Too Good To Go App

Too Good To Go is an app that lets restaurants and bakeries sell surplus food at the end of the day for about a third of the regular price. I've been using it to get $5 surprise bags from places near campus that would otherwise throw the food away. You don't pick what you get. You show up during the pickup window and take whatever they packaged. Randomness is part of the appeal because I've tried pastries and sandwiches I never would have ordered. The design is simple: a map showing participating locations with pickup times and prices. Reserve a bag and pay through the app. Reframing food waste as an opportunity rather than a guilt trip is smart. The business model works because restaurants recover some cost on product they already made. Over 200 million meals saved globally according to their counter. I can't verify that number, but the local impact I see is real enough. The smartest design choice is making it feel like a deal rather than charity. People do sustainable things more consistently when there's a personal benefit attached. My one complaint is that pickup windows are sometimes inconvenient, 8 to 9 PM when I'm already done eating. When the timing works, the value is hard to beat.