HIBT Lab! Too Good To Go: Lucie Basch

Hello and welcome to how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz. So about sixty percent of all food waste in the US. comes from restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, and food service companies. That's according to the non profit Feeding America.

And so much of that food is really great. Every day at the end of the day. Most bakeries and cafes and restaurants Throw away what's left.

Some of them donate it if they can, but that's not always easy. So back in 2016, a young French entrepreneur named Lucy Bash joined forces with a group of Danish entrepreneurs to try and repurpose food that would otherwise get tossed. They found it too good to go, and it's a platform that connects restaurants with consumers. So sort of like Airbnb for leftovers. A customer can log onto the app Order a surprise bag of food from their favorite bakery or cafe. Usually for five or six bucks.

and then go and pick up whatever's left at the end of the day. Too Good2Go is now in 17 countries, including in cities across the US. Lucy came to the idea after working at Nestle in the UK. And while she was working on the production lines for chocolate bars and coffee capsules, she noticed a problem.

Adnestly, it's all about how can we produce faster and cheaper? And you know, there is nothing around how can we improve the health of our consumers, how can we make it better for the environment, how can we make the food more nutritious And you know, I I remember working on on Kit Kat and working on the on different type of pet foods or water bottles and For all of them it's the same principle is like the the line needs to run faster. We need to make sure that there is uh as much as possible.

many products that we can sell. And therefore even when we talk about waste It's not really a problem in itself in terms of it doesn't make sense to waste food. It's more a problem in itself because it costs more money. So really quickly I end up being in a In a place where I do projects that Make us save tons of money?

But often produced more waste because you would make the line run faster. And therefore. There would be more defects, so more products that would end up being thrown away. But

The marginal cost of every product is still lower. And therefore everyone is happy and we celebrate that as a huge success for the factory. And and that's where really I I started to realize that uh My values and what I was doing every day. The it started to be a disconnect really.

Mm. W what did you start to think about? I mean what y you say was the disconnect and and so where w what did you start to think about in terms of what you thought you wanted to do? Um I

I think at that time, you know, I had always been sensitive to food waste, but really in the factory, I realized how huge the issue was. You know, we all We all see food waste in our daily lives, um both in like when you go to a restaurant and you see uh people leaving stuff in their in their plates, or you go to the supermarkets and you see Bins filled with food But

That time I realized that At the industrial level. He was Even bigger. And then I started to look into numbers and start to uh get interested into food waste.

And then I realized that today we throw away forty percent of the food we produce on the planet. Yeah. I don't know, but that that number um really hit me. And I was like This is

Impossible to accept for me. And Everyone should know about that number. And everyone should have Ways?

to fight against it. And so the the whole idea for me was how can you Make Everyone. a a waste warrior and how can you make everyone um capable of fighting food waste. And uh and that's when the idea of too good to go started to to emerge in my head slowly. Right. So you have this idea in your head of like

Is there a way that we could repurpose food? From stores or restaurants that that are that can't be sold anymore? Like what was the idea that you started to have in your head? So I've always been fascinated by the what I call the horizontal power.

Where Actually when Every one of us we do our little bit. For a common cause. Then we can have a Union back together.

And so it was this idea of like If I make everyone able To f save one meal. Every day. Then we can really fight food waste at

Huge scale. And and really make a difference. So the was to use an app. To enable Every one of us. To at the end of the day.

Pick up a meal. And make sure that We can eat this food instead of throwing it away. So let's let's take a bakery, for example. U at the end of the day You know, a bakery's

going to throw away a lot of its products on the shelves and some of it they might sell next day for half price. you know, day old bread or something and you you go to a baker and you see that But you wanted to create sort of a Systemized. Way.

For shops or restaurants. To essentially Sell those things. In an easier way. Exactly that so it's

How do you make sure that the baker at the end of the day, which is about to throw away some croissant and sandwiches and and breads, is connected with someone like you and me living in the area? that can come and and pick up this food. So That that's really the way the app works. The baker doesn't really know what exactly what they're gonna throw away, but they know that every night they have food left uh when they're about to close. And this food is is fresh, right? So you can't sell it the day after. But it's still perfectly good to be eaten because 10 minutes earlier you were selling it at full price. The idea of too good to go is that instead of throwing this away. You actually

Put it into some surprise bags. That are sold on the app for a third of the price and that What about consumer? Welcome. And pick up.

