Out of luck on Twitter the other day, I came across an article discussing the development of phone apps that connect restaurants/cafés/food places with consumers to prevent food waste. As I found the idea very good and obviously lin line with my personal interests, I downloaded one of the suggests apps, Too Good To Go in order to play a little with it.
It was with great surprise that I realized the app does work in Switzerland and particularly in Zug (no offence, but it is sometimes hard to picture the small town as the most tech-savvy place around).
So here is how it works: after downloaded the app, you're ask to accept geolocalization settings so that your phone identifies the participating establishments next to you that still have offers (a green light appears as well as the number of remaining packages available - red light means all have been sold). Enter your credit card or Paypal information, purchase from the place you want, and pick up your order at the indicated time.
The prices are well discounted, and there is a fair amount of surprise going on: you actually do not know what you will get, except a general idea, i.e. you know you'll get a sandwich, or a salad, etc...The main purpose here is to prevent food waste: instead of discarding fresh and totally eatable food, let's sell the left-overs at a reduced price, which should make everyone happy (one one side the business, on the other side responsible consumers like you and me!
Here is a screenshot of the app, to give you an idea - I am currently sitting in Mall of Switzerland to write this article, so it identified places in Luzern. In Zug, the number of options is limited but good, for instance Dean & David, Negishi or Gartnerei participate in the scheme.
I haven't tried it yet but I am quite tempted to, as part of our efforts at home to better manage the content of our fridge, reduce waste and improve food sorting (we have only started sorting biocompostable waste this week).
If you have ever tried such an app or scheme, leave your comments and impressions here!