Tango Tab App

A meal for a meal

TangoTab app, which donates to local food pantries every time a user dines out, looks to expand into St. Louis region

By Charlotte Beard

Many people are familiar with the annual dining-out fundraisers, such as Dining Out for Life that supports AIDS service organizations, or dining out events that may support other causes. However, most people may not be aware of the mobile app associated with various dining out restaurants around St. Louis that can provide some support to local food pantries all year long. TangoTab, founded by Andrea Angel, was launched as an app in Dallas, Texas in late 2013 and became available in St. Louis in 2018.

“TangoTab started in Dallas and we are expanding around the country,” stated Nick Marino, Director of Social Change. “Currently we do not have a footprint in St. Louis but there are restaurants there (that can be accessed St. Louis residents can dine with a cause at local restaurants such as Jack in the Box, Denny’s, Sonic Drive-In, and Longhorn Steakhouse (just to name a few) when they check in with the app upon arrival to the participating restaurant.

Marino states, “We do meal for a meal. The cost of a meal for a food organization, that’s what we donate to them. So, whenever you dine out that’s how much we would donate through a monetary donation, or that we would put towards the food garden. For example, at The Bridge in Dallas, we haven’t been donating monetary funds directly to them. We’re building them a garden. So, from the funds (they would have received) we’ve compiled it (to) build an entire community a garden at The Bridge shelter, which will then provide a ton of food for a long time compared to (what would be received for) one meal. We’ll be building community gardens in areas around the country. We’ll be building one in Tulsa later this year, one in Houston, and other places.”

For dining out purposes, after a patron logs onto the TangoTab app from their mobile device they will find an option to access a list of local restaurants from which to choose. At the bottom of the selection the patron selects the “Count Me In” button. After arrival at the restaurant, the last step is to press ‘TANGOTAB IT’ at the bottom of the screen.

“(Restaurants) pay a monthly flat fee and that is how we earn our money. We never ask for donations. So, the app is free to use for consumers and we make our money from the restaurants paying us to be on the app. That’s how we’re able to donate as well.”

There are three different pricing plans available to restaurants that desire to be listed on the app for patrons. TangoTab has a very specific way of choosing its local food pantry partnerships. Marino stated, “There’s a great organization here called Communities

Foundation of Texas; they have a great framework on how to select organizations.”

The framework shows them how to look at the organization’s potential to align with TangoTab’s vision. TangoTab looks at many factors as well as the sustainability of the potential food pantry for partnership. Their focus is to partner with farms, community gardens and organizations that are providing nourishing food to people in need.

TangoTab states that to date a little more than three million people have been fed around the country due to the usage of the app and their other initiatives such as their Feed the City program, which can be hosted in any city.

For more information about TangoTab and its various ways to get involved for local impact, visit www.tangotab.com.