And so as a consumer, you actually select the stores you like. We we talked about bakeries, but you can imagine like um Pizza places and bagels and sushis and supermarkets even. And so You pay a small price on the app. Between four and six dollars, basically.

And then at the closing time. You come, you show your receipt on your phone. And then you get a bag filled with food. For three times the price you paid for it. And and you don't know exactly what's in there, but you could guess based on what the store is. I mean if it's a bagel shop, you know there's gonna be bagels in there. And and you were doing this in in France? No, I was actually in Norway at the time.

And so when I stopped working at Nestle in the UK, I moved to Scandinavia. And that's when I started to also look for people to do that food waste project with me. So you know, you uh we often hear that when you have a great idea. you you should really protect it and not share it too much because some people could steal it. I was really at the extreme opposite of that. For me when you have an ID Um you better um share it and you better talk about it to as many people as possible because that will help you to make that ID um more relevant. Uh you will see how people react to your ID. So it will help you actually grow your ID, but also make it closer to reality. At the end of the day, an ID is worth nothing. What matters is the way you make it real.

Um While talking to many people about um that idea I had of a of an app that could connect uh people and local stores to fight food waste together I realized that uh There were some other people working on a similar idea. Um and those were uh four Danish guys in Copenhagen that were actually starting the the exact same project uh as I wanted to start.

So when I first uh got a little bit anxious and uh and worried that I had already um met some competitors when I was not even started myself. Um I soon realized that uh, you know. Maybe Those are my co founders and and maybe It's something we could actually do together.

What happens? You do do you reach out to them and say, Hey Uh maybe we should meet up and And talk about what we're doing? Yeah, exactly. You know, I I actually went to a conference in Oslo that was called Collaboration is the new competition. And saying that if you really

care about something, if you really want to do a project that you care about. Then instead of doing it against each other, you better do it together. And and I guess that that was enough to Convince me? That um that I could Actually just do it with those people. And therefore I just uh, you know, found their numbers online and and gave them a call.

And and literally it was it was pretty funny because at that time they were so they had just um uh started to build a website uh in Copenhagen to work on that uh in Denmark. But they had gotten some PR in Norway and therefore one of their uh friend who was Norwegian Was taking the night bus from Copenhagen to Norway. To come and start to to see if it could work in a way. And by the way, they were doing something slightly different from what I understand. They were they were working with like

buffet restaurants, right, to sell excess Food from a buffet at the end of the day. Yeah, exactly. So I think we've all seen those buffet of like all you can eat, uh which At the end of the day, obviously there is still some food left. And so they had thought about the app that would enable you to you come and you get a you g you get a a box, a takeaway box that you can fill with whatever is left on the buffet. So that was their idea when of course for me as a French person, I immediately saw about the bakery. And therefore, you know, it was a similar concept of

You get a bag or a box filled with food that is left over. Um but it was just different type of stores. And What do you say to them when you when you met them? Like hey I I have this idea. Can I join you? Can we join together? What what was your pitch?

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I didn't really have a pitch. I called and I said, Hey, I'm working on the same ID. Where are you? How do you work with it? Uh, how is it working in Copenhagen? And then like really quickly they asked me, like, uh where are you based? I said, I'm in Oslo. And therefore they were pretty excited because uh as I said, just the day after One of them was coming to Oslo, so they were like, You know what? Just uh Grab a beer, meat, and uh and then we'll see how we can make it work. And literally.

I guess a couple of days later, uh, I was in stores. pitching uh half in Norwegian, half in English, uh to try and convince stores to to join our to join our concept that you know at At that time w we had nothing. I mean, we didn't have a fly, we didn't have an app, we didn't have anything that was actually working. Um, but we were passionate and and I guess that helped us convince many people. This is in I think February uh early twenty sixteen when you joined and so you but you th their concept was all you can eat. And you're saying well let's also do

Bakeries and cafes and You know individual stores because they also have things that they throw away at the end of the day. And so

To stores or sh or cafes in Oslo? pitching them on this idea saying hey If you have excess food, we can connect you to consumers. Yeah, exactly. So Sophie um was uh was the one in the night bus and uh and I met her, we grabbed a beer. And literally the day after we we went ditching together.

