Too Good To Go is the free app which allows to purchase unsold food from merchants at the end of service, to prevent it from being thrown away.
It is a marketplace that connects businesses which have surplus food, with customers looking to “rescue” these meals. Food is purchased at a reduced retail price, and collected by customers in-store at a pre-set time.
The company was founded in Denmark in 2015, is now active in 14 European countries and just launched in the USA. Globally, Too Good To Go has 27 million users, and has rescued 48,5 million meals since 2016, thanks to 650 employees fighting food waste.
The company decided to launch the app in the Italian market in March 2019, after the successful launches in other southern European countries, such as Spain.
According to Eugenio Sapora, Country Manager Italy “the first results we got in Italy were in line with those registered in Spain, both in terms of magic boxes sold and in terms of user’s time spent on the app. And now, we are happy to announce that we just reached 1 million of magic boxes sold. It is a great result, considering the economic impacts of Covid-19 and two months of lockdown, when most of the affiliated merchants were closed”.
Country Manager Italy
THE LAUCH IN THE ITALIAN MARKET
Too Good To Go decided to enter in the Italian market by creating a self-directed Italian unit. According to Eugenio Sapora, “the app was officially launched in March 2019, we were 6 people working for the Italian unit, just the Italian top management team. Today, we are 80 people, with offices in Milan and Rome, fighting against food waste in Italy”.
Each country keeps a certain freedom of action, and decides on sales and marketing strategies. Everything is then shared with the parent company thanks to almost daily discussions. Therefore, each country is able to implement a “country model” that best suits the specific market.
Apart from adapting the prices of the magic boxes to the Italian cost of living (entry price is € 2.99, some boxes reach € 5.99 up to € 6.99, depending on the exclusivity of the merchants). The Italian team started to focus first on the big cities (Milan, Rome and Turin), where the majority of consumers curious about the app are living (students and young professionals, very sensitive to themes such as sustainability and environment, and also happy to save some money). Then it started to spread also to smaller cities, where they are eager to bring awareness of food waste and food issues.
“Our sales team in Italy is not only a group of sale representatives, they are truly activists eager to hop on the job to make the difference for the environment, for the people and for the small businesses, that are the foundations of the Italian market. It’s not a job, it’s a mission. I think this is making the difference and helped to reach such bis success in such a short amount of time”, explains Sapora.
THE COMPETITION
In Italy there are various apps that are fighting food waste, such as Too Good To Go, but they work on a different level, with large-scale retail distribution, and communicate the discounts available on the retail prices.
Too Good To Go does not work on discounts, but through the magic boxes, it tries to give new life to food that would otherwise be wasted.
“The Too Good To Go app is easy to use, immediate, simple, manageable for both the consumer and the merchant. Our model is scalable, it is what happens in all the countries we have launched the app”, explains Sapora.
THE DEVELOPMENT PLANS
In Italy, Too Good To Go is expanding by hiring from North to South Italy. The goal is to expand in a capillary way, and be able to offer its service also in small and medium Italian towns.
According to Eugenio, “the goal is challenging, Italy is a big country, but with great potential. We want to grow organically. Our sales professionals must be aligned with our mission, which is to inspire and empower everyone to take action against food waste. Our people want to put an end to food waste by creating a world where food produced is food consumed”.
The ambitious mission of Too Good To Go is to reach zero food waste.
Together with the marketplace, the company is promoting “Movement”, a set of activities put in place in order to inform and raise awareness within communities, schools and institutions about food waste, and therefore promoting good behaviour against food waste at 360 degrees. At global level, the company is focused on the US market, an enormous market both in terms of size but also in terms of food waste (each year, 40% of all edible food in the US is thrown away). The app was launched in September 2020, it is now active only in New York and Boston, and will soon be active in other cities.
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To download the To Good To Go app: https://toogoodtogo.org/en