In RI, Restaurants Signing Up for App to Offer Discounts - and Combat Food Waste

In RI, Restaurants Signing Up for App to Offer Discounts - and Combat Food Waste

A new app is connecting customers with Rhode Island restaurants and stores — to buy surplus food at a discount. 

According to “Too Good to Go,” over one-third of the world’s food is wasted. And they want to change that. 

“We dream of a planet with no food waste, and every day we’re working on making that a reality,” say the app creators. “Our app is the most direct way for you to get involved - just download, log on, and get saving perfectly good, surplus food from your local stores. It’s always a surprise and an instant good deed for the planet.”

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Customers can sign up for a “surprise bag” of food — or meals — to be picked up at participating store or restaurant a specific time at the end of the day, generally paying a third of what the food would normally cost at retail. 

For businesses, they can be paid for food that is still “good,” but either is nearing the expiration date, or in the case of restaurants, food that would otherwise be thrown out. 

And like most food apps, customers can rate and review the restaurants and stores, so future consumers can get a sense of how satisfied users have been with the service. 

“Our mission is to inspire and empower everyone to take action against food waste. We know that to live and breathe this every day, we need to turn our words into actions,” says Too Good to Go. “With this in mind, we have set out a new ambition - to contribute in every way we can to building the global food waste movement. It's only when we all come together to fight food waste, that we'll be able to generate a positive change in society.”

According to a rep for the app, a formal Rhode Island launch is expected in early December — but businesses and consumers can participate now. 

 

RI Now on App Map

In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30–40 percent of the food supply, according to the FDA. This figure, based on estimates from USDA’s Economic Research Service of 31 percent food loss at the retail and consumer levels, corresponded to approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010. 

“Wasted food is the single largest category of material placed in municipal landfills and represents nourishment that could have helped feed families in need,” writes the FDA. “Additionally, water, energy, and labor used to produce wasted food could have been employed for other purposes. Effectively reducing food waste will require cooperation among federal, state, tribal and local governments, faith-based institutions, environmental organizations, communities, and the entire supply chain.”

In Rhode Island, more than a half dozen businesses have already signed up for the "Too Good to Go" app. 

“It’s working great for us. I like to participate in programs like this, especially if we can help people out,” said Oliver Aldana with Roma on Federal Hill. 

Aldan said that in addition to selling a meal that would ordinarily cost $15 for a third of the price at $5, he likes to add in even more.

“I like to give people a good deal. I’ll include bread and dessert, too,” he said. 

At Chalkstone Supermarket, Rodger Rodrigue said the app has helped sell their hot food offerings at the end of the day as well. 

“We can offer produce and packaged food [on the app], but it’s up and down in terms of what people get,” he said. “If I’m offering something that’s about to expire, it’s probably not going to have much variety. It’s likely to be, say four boxes of graham crackers.”

“We already were doing ‘grab deals’ in the store, if something was approaching expiration, we’d discount the price,” he said. “We looked at this as a way to get more people to buy from the store.”

“Everyone has waste,” he said of the industry. “If we can limit that, and help people at the same time, you can’t go wrong.”