Press ReleaseWorld’s largest online marketplace for surplus food, Too Good To Go launches down under to help fight food waste

MELBOURNE, 29 August 2024 — Too Good To Go , the world's largest marketplace for surplus food today announces its official launch in Australia beginning in Melbourne. The Danish-born certified B-Corp aims to help households and businesses halve Australia’s annual food waste by 2030 in line with the National Food Waste Strategy. Too Good To Go will help everyone fight unnecessary food waste by connecting Aussies 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.

In Australia, food waste is a multi billion dollar problem, with over 7.6 million tonnes of food wasted annually. That’s enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground ten times over and sadly, 70% of this food is still edible.

Joost Rietveld, Country Director of Australia said, “We're 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. 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.”

How the Too Good To Go App works

1. Find surplus food near you: Users search Too Good To Go’s Marketplace app for stores nearby that have surplus food available.
2. Save a “Surprise Bag”: Users select a store, reserve a Surprise Bag, and pre-pay.
3. Pick up your food: Users arrive within the pick-up window that the store sets, shows their in-app receipt and receives their Surprise Bag to enjoy!

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. Too Good To Go’s Marketplace makes for a win-win-win solution - for retailers generating income from inventory that would otherwise be reduced to waste, but also for consumers getting 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. Finally the environment really wins as food waste accounts for 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide (WWF).

Mette Lykke, Global CEO of Too Good To Go said, “We are very excited to launch Too Good To Go in Australia, our third continent of operation. This expansion is 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. 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!”

Rahul Arora, Operations Manager, Abacus Dining Group: “The arrival of Too Good To Go in Australia is a game-changer in our fight against food waste. By connecting businesses with consumers who value quality food at an affordable price, we’re taking a big step toward a more sustainable future. It’s an incredible opportunity to make a real difference in how we approach food consumption, and we’re thrilled to be part of this movement.”

John Scalzo, St Ali: “We work with a lot of companies trying to constantly help reduce waste from both a cost perspective and also environmental perspective. We work with Reground to repurpose our coffee grounds and soft plastics. We also have an environmental plan in our factory to move closer to a circular economy. So when I found out about Too Good To Go to reduce our food waste it was 'Too Good To Pass Up!”

Too Good To Go quantifies the environmental impact of the food that users help to save in Surprise Bags from going to waste in ‘tonnes’ of CO2e, ‘litres’ of water use and ‘m2’ of land use avoided per year.

The quantities of each measure are based on independent research conducted in 2023 by Mérieux Nutrisciences | Blonk and validated by researchers from Oxford University and WRAP. The research is concluded in a bespoke measurement framework based on Life Cycle Index data of the food from going to waste.According to this independent framework, 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.

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 easy to use app is available for download in the Apple App Store and Google Play for Android .

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About Too Good To GoToo Good To Go is a certified B Corp social impact company that connects users with partners to rescue unsold food and stop it from going to waste. With 100 million registered users and 170,000 active partners across 19 countries including Australia, Too Good To Go operates the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food. 

Since its launch in 2016, Too Good To Go has helped save over 350 million meals from going to waste, the equivalent to 945,000 tonnes of CO2e avoided.