Um and and the pitch was simple, right? It was like You you have food at the end of the day. It makes no sense for you to throw it away first because No one likes to throw food away, especially when you've put a lot of hard work and and money behind it. But also because uh it costs you money to throw to throw food away. So the idea was let us help you. And um At the end of the day it will

Take you no more time than throwing food away. People that will have already paid online will come at the time you want and pick up a a big a big bag filled with with the food you have left. So the promise was it won't be harder than throwing food away. But also you will get new customers through your doors. And and you will get some extra money as well. So why say that? And who who what was the first Cafe or shop that you signed up.

in Oslo. But what kind of store was it? Well, it was actually a bakery store. So it was a a guide I owned uh four bakeries actually. And um yeah, the he had been throwing away for

For years really. So uh the first thing he told me was, you know, it's part of my job, throw away. I I have to accept it. I've tried to contact charities for a very long time, but they would never come for that little food. Um they also can't come in the city center um at a peak of traffic. So I just accepted that there is no other solution for me. And it was really about you know changing his mindset around the fact that yes, there is a solution and uh we can make it work for you and you we can make it easy. We're gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, more from Lucy Bash about launching and growing too good to go. Stay with us. I'm Guy Raz and you're listening to How I Built This Lab. Welcome back to How I Built this Lab. My guest today is Lucy Bash, the entrepreneur who started a company that connects cafes and restaurants to customers willing to buy leftover food at a reduced price.

So Let's talk about the the sort of the logistics of putting this together. I mean Were the others in in Copenhagen? Were they able to build an app? Or or were you able to do it?

Yeah, so I I tried very hard, but uh I wasn't. Uh it was not really productive what I was um what I was coding. And no, actually, yeah, one of the one of the Danish guys were a developer. So he was the one, you know, really just uh coding the app and fully focused on that. But originally we just had a website and we started with WordPress, like um many companies do, I guess. And then Slowly we had a an MVP, uh minimum viable product, which just enable us to to show the app and the concept uh to the stores we were pitching. And then slowly but surely we started to have an app that would work better, uh that was becoming as well more and more automated. But you know, for I guess the first two years, the app was always breaking down

our payments module w would never work. And literally every time we had big media and that we were on TV, that suddenly a lot of people would download the app. Everything would crash. The servers, the app And so I think the first two years like our average on the app store was two stores. Uh everyone said like I tried to download it, it doesn't work. I have no stores around me, this is crap. And like we literally

Oui, oui. Kept on going, but um but it was tough, right? Because when your product doesn't work perfectly. It's uh it's hard to to sell it to everyone. And I think in the first two years it was bootstrapped, right? Like you guys were just

you know, kind of not taking salaries and just You were trying to build it without any outside investments. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we didn't have uh investments for the first year. Um so I actually uh after a few months I moved back to France to launch the ID there as well. And I was lucky enough that I I just went back to my parents. But you know, I had no nothing else than uh work and sleep. So at least you don't spend a lot of money then.

Stores. and you know, little businesses to join. You'd have to go sh store by store and talk to the the to the owners? I mean how how did you make that process more efficient? And You know, in order to get lots of people to join.

Yeah, I I got a bike so I could go faster in the streets. And no, it was really door to door and I had I had never done that before. So What we made more efficient was yeah have flyers after a while and you could leave your number on it. Um then slowly we we started to realise that It was more efficient to call first? And then try and book a meeting with the owner. Cause the biggest issue we had was like

The owner was never in the store. So we could talk to the the guy at the key shirt, but they wouldn't have the decision power to To say yes or no. So for us it was really important to have the decision maker. And so

We move slowly to phones and sometimes it was working, sometimes it was not. I think one of the great assets we started to quickly have was that We had great brands joining us. Both um, you know, independent stores that everyone know, but also like bigger brands. Wh which which was the first big brand that you you signed up? So we had uh Eric Kaiser, the bakery. And that's like that's really well known and it's really good quality as well. And for me it was so important to to get those high quality brands because they would lead the way and show to others that It's the new it's the new way to

Do food today. It's not throw it away. And I'm curious, Lucy, when you would go to like Eric Kaiser, for example, was it was it like an easy pitch? I mean it'cause it It seems like it You know, you would go in, you would explain the concept and And they were like, Yeah, I'm I'm I'm I'm good to go or or or or were any of them skeptical? Were any of them like, Well what's in it for you?

