Discounted leftover food app comes to Metro Detroit

An app allows users to buy discounted surplus food from Dessert Oasis, Yum Village and other restaurants and cafes in Metro Detroit.

The big picture: Too Good to Go , an anti-food-waste company founded in Copenhagen, is expanding in the United States. The company's app allows businesses to list their leftovers as mystery bags, which consumers can buy for around a third of the retail price.

• Michiganders wasted 2.8 million tons of surplus food in 2022, per data from the nonprofit ReFED . Nationally, food waste makes up 24% of municipal landfill input .

How it works: Too Good to Go app users can search for businesses near them that have signed up to offer surprise bags, then reserve their bags, pay on the app and pick up their food at a designated time.

• Customers won't know exactly what they're getting, but they can surmise from general descriptions given by the restaurant. Buyers can also search by dietary restrictions and view the original, non-discounted price of the food.

Businesses pay Too Good a flat fee of $1.79 per transaction, according to spokesperson Sarah Soteroff. Bags generally cost customers $4 to $10.

• For example, Go Sy Thai in Midtown offers a $4 surprise bag ($12 full retail price) that could include "sides, portions of entrees, prepared food and/or extra pantry ingredients."

By the numbers: Though the app is officially launching in our region next Wednesday, 67 businesses have signed up so far, Soteroff says. Nearly 2,000 bags have been purchased here, and 11,300 nationally.