An app-based service aimed at reducing food waste officially launched in Hampton Roads on Wednesday.
Too Good To Go, a marketplace for surplus food, connects local businesses — large national chains and small, independently owned stores and restaurants — with residents looking to get food at a discount.
The app is free to download on both Google Play and the App Store. The service also launched in Richmond the same day.
It works like this: Restaurants, stores, farmers markets and food trucks list their unsold excess food in “Surprise Bags” on the app at a third to half of retail prices. Registered customers can then purchase their surprise bags for pickup from the participating vendors in a designated window of time.
Surprise Bags — aptly named because the purchaser does not know exactly what the contents will be — usually contain baked foods, meals, produce or vegan food.
Allie Denburg, associate director of strategy and operations for Too Good To Go, said the sellers can list categories and more information is provided for some items.
Inspired by the service’s sustainability mission, Denburg said she left grad school to work for the company she had relied on as a student on a tight budget.
“Forty percent of all food is wasted worldwide,” Denburg said. “We’re helping to reduce the greenhouse gases that come from food waste and contribute to a more sustainable planet.”
It’s a win-win-win for consumers saving money on food, businesses recouping revenue and the environmental impact on the planet, she said.
Too Good To Go, a worldwide app-based service that connects local food businesses with surplus food to consumers at a fraction of the retail cost, launched in Hampton Roads on May 21. (Courtesy of Too Good To Go)
The majority of the surprise bags from MacArthur General on Granby Street will contain the locally grown organic produce the store is known for, co-owner Brett Darlington said.
“We’re happy to be able to give it away and not watch some of it go bad,” Darlington said.
Julie Gavin, manager of Amici’s at Village Market in Suffolk, said it kind of makes her brain explode when people throw away food. Amici’s plans to have its fresh bread, made in-house daily, and salads in its surprise bags.
“And if somebody calls in an order and doesn’t show up or cancels it, we don’t want to throw it out, so that whole order will go up for a reduced price,” Gavin said.
Founded in Denmark in 2016, Too Good To Go has grown to include 19 countries and 29 U.S. cities, with 100 million registered users and 175,000 business partners. Denburg said the app has saved more than 22 million meals in the U.S. from going to waste.
More than 30 Hampton Roads businesses are on the app. They include: Whole Foods, Krispy Kreme, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Casa Burrito & Bowls, Log Cabin Pancake House, Welton’s Seafood Market and Jody’s Gourmet Popcorn.
Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@pilotonline.com
Originally Published: May 23, 2025 at 7:12 AM EDT
