A new app is in town, and it can help you save money on food while reducing food waste.
Too Good To Go is a marketplace app that enables businesses to sell their surplus food in surprise bags at a third of the retail cost.
It launched in Canada in 2021, starting in Toronto, and has since has expanded to six other cities, including Guelph at the end of July. Now, more than 2,000 people across the country use the app each day.
The app is already becoming a hit with local businesses – more than 30 of which have already signed up, including Sweet Temptations Cupcakery, Goodness Me, Trotters Butcher Shop, Longo’s, Lady Glaze Doughnuts and With the Grain Bakery.
“It’s a great idea,” said Erin Wright, owner of With the Grain. Since partnering with the app, they’ve sold over 20 surprise bags.
Wright loves to do anything she can to “keep things from hitting the garbage.” But being able to monetize on reducing their surplus food waste is a huge win for her as well, as the extra profits allow her the flexibility to donate to charity and raise her staff wages.
With the Grain does donate surplus food to Royal City Mission weekly, however, she said they’re only really interested in bread and muffins.
That means any other food leftover, like doughnuts and other sweets, will usually go to staff and friends, or be tossed out. The app gives them that extra step to avoid waste and still make some money, while bringing the product directly to the consumers who are looking for it.
Sarah Soteroff, PR manager for Too Good To Go, said they always encourage the businesses to donate first. However, there are barriers to donating surplus food waste.
“The surplus has to be quite large, and the (non-profit) usually has to have a way to pick it up. Pick up also doesn’t happen every day,” she said. “So if it does need to be consumed that day or the next day, it’s hard for charities to have that on hand.
“So we're trying to fill that gap in between, where there’s more frequent food waste, and getting it directly to the consumer” she said. “Because the consumer is a little more flexible (than a non-profit).”
So while large amounts of food with a longer life can be donated to food banks and local organizations, smaller quantities that would otherwise be thrown out can be sold at a fraction of the cost – like day old bagels or doughnuts, for example.
Food waste accounts for 10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions globally, and in Canada, nearly 60 per cent of all food goes to waste, costing households almost $1,800 per year. In just one year, the app has helped consumers in Canada save over $7 million by rescuing food that would have otherwise gone to waste.
When you download the app, you can select the area you’re in, and you’ll see the businesses offering surplus food at a discounted price that day.
Everything on the app is sold for one third of the retail cost, so prices range anywhere from $1.99 to $14.99, although most bags are typically within the $2.99 to $7.99 range.
That means for $7.99, you’re actually getting $28 worth of food.
The bags are not measured by weight or item amount, but by monetary value. So one day, you might get four items valued at $28 for $2.99, and the next you might get five or six. It depends on how much each item is worth.
There are select windows of time you can pick up your surprise bag from, varying from business to business, though it will typically be after a rush or just before they close for the day.
If you’ve changed your mind, you can cancel up to two hours before the window starts.
The app will also tell you how many bags you’ve purchased, how much money you’ve saved, and how much CO2 equivalent you’ve saved. For instance, with four bags, you might save $58 in total and 10kg of greenhouse gasses from being emitted due to food waste.
But if you’re feeling generous after saving all that money, they also have an app donation feature, where you can donate money directly to the food bank of your choice that has partnered with the app.
You might be wondering why you can’t buy individual items, rather than surprise bags. Soteroff said the reason is that “the nature of food waste is unpredictable. The businesses won’t know for sure what will be left each day.”
This makes it easier for them and therefore more accessible.
But they’ve also found that people love the surprise element.
“In addition to picking up surplus food waste for a third of the cost, which is already very exciting, when you open it up, you’re like ‘oh, what am I going to get?’” she said.
“The surprise element also makes it really fantastic for businesses to also get tasting into their customers. So I might get to try something that I never would have bought on my own, but I loved it. Now I'm going to go in and buy it from a store full-price tomorrow.”
Wright agreed – the app helps them to reach new people, who can then try a variety of products for a fraction of the cost.
Most of what you’ll find in the surprise bags are items close to or at their best or consume-by date.
While eating something destined to be food waste might not sound appetizing, it’s still “perfectly good to eat.”
“If you can't sell in your store, you can't put on the app,” Soteroff said.
You can learn more or download the app here.
