Fight Food Waste with Too Good To Go
| Updated: |(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
Did you know that one-third of the world’s food production goes to waste? It is just insane! Do you wish there was a way to fight this? Well, there is: It is Too Good To Go.
Too Good To Go is a service that lets connects businesses and people to fight food waste. Instead of throwing their unsold products at the end of the day, businesses can sell them to people. They offer a mobile application to do that.
I think this is an awesome concept. It can prevent a lot of food from being wasted. I hope this thing starts getting more popular and continue expanding!
We used this service three times. Find out about our experience!
Too Good To Go
Too Good To Go is a recent startup. Lucie Basch founded it in January 2016. She started the company in France, quickly expanding to 13 countries.
Only during its first year it managed to get more than 300 partners. In 2016, they saved over 500’000 meals. And in 2017, they saved over two million meals. This is incredible! It is several tons of food that people eat instead of throwing them away!
The first obvious advantage is to save food. But there is also another huge advantage. Too Good To Go is also saving energy. When we produce food, it often takes a lot of power. And if this food goes to waste, so does the power necessary to produce the food. Many people do not realize this.
The entire focus of the company is to fight food waste. For this, they connect businesses that sell foods and consumers. Instead of throwing away unsold food at the end of the day, businesses can put it away for sale on the platform. This food is put away at a substantial discount. Consumers can then reserve this food and come pick it up.
One interesting thing is that you will generally not know what you will buy in advance. You will know the value of what you will buy. For instance, you could know you will buy 21 CHF of bakery products. And you know you will pay 7 CHF for this pack. However, you will only know once you pick it up what will be in the bag.
Moreover, you cannot go at any time to take a Too Good To Go bag. You can only go during a particular window, generally around closing time. For instance, some restaurants will be open for this from 2 pm to 2:30 pm. This is just after their lunchtime and before they close for the afternoon.
The idea is not to let people do their groceries cheaper with this system. But people can buy an unsold meal at a discounted price.
Too Good To Go in Switzerland
About one year ago, Too Good To Go launched in Switzerland. Now, they already have more than 1700 businesses working with them. It is incredible. And this shows that food waste is a real problem many people are concerned about.
Since they started in Switzerland, they save over 600’000 meals with this system. In Switzerland, they have bakeries, restaurants, hotels, and some supermarkets.
Our Experience with Too Good To Go
When I discovered this application, I directly wanted to use it. So far, we have used it three times. I would have liked to use it more. But there are not many partner shops around us.
We live in a small village, next to a small city. If you live in a bigger city, you will probably have much more choices than us. But I was already impressed by the choice we had where we lived. I was amazed that the small bakery in our village was a partner.
First experience
Our first experience was with a bakery in the next village. It is the closest shop that we found on the application.
On a Saturday night, we ordered a magic bag for Sunday. We had to go to the bakery between 11 am and 11:30 am. We paid 6.90 for the bag, and we knew we were getting about 21 CHF of value. So I went there, and the saleswoman filled a bag for me. We brought our bags to avoid more waste. Then I went home, and we unpacked the magic bag.
Here is what we go for our first bag (unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture):
- 2 Croissants
- 2 Small Bread
- 500g of white bread
- 3 various croissants (hazelnut and vanilla)
- 2 canapés (toasts with ham, eggs, and mayo on it).
It was entirely enough for our brunch this day. And this was also enough for our breakfast the next day. Since we do not eat much bread, we offered the bread to our neighbor.
And everything was really good. It was still more than fresh enough. We had more than enough value in this magic bag.
Second experience
Our second experience was also quite good. This time it was a Coffee shop in the next town.
I ordered in the morning to pick them up at night. I had to go there between 7:30 pm and 8 pm. I paid 4.90 CHF for the bag. The value was said to be 15 CHF. I went there, and they filled a bag for me. Once at home, I checked the contents of the Too Good To Go bag.
Here is what we got:
- A small brad
- A grain croissant
- A ham sandwich
- A nuts roll
- An almond croissant
There was a lot of value in this bag. Everything was excellent and still very fresh. It was perfectly fine. This is not probably something I would have paid 15 CHF for. But this is something I am willing to pay 4.90 CHF for. And especially if this can prevent some food waste.
Third experience
Unfortunately, our third experience did not go as well as the other two. This time it was in a gas station in the next town.
Again, I ordered in the morning to pick up the magic bag at night. It was the same conditions as our second experience: a 4.90 CHF bag for 15 CHF of value and the pick up between 7:30 and 8 pm.
However, once I arrived there, the shop was closed! They did not update their pick-up hours for the day on the application. I could not believe it.
I directly canceled the order on the application because the shop was not open. It was directly refunded.
I am not angry about Too Good To Go. They dealt with this very well. However, I am mad about this shop. Unfortunately, I could not let a review since I canceled the order. But I will never lay foot in this shop ever again. And I made a review on Google instead. If they are not capable of adapting to something like this, they are not capable at all.
