There’s one particular element of restaurants that has amazed me ever since I worked as a server years ago: How do they know the quantity of ingredients to order from suppliers so they’re not wasting tremendous amounts of food every week?
As it turns out, it’s a guessing game even for restaurants. As reported by CNN Business, “an estimated 30% to 40% of the US food supply is wasted.” That’s so much food!
The article linked to a company that’s trying to address the problem. It’s called Too Good To Go, and it works like this: You choose a restaurant on the app to place an undefined order for a few dollars (you don’t know what you’re getting), selecting a pick-up time (which I’m assuming is when the restaurant is almost ready to close for the day). The restaurant packs a bag with a random assortment of dishes containing ingredients that would otherwise go to waste.
It seems like a win-win-win solution. The restaurant wins because they sell food they’d otherwise throw out. The consumer wins because they pay less for restaurant food. The app gets a small cut, and the earth wins because we waste less food.
I’m guessing that some restaurants donate leftover food to those in need at the end of the day, but perishable food doesn’t last long. Also, because the app isn’t available in St. Louis, I wasn’t able to test it to see if you can choose vegetarian options–I’m guessing not. Though from the screenshot it looks like you can choose between several categories of food.
Have you tried anything like this? I’d love to see it here in St. Louis.
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