No, no, of course a lot of scepticism at the beginning. I mean, first I think their main worry was like It's gonna take too much time, I can't be bothered, and anyway it's not gonna work. So that's why I had to convince them that it would be as simple as throwing food away. And therefore um You know, it was that's why we use the idea of the surprise bag is that you don't have to like do an inventory of everything you have left. Just say I have three bags tonight and then just uh

Whatever you have left at the end of the day, you just put it in there. So I think that was a huge argument. And then um a second big thing was They were worried to feel like they were discounting their product, especially the very high brand, you know, they They they would have never done discounting. Yeah, right. If you're if you're if you're like

Kaiser right, and you're selling a croissant for Five to seven dollars. And then y a and the c can customer knows that they get her for two at the end of the day That's a problem, right? And so what was your solution to the problem?

So first the solution is that They don't sell a croissant for a third of the price, they sell a surprise bag. And you never know if you're gonna get croissant or bread. But if you know that you n that you need bread for tonight, then you can't use too good to go, right? Then you would need to actually go to Kaiser and and get that food. But if you didn't care what you were gonna get, as long as you You know, you knew it was gonna be

You just get a bag filled with stuff that you don't know what it is. And you're only gonna pay five bucks. And you might love it or you might Like some of it, but

That's just gonna get. Yeah. I know I love everything in the bakery, but uh I don't know. I don't like raisins. If you give me raisins, I feel like I've I feel like I've lost. But then you'll give it to someone who loves raisins. I'm sure you have some friends who love raisins. I have to I have to build another app to find the person who wants the raisins. All right, so you go to these businesses and And you convinced them that this was gonna be Good for them. and it was gonna help them sell excess products and they were gonna make some money off of it.

But understandably some of them were worried about devaluing their brand. Mm-hmm. And that's where for me was all about showing them that You know The new way of doing things right?

is to do them sustainably and Honestly, understanding that today we throw away forty percent of the food we produce on the planet, that this is responsible for about ten percent of greenhouse gases emission. And that Still nearly a billion people go to bed hungry every night. Slow How can you say you do quality food?

If you don't fight against that. And so for me it was actually make it part of your brand to take care of your product until the very end. versus say that you're doing discounting products. Yeah. It's almost like ride sharing or or home sharing, right? In the sense that essentially you're saying, look, we're a platform, we're gonna connect you to consumers You've got in the case of Airbnb an extra room in your house. You can make some money

uh you know, renting out your room. You're saying to these bakeries, look, you can make money selling your excess products and it's Food that would otherwise be wasted. And um And we will take a s we will take a fee off of that, but ultimately

You're gonna make you know, marginally more money. By doing this. Exactly. So it's a win win win, right? I mean as a s as the as the store owner used, stop throwing food away. You get money for it and you show your products to new co new customers.

As a consumer, you get food for a third of the price and you do something for fighting food waste. And it's too good to go. We can build a great business model. On a on a solution that really makes a difference for fighting for waste. And and just just I'm just curious. your business model depends obviously on

A commission so it's free for the business. To Be on the platform essentially. All all you guys do is take a commission from the sale? Yeah, exactly. So it's it's only a success fee, right? So as a consumer, anyone can download the app and start saving a meal. And as a consumer, you'll just pay five dollars, you'll get fifteen dollars worth of food. As a store owner, it's the same. You just

Go on our website and on the same day you can start saving food and and be registered on the app. You won't pay anything for that. And every time you save a meal, Well take a fixed commission on the meal you've saved. Yeah. Alright, so let's say like I wanna I I go to El Toro Tacaria. In San Francisco, right. And I'm like, okay, I see there's a surprise bag, it's five ninety nine, and I don't know where I'm gonna get. I've never been there, but it looks pretty good, actually, the picture. Um and uh and I I pay five ninety nine through the app. And then I go there and I show them my receipt and I get my bag and I go home and open it up and

It is where it is. What out of that five ninety nine What H what what is your cut? What is it cut for too good to go? So one seventy nine goes to too good to go?

