Surplus food marketplace app, Too Good To Go, is launching in Melbourne, its first availability in Australia. Started in Denmark in 2016, it aims to help households and businesses halve Australia’s annual food waste by 2030, in line with the National Food Waste Strategy.
Food waste is a multi billion dollar problem in Australia, with over 7.6 million tonnes of food wasted annually. That’s enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground ten times over, and 70 per cent of this food waste is still edible.
Too Good To Go helps to fight unnecessary food waste by connecting consumers with businesses' surplus food for a reduced price through its app. The free to use mobile app will allow users to purchase a Surprise Bag of food, at a reduced price, from a range of bakeries, cafes, restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses.
Over 80 local businesses have joined Too Good To Go for its launch in Australia and amongst them are some of the most innovative brands Melbourne has to offer like Abacus Bar and Kitchen, ST. ALi, Undercover Roasters, and Wabi Sushi.
FoodCo’s Muffin Break and Jamaica Blue will also be joining the marketplace with select sites rolling out across Victoria throughout September. More stores will continuously be added on the app, which worldwide already partners with more than 170,000 food businesses.
Country director of Australia, Joost Rietveld, said the organisation was thrilled to launch Too Good To Go starting in Melbourne, with its vibrant food culture and clear recognition of the value of food.
“Australia’s strong commitment to sustainability makes it the perfect match for our mission to inspire and empower everyone to fight food waste together,” said Rietveld.
“We’re excited to invite Aussies to join our movement and start saving their favourite foods from going to waste. We hired a local team to drive our contribution to reduce food waste in Australia. Together, we can make a real impact and create a more sustainable future.”
The Too Good To Go Surprise Bag leverages the unpredictability of surplus food and food waste by enabling businesses the flexibility to save any and all food at the end of the day, including prepared food, beverages and ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away.
The marketplace allows retailers to generate income from inventory that would otherwise be reduced to waste, and helps consumers get quality food from great locations at a reasonable price, a welcomed solution at a time when many Australians are struggling through the cost of living crisis.
The app is also a step towards fighting the environmental impact of food waste, which accounts for 10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions.
It is estimated that saving a meal from being wasted (1 Surprise Bag = 1 kg) through the Too Good To Go marketplace app is equivalent to avoiding 2.7 kg of CO2e emissions, 810 litres of water use and 2.8 m2 of unnecessary land use per year.
Too Good To Go global CEO, Mette Lykke, said Australia was the third continent that the app had been rolled out across, and was a significant step towards our vision of a planet without food waste.
“We cannot afford to waste food—it's too valuable for society, the economy, and the planet,” said Lykke.
“In fact, reducing food waste is one of the most effective actions we can take to help tackle climate change and limit temperature rise to 2˚C by 2100 (Project Drawdown, 2020). We invite everyone in Australia to join our global community of 100 million users and 170,000 business partners and start making a difference, one meal at a time - bite by bite!”
The Too Good To Go App already has more than 100 million registered users in 18 countries, empowering everyone to save more than 350 million meals since 2016.
Melbourne’s launch commences Too Good To Go’s third continental expansion, with other cities set to roll out shortly after. The app is available for download in the Apple App Store and Google Play for Android.