How to use Too Good To Go
Using Too Good To Go is very easy. First, you will have to install the application on your mobile phone. For this, goes to your application store and search for Too Good To Go. Install the app and start it. They will ask you a few questions to register for the app.
Then, you can directly start to use the application. You can enter a location where you want to pick up things. You can use your current location or your home address.
Then, the application will list all the restaurants and shops that are available around you. And it will also show the different conditions of each of them:
- The time when you have to pick up the bag
- The number of bags left
- The value of the bag
- The price you pay for the bag
Once you have found a bag that interests you, select it. And then you can reserve it. You will have to pay directly. At this point, you will not yet know exactly what is inside the bag.
When the time comes, you can go to the shop you selected. Do not forget to bring a bag to pack all this. At the shop, you can show them your receipt, and they will prepare your bag and give it to you. You then have to indicate the receipt as done.
Now, all that remains is to go back to your place and enjoy the great food! And you can appreciate that you did a small thing to fight food waste.
Conclusion
I think Too Good To Go is an incredibly good company. I hate it when people waste food. If people start using this application more, I am sure we can reduce food waste significantly!
The world needs more initiatives like Too Good To Go. Not only can we fight food waste, but we can also save some money on some great food!
Of course, not everything is great with this service.
It seems that some shops are still not ready for this, as pointed out by our third experience. I think it is unacceptable to offer this service and not even be open when people are supposed to be coming for pickup.
Also, If you live in a small place like ours, you probably will not have a lot of opportunities to use it. And, if you want meals for several people, it may become difficult to find them all at the same shop. You may need to go to several shops for this.
We only used it three times so far, and I am already convinced this is a great product! I am not sure of how often we will use it because there are not many places around us using it. But I am sure we will use it a few times when we do not want to cook. Of for another Sunday brunch. And if more shops around us start using this, we will use it more often. However, some shops need to be more serious about it. I do not want our third experience to repeat itself.
If you want more tips to save money on your budget, you should learn Seven Great Tips to Keep Your Food Budget Small.
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Hello Mr TPS.
First, thank you for all your interesting articles!
I’m testing this in Rome now and it works quite well.
For example, yesterday I got a tray of pizza plus cupcakes and a pastry from a bakery for 5€. Not bad at all…
However, the bakery was not exactly in my usual route to go home after work so I had to walk an extra distance to pick it up.
Being a bit cynical, I could have gotten a similar amount of frozen pizza at a supermarket for the same or lower price.
If I would have eaten the stuff right away it would have been a great deal but since I brought it home for dinner probably the total price, effort and culinary experience of a frozen pizza would have been similar.
Again, being a bit cynical, I think shops see this as a another way to promote themselves. Nothing wrong with that just something to keep in mind…
Like previous commentators, I also worry a bit if I’m taking the food that would otherwise have gone to someone less fortunate than myself. Impossible to know…
I like this way of buying food and I will keep using it, but I think it takes some time to gain experience to use it in a truly beneficial way.
Hi Kalle,
Thanks a lot for your detailed experience!
I completely agree with your points.
We should not go too much out of our way to get the food if we want this to be worth it. And sometimes, the food gets a bit stale from the wait and the transport.
And I completely agree that some (if not most) shops do that to get some promotion. They hope to get new clients in the TooGoodToGo customers. But I am sure some do that mainly for avoiding the waste.
As for taking the food from other people that would need it, you may want to look at this interview with the founder of TooGoodToGo. She answers this question well.
Thanks for stopping by!
Very interesting- hope we get this in the US sometime soon! Its such a good idea, I’m sure it won’t be long.
Hi She’s Fired,
That would be great if they started to cover more countries indeed!
Hopefully, it won’t be long. But I am not sure everybody in the U.S. is very receptive to the idea.
Thanks for stopping by!
Great concept! I signed up through your link – is it an affiliate link? If so how do you sign up to partner with them? I love their initiative!
By the way, there are many vendors in lausanne including my favorite bakery! I will use it and write a review later. I’ll be sure to link to your post when I do :)
Hi Mama Bear,
Yes, it’s a really cool concept :)
You probably have much more choice in Lausanne indeed :)
No, it’s not an affiliate link. I didn’t find a way to sign up to partner with them.
I am looking forward to your review!
Thanks for stopping by!
Two out of three isn’t bad, Mr. Poor Swiss! But it is unfortunate that you had to drive out of your way to only to find the last shop closed.
The Too Good To Go project seems like a great concept. In many areas in the US, food that can’t be sold is being donated to non-profits serving free meals to homeless or low-income people. However, it’s a real challenge in big cities like San Francisco, California to pick-up donated food from restaurants due to parking and traffic constraints.
A combination of all these ideas and more will continue to be helpful, though.
Hi,
In retrospect, two out of three is not that bad indeed. But still, I was not happy about it.
It’s a great service indeed! But as you said, there are some alternatives. Donating the food to non-profits is a great idea. The problem is that non-profits do not have the resources to go pick up the food in every location.
Every step we do in the direction of not wasting food is a great step!
Thanks for stopping by!