Food waste reduction app Too Good To Go sets up shop in Dublin

Food waste app Too Good To Go, which raised $31m earlier this year, is setting up a base for Irish operations

Jonathan Keane

September 26 2021 02:30 AM

Food waste reduction app Too Good To Go is launching operations in Ireland with a team on the ground in Dublin.

The Danish start-up, which raised over $31m earlier this year, offers a marketplace for restaurants and food businesses to list food for sale at the end of the day that would otherwise be thrown out.

Users in Dublin can purchase a ‘surprise bag’ of food from restaurants at a discounted price.

More than 40 restaurants, including KC Peaches, have signed up for the Irish launch.

Co-founder Jamie Crummie said its model helps restaurants offset the risk of ordering too much supply.

“We’re launching in Ireland off the back of a pandemic. As restrictions within Ireland are getting lifted, what businesses are finding so hard is just the unpredictability of it all, not knowing what footfall is going to be like,” he said.

“With all of that come stresses and this notion of unpredictability on how much food to prepare.”

Too Good To Go charges a commission on every sale made through its app.

“We recognise how huge and complex the issue of food waste is and what we’ve found out is that our business model is a great way to incentivise people to do their bit on food waste,” Crummie said.

He added that the company employs a team of eight to support the Dublin operations.

Founded in 2015, Too Good To Go operates in several markets in Europe and the US with 40 million users.

“Food waste itself is something that has no borders and it’s so important for us to be able to be operating everywhere that we can to ensure that as much food as possible can be rescued,” Crummie said.

In Ireland, it will operate in a similar space to social enterprise FoodCloud, which partners with supermarkets and food businesses to redistribute unsold food to charities and other causes.

Crummie said Too Good To Go is looking to establish similar relationships with charities in Ireland.

Reducing food waste has a critical role to play in addressing the climate crisis, he added.

“What I always try and get across with anyone I speak to is just that how important food waste is within the climate agenda. We are in a climate emergency.”

Too Good To Go raised $31.1m in a funding round in January led by New York venture firm Blisce.