A Ladle ... Less Food Waste

In Germany alone, 18 million tons of edible food end up on the garbage heap leading to an unnecessary waste of all the resources used to produce it. Too Good To Go tackles this issue by providing simple solutions to the problem with - for one - its food saving app, offering restaurants, coffee shops and food retailers a platform to sell surplus food that would otherwise go to waste. As part of our "A Ladle..." series, we talk to CEO Mette Lykke about the mission and vision of Too Good To Go, and the reasons for the partnership with METRO.

Mette, what was the spark that initiated the founding of Too Good To Go?

It all started with the realization of just how many tons of food restaurants discard food every day. We’re talking about perfectly edible food that was up for sale hours earlier. We thought there had to be a smarter way to handle it and a few months later, the Too Good To Go app was born as the first solution to addressing this huge issue! It’s now available in 15 countries. We have over 35 million users and more than 44,000 partners on board. The partnership with METRO is another of our new models for achieving our vision of a planet with no food waste by connecting with wholesalers and the food professionals that use their services.

How do we get there?

It starts with awareness and then with driving real change - behavioral, in businesses and education, and at a political level. When we change the way we approach food waste and start respecting food for its true value, children grow up with different habits and skills, and businesses incorporate food waste reduction policies more prominently in their planning. Making these changes means understanding the current way of thinking and working. Too Good To Go processes align with how businesses already operate. We support METRO customers in reaching their food waste reduction goals by addressing them where they already are and implementing solutions that work in harmony with their existing business processes. We all remember being told to always empty our plate. Now we know it’s more about wrapping up the food for later!

Why do you work with METRO?

METRO is a global company that – just like us – has realized that with great scale come great opportunities. It’s up to us to make an impact and seriously advocate for the environmental goals that will ensure a brighter tomorrow. We currently work together with nine countries across Europe, and are active in 26 MAKRO stores, 17 of them are in the Netherlands and all 7 MAKRO stores in Belgium, so you might have seen us already! Together, we have saved more than 135,000 meals from going to waste. It has also been a pleasure to stand on stage with Veronika Pountcheva twice in 2019, back when we were still able to meet in person! At events held by the Financial Times and the Consumer Goods Forum, we spoke about our vision and the power companies have to create positive change in the world. We really cemented this with our accreditation as a B Corp this year.