I’ve been using their app for some time now and really like the concept: Basically it allows restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets etc to announce when they have stuff leftover that they’d usually throw away at the end of the day. You can browse those nearby shops in the app and reserve a “surprise bag” for a small amount, usually around a third of the regular price, but it varies. In the pickup timeframe (usally around 30-60min before their closing time) you go there, show that you’ve reserved the bag in your app, confirm that you’ve received it and happily walk home with a ton of surprise food for super cheap.
After using it for a while I can especially recommend looking for food stalls at farmers markets as they often have lots of stuff leftover that they don’t want to take back home when packing up so they’re often super generous. Bakeries are also great, I regularly get a week’s supply of bread, buns, pastries and cake for like 3-5€.
EDIT: While it’s made in Denmark the app works globally or at least all of EuropeAFAIK, definitely works fine with lots of participating shops in Germany.
We got something similar called ResQ in Finland, works great but I guess it’s available only in very few countries.
I tried this app and while I love the concept I think the implementation is trash.
My biggest complaint when I tried it was that you couldn’t specify dietary restrictions, like there’s not even a simple vegetarian option which would be so easy for many restaurants to accommodate. This app might be ok if you’re happy eating any slop the restaurant can’t sell that day, but if you have literally any preference then too bad.
Then there’s also the issue of some restaurants that intentionally make extra food so they can sell it on the app. I don’t have a solution to this one, but it’s a problem that needs to be addressed if the point of the app is to reduce food waste.
From my own experience, it’s down to the restaurant / shop to offer a vegetarian option, TGTG doesnt tell the restaurant what to offer, so maybe see if you can get your favorite places to offer a vegetarian / vegan / etc bag. A grocery store in my area offer a vegan breakfast almost every day. As for what TGTG should do, maybe they could add filters and tags so you can filter out your preferences. That would be cool.
Unpopular opinion: i think the whole concept is just “selling a problem” instead of solving it. All the participating stores now can “green”-wash their hands and do literlay nothing against foodwaste and are just building am industry around it. Rather than ordering or producing less products in the first place.
I disagree, at least don’t see that for any of the stores participating in my area. They don’t like overproducing either, everything they throw away is a loss for them. But it’s also difficult to predict how much you’ll be able to sell on any given day. Bakeries for example usually bake only once a day in the early morning and they have to make an educated guess about how much of each item will be sold that day, but it’s never gonna be a perfect guess. Sometimes they’re out early, a few customers will be disappointed and the shop will make a tiny bit less profit that day, and some other times they produce a bit too much that they won’t be able to sell the next day so they’d have to throw it out. I just don’t see how it’s greenwashing trying to avoid that by finding takers for the extra stuff using this app. If someone eats the food then it’s not wasted food.
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I’ve used this a few times in england. It’s okay for the novelty or if you like eating anything/everything but I have the same criticisms - you’re getting a few random old things they can’t sell. Its usually not a very good deal, just like buying reduced stuff at the supermarket is usually substandard in some way.
There used to be some good deals in the past, but as the demand increased, so did the prices.
The offering is very hit or miss. Obviously, that’s not the platforms fault. It does feel like some of the vendors are taking the piss.
I’ve had everything from total disappointment to “they could’ve given me a third of what I got and I would’ve been happy”.
Still worth trying out to see what’s on offer in your area.
Obviously, that’s not the platforms fault.
Exactly. The platform — at least as a user — is great. However, the vendors do often give out… Well, garbage. Hit or miss, as you put it.
I’ve found a few places nearby that have some pretty solid offerings, to be honest, but I’ve been disappointed a couple of times as well…
Yeah, I’ve tried a bunch of places at first but now I have 4-5 favorite ones that always have good stuff. Some restaurants seem to use the app more as advertisement to get more people visiting, but I think that’s fair too when they offer a meal for half the price in return. Also I never got any bad deals, it was always a good bargain even if I didn’t end up liking what I got. It’s kind of a plus for the app actually in my opinion because that I tried many new places that I’d normally not care about just because they were in the app, and I found some really nice ones this way.
My worst bag ever was full of rotten fruit and veg and I’ve never gone back to that vendor. In all fairness to TGTG, after I spent 3 minutes submitting a complaint in the app they refunded me in full.
Still not sure if I like the concept. Technically it should reduce food faste. On the other hand, sellers don’t get punished enough by overproducing. Because now they can sell the left overs, vs. having to throw them away.
A bistro chain near me implemented that app. They offer mixed bags of whatever is left an hour before they close. Sound good but there is a question we should ask a lot more: does this need to be an app? Couldn’t they just discount everything in the last hour? Literally a piece of paper on a door “19:00 - 20:00, - 50%” would do exactly the same. Is it a sign of getting old if I hate unnecessary use of technology?
But if someone buys and eats the food then it’s not wasted, is it?
Yes, it is not wasted in this case. But why should I produce less food the next day, if I can still sell everything? Sure, they earn less, but still enough to cover the costs. So they have no motivation to reduce production, as the financial impact is not as big.
Ok but even if that was the case and they produce too much because they can sell the rest at a discount, it’s not really “too much” if everything gets sold and eaten. Why would they produce less than there’s demand for? I don’t really see a problem as long as the food doesn’t end up in a trash can.
It’s a great app and it really does help to avoid waste, but… I know a few businesses that went from donating their leftovers to charities for the poor to selling them through TGTG, because that way, they still make some money off of it.
Our local supermarket I worked at went the same way. Meat with only 1 day left used to be frozen in and picked up by the food bank twice a week, along with all the fresh produce that wasn’t “presentable”. Now it’s sold at 60% off through a similar system.
Used to tear the contents stickers so they couldn’t legally be sold anymore, just so the guys from the food banks collecting wouldnt leave empty handed.
I’ve been using the app for a while and had no idea it was a European app. I’m an (embarrassed by my country) American so I’m glad that I’m supporting a European company, and the businesses in my area that use it are all small local businesses.
Oh, they’re Danish!
