By Jan Willms
Had a tough day at work and don’t feel like cooking, but don’t want to pay the price for the family to eat out?
Too Good to Go (TGTG) may solve your problem, and enlist your help in preventing food waste at the same time.
Originating in Denmark in 2016, TGTG is a service with a mobile app that connects consumers to restaurants and stores that have surplus unsold food.
“We connect customers with the app,” said Sarah Soteroff, the lead public relations person for the United States and Canada for TGTG. “So when you go to the Google Play Store, it will ask you for information, particularly your location. I usually put in a 15-30 mile radius to see what is available. The consumer will then see a gray or green dot. Gray dots mean the food is gone, and green dots show what food is still available in a number of categories.”
Soteroff continued describing the process: “You will pick something and click reserve. You will then have a specific time frame in which to pick up the food. If you do not pick up the bag, you will still be charged for it.” The store or restaurant owner sets the time frame, since they know best when they have their rush and when the food is not sold anymore that day. You go and show your reserved food on your app, swipe it and pick up your surprise bag.”
According to Soteroff, the customer will know the category of food reserved, but not the exact items. For example, you will see that your bag may contain: bakery items, pizza, tacos or sushi. And you will know the value of the items.
“The customer pays one-third of the value,” Soteroff explained. “If you pay $5.99, you know you are getting $18 worth of food.”
TGTG came to the United States in August 2020, starting in New York. They are now launching the app in the Twin Cities area, and some stores and restaurants have already started participating. Current business partners with TGTG include Mama Sheila’s House of Soul, T-Rex Cookie Kitchen, The Buttered Tin, Milkweed Coffee, Backstory Coffee, Intown Sushi and the Butter Bakery.
“This past month, we have been reaching out to businesses and talking with them about food waste. A business can click on toogoodtogo.com and someone will connect with them,” Soteroff said. “They can get started right away. They can go to the app interface, click business, and upload the food they have. They don’t need anything else. “
Soteroff said the business lists food if it has a surplus. If it doesn’t, it does not list any that day. “Maybe it rains, and they have extra food, and they put it on the app,” she said.
“We really want a reflection of the true surplus they have,” she continued. She cited an example of an ice cream shop she was in that had some labels attached incorrectly. “They had this huge stash of perfectly good ice cream that could not be sold. So they had 300 pints of ice cream to go.”
She said if a business has some surplus food it wants to promote, TGTG will promote the information on its Instagram account. “Our main goal is to reduce food waste wherever it happens.”
Soteroff said a business can also draw in new customers by being on the app. “Everyone is helping to lower the impact of food waste on the environment, and we help people save a little bit of money as well.”
Newer partners are getting elevated as TGTG launches in the Twin Cities. “We’ll have it on our Instagram, and we are adding more categories and varieties of food,”Soteroff said. “We’re always growing.”
She said the TGTG community has no borders. “We launch somewhere and then move throughout the area. Eventually we will be national.”
Having patience is Soteroff’s biggest challenge. “We want to expand faster, but we have to think of the locations and not do everything all at once. We want to do as much as possible to eradicate food waste, but we have to do it methodically.” She encouraged people to download the app and test it out for themselves.
Even in the home, a lot of food can be wasted. TGTG offers tips and tricks on how to preserve food. “We don’t have to wait for government regulations. We can do it right now,” she said.
Soteroff added that any local business, ranging from a gas station or convenience store to a high-end restaurant, can join TGTG.
TRexBex
This is awesome! Solving 2 problems at once and everyone benefits.
Sunday, January 14 Report this