Too Good To Go app aims to limit food waste

By Sammie Purcell

A new app meant to limit food waste called Too Good To Go has officially launched in Atlanta.

The app launched in Copenhagen seven years ago, according to Senior PR Manager Sarah Soteroff. After moving to markets across Europe, the app came to the United States in 2020 and now can be found in 14 markets across the country.

Too Good To Go aims to limit the amount of food waste – as well as it environmental impact – by allowing businesses to bundle and sell any leftover food at the end of the day.

Consumers can snag “surprise bags” of food from businesses –meaning whatever food the business has leftover that day – for less than the retail price, and businesses can recoup some of the money they would have lost if the food had remained unsold.

“It kind of is a cyclical way in which everyone is benefitting,” Soteroff said. “And without even trying, everyone is helping the environment.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 30-40% of the food supply in the U.S. goes to waste, and that food waste exacerbates climate change with its significant greenhouse gas footprint.

“We’re constantly talking about the rising temperature and getting climate change under control,” Soteroff said. “This is a thing that everybody does every single day and really doesn’t get the attention that flight travel does, for example.”

According to Soteroff, as of the end of June around 75 metro Atlanta businesses had signed up for the app. The app is already available to use, and most of the businesses available appear to be those that offer baked goods, which generally don’t last much more than a day. Most of the bags range from $4-$6.

Soteroff said that the app typically

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“There’s surplus food waste at every level,” she said. “We really are calling on any business that sells food. Even if you just have $15 of surplus a day, you can put that on the app.”

More information about the app can be found at toogoodtogo.com.