Too Good to Go is a smartphone app that allows users to order leftover food that restaurants would otherwise throw away at discount prices. Originally launched in Denmark, the service has recently been introduced in the United Kingdom by a couple of young entrepreneurs, after returning from the Nordic country.

The main purpose of this newly launched service is to cut food waste. Millions of tonnes of food are thrown in the trash every year in the UK alone, with restaurants accounting for fairly large chunk, so eco-entrepreneurs Chris Wilson and Jamie Crummie came up with a more profitable alternative. “It costs restaurants on average 97p for every meal they throw away so we are saving them that expense and giving them extra,” Wilson said. “And we provide them with all packaging so they have recyclable and eco-friendly boxes.” As for Too Good to Go users, they get the chance to order fancy dishes at low prices ranging between £2 to £3.80 per meal.

Photo: Too Good to Go

Using Too Good to Go is fairly straightforward. You can browse the available dishes on your smartphone, pay for them using a credit card and go pick them up in a set time slot, which usually during closing hours or after lunch or dinner. The service has so far been launched in Brighton and Leeds, and is set to roll out in London this month. Wilson says they have already struck deals with over 95 London restaurants, most of them independent or small chains, as big players are very hard to talk to. “Most of the places tend to be independent or just small chains because it is really hard to crack the big companies,” Wilson said. “It is the bigger chains that have the large amounts of food waste but it is hard to even speak to the right people there.”

Photo: Too Good to Go

Although Too Good to Go does take a fee from restaurants for each sale,, its creators say the end goal is not to make a profit, but put a stop to food waste. All their income is apparently reinvested into expanding the project nationwide. “The ultimate goal is to use it for restaurants to solve their waste management problem, rather than it being about making profit,” Wilson claims. “The idea is that restaurants stop producing the extra food so they don’t need to throw it away in the first place, so really we want to put ourselves out of business by stopping food-waste.”

“Charities do really good work with restaurants but they keep it at a low level,” the young co-founder added. “By creating an app and involving the customers we are hopeful that it will have a bit of a bigger impact.” According to a 2010 report, UK restaurants throw away about 600,000 tonnes of food per year.

Source: The Evening Standard