And everything else goes back to the store. Right. The I guess the argument that you are you are you would be making to businesses is you're leaving money on the table if you don't actually do this because you're just throwing it away. Yeah, exactly. I mean w There there is no reason to say no. Once you've understood that the way to go to go works and that you recognize you have food waste every night.

Then even if it's very little, right? I mean, just realize that thanks to that, you will stop throwing away food. And honestly, for the people doing that every night. It's it's definitely great news that you don't have to feel a big uh a big uh trash bag every night. But also, you know, it's you you've just said it, right? You've never been there. But thanks to the app, you might go there, you might discover the food they do, and then the day after you're hungry for lunch and you loved what you got in your surprise back the day before, and you're just uh going back there and paying full price because now you're aware that this store is selling this kind of food. And the idea is really to work with Sort of

Cafes and restaurants rather than like supermarkets, for example? No, we want to work with everyone, you know, everywhere there is food waste uh to get to go uh should should be there as well. So of course it's it takes more time um to to roll it out with huge chains, but They are more than welcome to be with us because their impact can be huge. I mean, in Europe, fifty percent of the food we save every day comes from grocery partners in supermarkets. And what are they what are they putting in the surprise bags, for example? Well, many things that that come to expiry dates. I mean um fruit, vegetable, but also uh dairy products, also uh meat and fish uh Breads as well.

Anything really that they have in the store. And we actually did a huge work on expiry dates because we realized that people didn't necessarily make the difference between a sell by and a use by. And the problem with that is Even if you can still eat the product after the sell by date. Um People don't really think about it. And therefore uh product that are being um removed from the shelves, even so they are still good to be eaten and they are still allowed to be sold. Um but therefore we did a a whole work to to sensibilise people to understand that

There are two different dates, uh, but also that the product is still good to be eaten. And therefore Every time the um the the staff in in the supermarkets are removing products from the shelves. Instead of putting it in the bin, they actually put it in a in a too good to go bag. And and people can come to the supermarket and collect it as well. For supermarkets it's great because it's it's a good way of cross selling because you know, if you're gonna pick up your surprise bag, you better do your your grocery shopping as well. Mm-hmm.

And so Twenty nineteen you're starting to launch go to Italy and and Portugal and Poland and you're still mainly in Europe at that time, I believe. Tell me about how how you were able to

you know, launch in so many countries. Yeah, um we we stayed in Europe until um mid twenty twenty, where we launched fifteen countries in Europe. So it was I mean it was definitely fast, right? We were launching like a country every every quarter or every second quarter.

Um and you know it was always the same mindset is Um A country will become profitable between 16 and 24 months and then it will pay for the next one. Between sixteen and twenty four months it becomes profitable. Mm-hmm.

Well We're gonna take another quick break, but when we come back, Lucy shares how Too Good To Go navigated its US launch. middle of a global pandemic. Stay with us, you're listening to how I built this lab. Welcome back to how I built this lab.

I'm Guy Raz, and I'm talking with Lucy Bash, who saw that food waste is a huge global problem. and turn fighting it into a for profit company. It sounds like as you you know, went from country to country. It became

Easier or did it still was it still a hurdle to convincing businesses to to join? No, I think you know, we really built our credibility years after years and people started to hear about us, people started to believe that it works and that as a store owner you don't have th to throw food away at the end of the day anymore. And Our US lounge was very rapid as well, even so we launched just after COVID. It w it was a pretty crazy bet to to still go to the US in uh in August 2020 and decided that it was time for to get to go to be live there. But we did, and a lot of stores um were really happy to see us coming. Some of them had heard about us uh from Europe.

And today, you know, uh just uh a couple of years later, we we are in uh twelve thousand stores in the US. Twelve thousand stores. Yeah, so We've already saved uh more than four million meals in the US. But there is so much more we could save. Yeah. You guys raised, I think, more than thirty million dollars in um venture capital. in twenty twenty. And from what I've read you were reluctant to do that for a while. So what what changed your minds?

