US food retail stores generate 42 billion pounds of food waste each year, discarding perfectly good unsold food at the end of the day.
This leads to a few critical issues:
Economic Inefficiency: Retailers lose potential revenue by discarding unsold food rather than finding ways to repurpose or redistribute it.
Environmental Strain: Discarded food in landfills releases harmful methane gas and wastes valuable resources.
Disparity in Access: While food waste soars, millions of Americans continue to face food insecurity.
This week’s company connects unsold food from local businesses to consumers at discounted prices, reducing waste and making food more affordable.
Goodie Bag is a marketplace that transforms restaurants’ surplus food into discounted deals for customers.
Marketplace: Through the app, customers can discover and purchase surplus food at 50% off or more in the form of “mystery” goodie bags.
Restaurants: Partnering with Goodie Bag helps food businesses recover revenue, attract new local customers, and reduce waste.
Customers: Users enjoy affordable food while supporting sustainability efforts in their local communities.
Clear Current Capital, Stray Dog Capital, Techstars, MWest Ventures, Responsibly Ventures, and others.
Market Opportunity: With 97% of the U.S. surplus food market untapped, Goodie Bag is positioned to capture a significant share of a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Empowering Local Restaurants: Goodie Bag provides small and independent restaurants with a real-time marketing platform to attract new customers in addition to generating revenue from surplus inventory.
Consumer Behavior: In a market where 4 out of 5 Americans are price-sensitive about food, Goodie Bag addresses affordability without compromising quality.
Customer Perception: Educating customers about the freshness and quality of surplus food is critical to ensure adoption rates.
Supply Consistency: Dependence on surplus food introduces variability in availability, which could affect user satisfaction, retention, and company revenue.
Regulatory Challenges: Navigating health and safety regulations in the food industry, especially for surplus and leftover food, adds operational complexity.
Eddy Connors, CEO: 2x founder with experience in sustainability.
Briana Boehmer, COO: 3x founder with 20+ years of operating experience and previously COO at Run the Edge.
Luke Siegert, CPO: 6+ years of product experience, award winning filmmaker.
Goodr: Backed by Techstars, Capital One Ventures, Precursor Collective, and others.
Copia: Backed by For Good Ventures, Structure Capital, and others.
Too Good To Go: Backed by Blisce, Audeo Ventures, Azuro Capital, and others.
By connecting local shops’ unsold food to customers at discounted prices, Goodie Bag enhances marketability for restaurants, reduces food waste, fosters a more sustainability, and creates a surplus of opportunity within the current food ecosystem.