When Will Too Good to Go Come to Louisiana? | Where NOLA Eats

In July, Rebecca Texada, now of Prairieville, returned to Houston to visit family and friends. She went to a restaurant to meet friends and was later told they had to stop across the parking lot. Her friend left with a package of boba tea with six full cups of tea, two full cups of boba and two full cups of milk.

“We were like, ‘You didn’t have to treat us — it’s so expensive. We’ll give you your money back,’” she said. But her friend told her she used the app Too Good To Go and it wasn’t expensive at all.

The app lets users pick up mystery bags of big-ticket surplus food that restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, and grocery stores didn’t sell during the day—and would normally have to throw away. Texada immediately downloaded it and started exploring. She used it for the rest of her trip and sent it to friends to check out, but when she looked at the offerings back home in Louisiana, the options were slim: She saw only three restaurants in the state using the service.

Too Good To Go was founded in Copenhagen in 2015. It has since expanded to 18 countries in Europe and North America. The app, which has more than 100 million users worldwide, aims to combat food waste by saving meals and groceries that would otherwise be thrown away. The app has users in the U.S., but it is not available in every state. According to Sarah Soteroff, senior public relations manager for Too Good To Go North America, they hope to be active in every continental U.S. state, as well as Hawaii, within the year.

They haven’t officially rolled out in Louisiana yet, and Soteroff said she doesn’t have any information on where the state is on the timeline. However, the app has national partners like Whole Foods, Krispy Kreme, Circle K and 7-Eleven, so users in Louisiana can already find things like a dozen donuts and Whole Foods-prepared food/bakery bags when they check the app. Users in Shreveport also have the option to pick up a surprise bag from Smallcakes Cupcakery & Creamery.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, humans waste 40% of the food they produce. Without intervention, Soteroff said, “Ultimately, that food ends up in landfill, and the environmental impact is drastic. Food waste is responsible for about 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions.”

Soteroff said Too Good to Go aims to become part of people’s daily routines, “leading the global fight against food waste.” Last year, they saved 121,686,720 meals from landfills. It’s also a win-win for business owners. They can cash in on what used to be lost revenue and wasted resources to do so.

Once the app launches in a new market, the company sends sales staff to recruit businesses in person. Once they reach a critical threshold of 75 to 100 stores, they’ll launch the app and provide marketing support to help people find the app. But before then, businesses can still sign up on Too Good To Go’s website, even if just to express interest—which is nonbinding.

Currently, the only Louisiana business on the app statewide is Sambath’s Donuts & More at 5703 Essen Lane in Baton Rouge, run by Kongsamsambath Lim. She learned about the app from her husband and signed up a few months ago. She said it’s too early to tell whether the $80 annual fee is worth it. She sells 3 to 4 bags of leftover doughnuts each day and usually sells 1 to 2. There aren’t many users in the area. Bags of more than a dozen doughnuts cost $5.99 (normally $18). But that could change as more businesses and users join the app.

There’s demand for it among those who have moved or traveled to cities with more options. Texada continues to use the app from his home in Prairieville.

“We try to save money wherever we can,” she said. She doesn’t routinely buy fresh baked goods or baked goods because of the price. “But at Too Good to Go, the price is low enough and the quantity is big enough that it’s totally worth it.”

Sometimes I freeze purchased baked goods.

In Houston, she used the app to try new restaurants she might not have tried otherwise. She tried a place called Pakwan House three days before leaving Houston and returned every night for the same meal, paying full price.

Many of her friends are excited to use the app while traveling, but they want more options before they start using it in Baton Rouge. For Texada, having Swagat Indian Cuisine join the platform would be a dream come true.

Soteroff said to those waiting: “We’re on our way.”

They’re gauging interest from different markets based on social media comments, and getting Louisiana on the Too Good to Go map might be closer than you think. They’re opening a new state every six weeks. Local food culture could push Louisiana to the top of the priority list.

“Food waste is everywhere,” Soteroff said. “But especially in amazing food cities like New Orleans, there’s a culture of not wanting to waste food because there’s such a love for food, respect for the work and the time and the effort and the craft that goes into it, and that’s a really great place to start.”