Yeah. You know, for us it was so important to be fully mission focused and and to to stay true to our DNA that we thought VCs and and the financial world will maybe force us to change that. Or I don't know, we were not really Trusting that it it would be possible to have a a true financial partner that would respect our vision and our DNA. And then uh we We found some that actually share their values. The first V C we raised from is called Bliss. It's a B Corp uh venture capital and based between between F France and the US. And

You know, I don't know if you're familiar with the B Corp certification, but it's it's really about Building businesses that are are good for society. And the fact that we had a VC that took that certification uh put us in in good trust already. But also when When we started to engage with them, we realized that the questions they were asking Where different from other VCs and they were not only interested in our financial KPIs, but also really in the way we were

Doing business. And and for us it's definitely about doing both, right? It's not only about the way we do business, it's really about the the KPIs we hit and our financial targets, but it's also really about The way we deal with our consumers, the day the way we deal with our partners, the way we work with our employees and um how good we are with diversity, equity and inclusion, and those are all, you know, things that we continuously want to improve on and will never be perfect. But it it's it's things that are top of mind and it was important for us that Any financial partners would also care about the way we do that.

You know, obviously what you what what you guys were building was a business. A social enterprise, right? With a mission. But it's still a business that had to be sustainable, that had to make money.

And so the question is given your background and your interest in mission oriented work. Why didn't you guys Just do do it as a nonprofit. Well for me it's it's that whole thing that

Businesses need to be So was with a purpose and a mission for the world. Um we truly believe that you know when you build it it shouldn't be that Either you build a charity to help the world. Or you build a business to make money. The idea is really to show that social businesses, social impact businesses.

Can can do both and should do both because if you If you want to have an impact Mm. you actually need to have a strong business model that can maximize that impact. Yeah. And you know really quickly into good to go. We were able to launch many countries. We were able to um raise some funds and and therefore um launch always more countries. And and in seven years we we managed to to launch the concept in seventeen countries. Yeah

We we saved uh several hundred millions of uh of meals with the app. We have more than seventy five million consumers in the world, and it's really Thanks to our business model that we could actually maximize our impact. That that's my question, right? Because I guess Had you been a charity, right? Um you might still have an impact, of course. Charities have a huge impact, but I guess the argument could be could be made that like

you you might not be as flexible as you as you could be as a as a for profit business, or as efficient as you have to be as a for like the stakes are higher, right, when when there are investors involved and there's money involved that it forces you to really maximize the efficiency of what you're doing and to I guess scale it in a way that maybe you couldn't if you were a a charity. Yeah, indeed. I I think businesses it's it's a bit of a different pace. It's a bit of a different ambition in a way. And and also we spend time

Saving meals we don't spend time um trying to find donors. And Yeah, exactly. Right. So for me we're I really wanted to spend time with with my consumers and my stores and and not spend a lot of time um with begging people to But it it's also Because I I truly believe that we need to rethink companies.

As Great vehicle to change the world. Uh and and I think that's what we prove is too good to go, is it's not impact or profit. You can do both and you should do both. So as you know, Lucy There is criticism, of course. There's always gonna be criticism anytime you start a business or do something, and that comes the territory and and and I think some of the criticism is per perfectly fair and reasonable that you know Businesses like Too Good to Go

uh undercut the work of charity. That that they're essentially Only enabling to access his food and and it's simply being consumed by you know, by by people who are already wealthy or already have access to

really the food should be redistributed. to people are hungry or homeless or or whatever. How do you How do you respond when you hear that?

Of course, of course. I mean, you know, today charities do a an amazing job and we have worked really closely with charity from the start. We are in partnership with many of them locally. Every time we launch a city, we have a charity partner. Um we work with many food banks across all our countries. But the the thing is that today charities can't pick up all the food. And they've been um alive for many years and we still throw away forty percent of the food we produce, many of it coming from our local stores. So for us it's it's really about um how can we complement uh the jobs, uh the j the work that charities do. We always say to our stores and especially to grocery stores who work a lot with charity that It's first give everything you can to the charities, give everything they want to take to them, and then welcome whatever is left after that. And and that's really what too good to go is for is whatever the charities can't take because they can't come and pick up the food, or because they don't have the infrastructure, or because the people they feed

are not interested by this type of product. Then the rest is for too good to go. And also Uh don't take me wrong, I mean many people using to good to go. need to go to go to feed themselves. It's not because you don't go to the food bank that you have plenty of money and that uh you don't struggle at the end of the month. And for us, that's really uh also the people we address is The people who

you know, are really happy they can multiply their purchasing bar by three and that Actually we received so many Testimony and and letters from people who really thank us because many people feed themselves with too good to go, uh morning, uh lunch and uh and dinner. So for us it's really about uh making it accessible to everyone to fight food waste. Presumably the idea is to is for this to be available. everywhere around the world and

