LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Josh Bayard picked up a bag of bagels but had no idea what was inside until he opened it.
“Eight bagels of different kinds, a lot of everything bagels,” he said.
He got the food for less than a third of the regular price from Too Good to Go. It’s an app with stores and restaurants serving up everything from pastries to salad to pizza.
Customers can buy a surprise bag that costs between $4-6 that many restaurants offer up at the end of the business day.
The owner of Bullfrog Bagels calls it a win-win.
“There’s just less waste. We make a little extra money and the customer gets a very deeply discounted bagel,” said Bullfrog Bagels owner Jeremiah Cohen.
While Too Good to Go offers discounted food from restaurants that would otherwise be thrown away, there are also apps that offer the same from grocery stores.
One of them called Flashfood works with about 1,400 supermarkets.
Stores pick out items nearing their expiration dates and sell them for around half price on the app. Customers pick up their items from a refrigerator near the front of the store.
“Yeah, we’re selling almost all the food that gets made available on the Flashfood app,” said CEO Josh Domingues.
Flashfood and Too Good To Go take a percentage of every sale, but the companies say they are committed to fighting food waste. That’s the main reason Bayard uses the app.
“I mean everything we do can make an impact,” Bayard said.
Too Good To Go is in 13 major cities and Flashfood is in about half of U.S. states.
Both are expanding to transform more food waste into an affordable feast.
