Dealing with food waste is one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges. In the US, between 30 and 40 percent of the food supply is wasted every year. The issue is similar in Europe, where more than 59 million tons of food waste are generated annually. While individual households are contributing to the food waste crisis, businesses, like restaurants, hotels, and grocery stores, are also major culprits. According to the National Restaurant Association, American restaurants are responsible for up to 33 billion pounds of annual food waste.
Back in 2015, a group of young entrepreneurs based in Denmark—Thomas Bjørn, Stian Olesen, Klaus Bagge Pedersen, Brian Christensen, and Adam Sigbrand—wanted to find a solution to help mitigate the growing food waste problem.
Too Good To Go
So, they created Too Good To Go, a platform designed to help food businesses reduce their waste by connecting them with consumers who would buy excess food at a discounted price. An app was launched in 2016, and it quickly gained traction in the UK and Europe.
Today, Too Good To Go is the world’s biggest food surplus marketplace. It’s operational across Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia, and has more than 100 million registered users all over the world. Want to join them? Here’s how it could benefit the planet and your wallet at the same time.
How does Too Good to Go help tackle food waste?
Food waste goes beyond food. It also costs economies billions of dollars, as well as valuable resources. Almost half of the world’s habitable land is currently used for agriculture, for example. There are also issues at the other end of the chain—when food ends up in the landfill, it contributes to harmful greenhouse gas emissions, like methane and carbon dioxide. That’s why Too Good To Go, led by Danish entrepreneur Mette Lykke as CEO, is on a mission to help food businesses get rid of their waste in a more sustainable way—by selling it at a discounted price to consumers.
Too Good to Go
“Since our launch, we’ve saved more than 350 million meals from going to waste,” Sarah Soteroff, Too Good To Go’s Senior PR Manager for North America, told VegNews. “That’s equivalent to preventing 945,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, conserving 283.5 billion liters of water, and preserving 980 million square meters of land annually.”
Here’s how it works: food businesses, like grocery stores and restaurants, register food that is near-expiry on the app for consumers to collect at a discounted price. The consumers then head to the establishment to pick up their bargain parcel (which is sometimes packaged in a “surprise bag”, so they don’t know exactly what’s inside), take it home, and enjoy the food.
“By empowering businesses and engaging consumers, we aim to drive systemic change toward a more sustainable food system,” Soteroff said.
Too Good To Go has partnered with a range of businesses all over the world, including Starbucks, Subway, Carrefour, and Aldi. These partnerships don’t just save food from heading to the landfill, they also save consumers money. In the UK, one recent report suggested that Aldi’s surprise bags with Too Good To Go—sold at £3.30 (roughly $4.16) a bag, and often containing around £10 (just under $13) worth of food—had saved British shoppers more than $21 million or £17 million.
In the US, Too Good To Go recently partnered with Whole Foods Market to sell surprise bags to American consumers. Speaking about the collaboration, which was announced in July 2024, Whole Foods Market’s vice president of sustainability Caitlin Leibert said that the store was “thrilled to be part of the Too Good To Go community.”
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She added: “As part of our purpose to nourish people and the planet, we continue to invest in new and innovative ways to keep unsold food out of our landfills and empower our customers to make environmentally conscious choices.”
In January 2025, the duo also teamed up to offer more surprise bags in two formats: prepared foods and bakery. The former was priced at just under $10 but was filled with $30 worth of soups and ready-to-eat meals, while the latter was priced at $6.99 and filled with bread, muffins, cookies, and scones worth $21.
“Collaborating with Whole Foods Market is a major milestone for Too Good To Go,” said Soteroff, before adding: “This collaboration is a model for future partnerships, demonstrating how we can work with businesses of all sizes, from local cafés to large retailers, to tackle food waste.”
Too Good To Go
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How to reduce food waste with Too Good To Go
The Too Good To Go app is simple to use. Simply allow access to your location and it will list all of the discounted surplus food available to pick up in your area. If you’re looking for options without meat, keep an eye out for entries that read “vegan surprise bag” or “vegetarian surprise bag.” You can also filter the entries by diet preference.
As well as Too Good To Go, there are many ways to reduce food waste. Careful planning before grocery shopping, batch-cooking, saving leftovers, and composting are all handy ways to reduce your individual food waste impact. For more, you can find tips from plant-based chef Max La Manna here.
“Small, mindful actions can lead to a big impact,” adds Soteroff. “Start by being intentional about your shopping, cooking, and eating habits. Plan meals, store food properly, and get creative with leftovers. Support businesses and initiatives that actively combat food waste, like Too Good To Go. Together, we can create a culture where food is valued and waste is minimized.”
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Charlotte is a VegNews editor and writer based in sunny Southsea on England's southern coast.
