Restaurant and grocery store managers try their best to estimate how much food they’ll sell. But it’s hard to predict, so leftovers are common.
“Your local pizza shop might make 50 pies per day. And one day they sell 40, one day they sell 48, and they always have a little bit of extra,” says Claire Oliverson of Too Good to Go.
The company’s app is available in a growing number of U.S. cities and in 14 other countries.
The app lets users pick a vendor and buy a “surprise bag” of food. They can get gourmet meals from restaurants, pastries from bakeries, or fresh produce – all at about a third of the regular price.
So far, the app has helped keep more than 79 million meals from going to waste.
She says customers like getting a bargain, and businesses like earning back some of what they spent on ingredients.
So everyone benefits – including the climate.
When food is wasted, so is the energy used to grow and transport it. And wasted food ends up in landfills, where it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
So reducing food waste can reduce climate change. And Oliverson says Too Good to Go makes it easy for consumers to help.
Reporting credit: Stephanie Manuzak/ChavoBart Digital Media
