrow said. “Our lemonade, peach, and green tea surprise bags have been super popular with students.”
“Madison’s home to nearly 50,000 students and a large population of residents who care about sustainability,” Denburg said. “Too Good To Go is a great tool for helping community members, including college students who value convenience and affordability, to save money on great food while doing something positive for the climate.”
Since the app launched in August, Madison users have saved more than 8,000 meals while connecting 48 local businesses with new customers, according to Denburg.
For users with dietary preferences and/or allergies, the app offers specific filtering options for vegan and vegetarian options. If customers have specific allergies and/or restrictions, modifications can be made upon pick-up for surprise bag items.
A strong response from early app users in Madison has prompted a fuller expansion in the local marketplace; popular local businesses now using the app to find customers for surplus food include Ian’s Pizza, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Toppers Pizza and A-Mart Asian Grocery.
Denburg said the company’s main goal is to continue to partner with even more local restaurants and, potentially, to team up with university dining halls to further reduce campus food waste.
“We are proud of the impact,” Denburg said. “Too Good To Go saves four meals every second,” but “globally 80,000 meals are wasted every second so there’s still a long way to go.”
Denburg emphasized that reducing food waste is the most effective way individuals can fight climate change. Now Madison has an opportunity to be a part of that change in a convenient and money-saving way.
