As we all know, the French take their food very seriously. But it might not be as well known that they take food waste pretty seriously as well. In 2016 they passed a law that banned large grocery stores from throwing away unsold food that could be donated to charities. Think produce, bread, milk, yogurt. Whenever you see expiration dates there will often be an “anti-gaspi” (anti-waste) section in the store where people can find great deals on products that in a few days will otherwise be donated to charity. Even better, in a country that isn’t known for creating public-private partnerships that win, the law provides a tax break, up to 60%, on the inventory value of the donated food. There are so many wins in this value chain:
- consumers who are willing to buy products that are close to expiration (most products are good for 5-6 days beyond their expiration) save money
- supermarkets who donate this food get a tax break
- NGOs get a reliable source of donations
- homeless (known in France as SDF) and other economically impacted people get help they need
Even with laws like this in place, France wastes about 18% of its food. Any guesses as to what America wastes? Leave your guesses in the comments.
The Danes Step In
I love hearing about idealistic young entrepreneurs who set out to solve a problem with a business. In this particular case I want to recognize them by name because I so appreciate what they’ve done:
- Thomas Bjørn Momsen
- Stian M. H. Olesen
- Klaus Bagge Pedersen
- Lucie Basch
- Jamie Crummie
Back in 2016 they put their heads together to find a solution for the wasted food in buffet restaurants in Denmark. So they created an app that would connect food businesses with people who were willing to buy surplus food.
The concept is simple. I’ll use a boulangerie as that’s the most frequent use-case for me in Paris. The boulangerie advertises as a “surprise bag” which may have anywhere from 8-18 items in it. They can price it at anywhere from $3.99-$5.99. They then specify a pickup window, say from 18h00-20h00. You buy it in the app, show a code when you arrive at the boulangerie, and they pack up a bunch of stuff for you that they didn’t sell and would otherwise have probably given away to friends and family, but now make at least some money from due to the app. You’re also encouraged to bring along your own bags to help minimize the costs of the business owner. Win-win-win.
I’ve often used this app when tasked as the person bringing bread to a dinner party. Not only will I have plenty of baguettes (and sometimes other gourmet breads) but I have extra croissants and pain au chocolats that I then gift to friends to take home, usually telling them about the app in the process.
The app now runs in 18 countries across Europe and is slowly spreading in America. It has 95 million registered users as of the date of this article and 160,000 partnered businesses.
And just like that, a problem created by capitalism and its endless search for growth has a solution, all because some people decided to do more than talk. Neither the French food law nor the Danish app is perfect, but together, they are helping all of us with that necessary challenge we all face every day: what to eat (and how to pay for it).
You can find Too Good to Go in the US Apple App Store here and on Android here.
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