New app launched in Philly helps save food from going to waste

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Have you ever wondered what happens to leftover slices at a pizzeria, or bagels, pastries, even full meals that just don't get sold?

Sadly, many eateries end up tossing it in the trash at the end of the night.

But now, there's an app that just launched in Philadelphia, preventing that food from going to waste.

It's called "Too Good to Go" and there's a big benefit for customers.

In saving food from becoming waste, you save big money on takeout and help save our small businesses too.

This is food that often can't get donated or served again the next day but is fresh and ready to eat at the moment.

This app offers surprise bags of some of Philly's finest foods that are too good to go at a fraction of the price.

"Forty percent of food goes to waste," says Judy Ni, owner of Baology in Center City. "You could feed people. It's crazy."

With the brand new app "Too Good to Go," that's exactly what local eateries like Baology are doing: feeding people. The concept is what they call a win-win-win.

First, for customers, you can grab good take-out meals at one-third of the price.

"It's a lower rate because obviously if we were throwing it away, it wouldn't make a difference anyway," Ni says. "It's a great way to get food in the bellies of people at a more affordable rate and the food is perfectly good."

These are meals that can't be sold tomorrow, but are still fresh and delicious right now, like the custom-made macaroni and cheese bowls at Mac Mart in Center City.

"Say we build something wrong, or if someone cancels an order, we are now left with that product and we can't sell it," says Marti Lieberman, the co-owner of Mac Mart.

But now, they can offer it up as a "surprise bag."

The second win is for small businesses who need the help now more than ever.

"This gives us a wonderful opportunity to get paid for our food costs and also feed some customers who may or may not have tried our food before," Lieberman says.

The third win is for the planet.

This app keeps good food from going to waste.

"We have saved more than 65 million meals from the trash," says Too Good to Go co-founder Lucie Basch. "That's food that ended up in stomachs instead of in the trash."

In just a few weeks, more than 4,000 meals have been saved and savored here in our city.

"Philly is definitely now on board for the mission," Basch says. "It's been so impressive to see that every meal we put on the platform is being saved."

The inventory of surprise bags just depends on what's leftover at any given time.

Dozens of local restaurants are on board.

Click here for details.