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Too Good To Go: The app fighting against food waste

10:45 21/08/2018

A new app is fighting against food waste in Belgium, one meal at a time, by connecting consumers with vendors who have surplus food.

At the end of each business day, restaurants, hotels, grocery stores and bakeries can list their leftover food for a discounted price on Too Good To Go, a concept originally developed in Denmark.

Users of the app can then search their location for a meal or a snack that would have otherwise been thrown away.

To Good To Go manager and "chief waste warrior" Jonas Mallisse said the app has a wide range of uses and can be good for college students or anyone living on a tight budget.

"We aim to sell food at a third of the original price," he says. "What we don't want is people deliberately making more food than they need, to sell on the app at a profit. This way, vendors really cannot make any money off it.

"We are talking about leftover fresh food that was sold five minutes earlier for the full price. Everyone who sells food whether it’s a restaurant or bakery or fish store and has food at the end of the day can list food on the app. Just before they close, people come pick it up."

Around a third of all food in Belgium ends up in the waste. On average, each Belgian wastes a kilo of food per day. However, since the app launched six months ago, an estimated 25,000 meals have been saved.

"It’s a lot, but it’s still not a lot because so much food is still wasted everyday," Mallisse adds. "It’s absolutely ridiculous and it’s a real shame.

"The app is a win-win for everyone. It’s good for society, good on your budget and good food as well and it’s really nice to discover new places. I found two new places like 200m from my house and I'm eating a €20 meal for only €5."

The app is present in Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp and Leuven. The company also plans to expand to Wallonia as well as Spain. A Too Good to Go supermarket recently launched in Denmark, selling food products that are perfectly fine, but would have normally been thrown away.

Written by Hannah Rodriguez