Whole Foods Market partners with Too Good To Go to sell surplus food. The app, with 100M users, helps cut food waste and offers discounts. The program, now at 450 Whole Foods stores, saves millions of meals. Whole Foods aims to cut waste by 50% by 2030.
Too Good To Go began in Denmark in 2016. It now operates in 18 countries in North America and Europe. The app has 100M users and 160,000 active partners. In the U.S., there are 21,000 stores on the platform, saving 12.5M meals so far. Major partners include 7-Eleven, Starbucks, and now Whole Foods.
Whole Foods joins Too Good To Go with 450 stores participating. Customers can buy "surprise bags" of unsold items through the app. These bags cost $9.99 for prepared foods worth $30 and $6.99 for bakery items worth $21. Too Good To Go takes a $1.79 commission per meal, plus an $89 annual fee from partners.
Food waste is a significant issue in the U.S., making up 30-40% of the food supply and being the largest landfill category. Whole Foods aims to cut its food waste in half by 2030. Too Good To Go helps by distributing surplus food and boosting in-store traffic. 41% of users buy extra items when picking up their bags.
Social media has played a key role in Too Good To Go’s growth. Users post reviews of their surprise bags on TikTok and Reddit, attracting more customers. Whole Foods pilot tested the program in Austin, then expanded to Chicago, Denver, and Phoenix. The nationwide rollout continues, with all stores joining by year-end.
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