And for any kind of food product. that could be wasted to be sold on this platform. Is that is that The mission. Yes, for sure. Um we want to build a global movement for fighting food waste. We want Any one of us to be able to do our little bit in the fight against food waste. And you know, today we save three meals every second.

Imagine how huge that is and I still remember myself counting the daily meals one by one with my finger on the screen. Today I'm happy we have a great data team to do that. But uh but yeah, we we want to save every meal on the planet, uh from every store and from every location. The US is definitely a huge challenge for us because it's a huge country. So we've launched in Canada as well. This market is is growing incredibly incredibly well as well. And you know, later it should be South America, it should be Australia, it should be uh Asia, Africa. I mean

all the contents uh will will eventually um join join the the the fight against food waste. And then you know it's it's really about the whole food chain as well. We just acquired a company called Coda Bene that helps grocery stores to to really do their shelf uh rotation in a in a smarter way. And Codabene really tells them if if they should discount the product uh in the store, if they should give it to a charity, or if they should save it on to good to go. And that's the idea is how can we really become the food waste partners? of all the food partners uh in the world. And therefore we start to work with industrials as well. So that's all the food I've seen at Nisley being thrown away is not thrown away anymore. It's actually been sent, uh been shipped in a to-go to go parcel uh directly to consumers who are Fine to um to get those products as well at at a better price. D are you working with Nestle? Uh we are actually on all the work we do on the on date labeling, uh to make it easier for consumers to understand and also to sometimes make the expiry dates longer. Uh Nisley was uh one of the of the first partners to join our work on the on date labeling. And now we want to do more with them and and really help them to

To improve uh the way they handle food and and make sure that their bins are are totally empty eventually. I'm sure this has seemed like a long journey, but it's only been around for Six years or so? What does this look like in in five years or ten years from now? Yeah, indeed.

Indeed. It's been intense. So for me, I'm I'm just so happy when I think about, you know, the hundred thousand of people that Every day um go and uh go on the to go to go up and then go to their local store and and save that food and uh Yeah, again saving three meals every second is uh it's it's pretty impressive, but We can do so much more. There is a lot we do as well on the On public affairs, we've started a a school program as well to help teachers talk about food waste uh to their to their students, um, because we believe that

You know, uh as young as uh six years old, you should start uh hearing about what you can do and and start teaching your parents at home as well. So so the idea of too good to go again is is not only about being an app, it's really about generating a a movement where people start changing the mindset around food and start really caring uh about food because We've lost touch a little bit um with with the way we produce food. And and I think it's so important that today we realize that this is so essential, right? We we saw it during Covid, but food is the is the one thing that we can't We can't remove from our lives and um And and whoever you are, wherever you were born, um w uh whatever you do in in your in your days, you're confronted to food every day. So it's it's so important that we

Spend time and money on it and that once we have it we we really take care of it and and eat up our plates. That's Lucy Bash, co founder of Too Good to Go. Lucy, thank you so much. Thank you. Hey, thanks so much for listening to How I Built This Lab.

please do follow us on your podcast app so you always have the latest episode downloaded. If you want to follow us on Twitter, our account is at how I built this and mine is at guyRoz, and on Instagram, I'm at guy.ros. If you want to contact the team, our email address is hibt at id.wondery.com. This episode was produced by Sam Paulson with editing by John Isabella and research by Lauren Landau Einhorn. Our music was composed by Sam Paulson and Ramteen Araboui. Our audio engineer was Neil Rouch. Our production team at How I Built This includes Alex Chung, Casey Herman, Chris Massini, Elaine Coates, JC Howard, Liz Metzger, Carrie Thompson, Carla Estevez, and Kira Joaquin. Eva Grant is our supervising editor, Beth Donovan is our executive producer.

I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening. how I built this.

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