changeadminIn 2015, a group of young entrepreneurs, determined to address the vast quantities of food wasted by food outlets and restaurants in Denmark, started a company called Too Good To Go.
Motivated by a shared vision, they developed a simple yet powerful idea, a mobile app that connects food businesses with people keen to reduce waste, enjoy quality food, and save money. Gradually, the app gained traction, and within weeks, hundreds of food outlets listed their surplus food, and thousands of users joined the movement.
- Too Good to Go earns a commission on the meals sold through its platform.
- Consumers get heavily discounted food.
- Food owners reduce food waste and also generate revenue from something they might have otherwise discarded.
Creating a win-win-win for the three stakeholders involved.
From humble beginnings, the Copenhagen-based startup now addresses the food waste problem not just in Denmark, but in many other European countries, replicating the app’s business model.
Globally, there are similar solutions connecting people with surplus food that would otherwise go to waste, proving that small ideas, driven by purpose, can lead to lasting change. These solutions inspire and empower everyone to work together to combat food waste.
Interestingly, this solution model hasn’t taken root in India, at least not on the same scale or structure. While India certainly has organisations tackling food waste, the environment here presents unique barriers that make launching Too Good To Go-type startups especially challenging.
Swiggy and Zomato, India’s two biggest food delivery platforms, have achieved widespread adoption for restaurant deliveries. These platforms deliver millions of orders every month by aligning with core consumer needs: convenience, control, and immediacy.
However, no organisation in India delivers food surplus (potential food waste) from food outlets, restaurants, or cafes to consumers.
What happens to excess biryani, chole, paneer tikka masala, or gulab jamun that is left unsold at the end of the day? What could be the reasons they are not being sold through a tech-based platform, and let’s explore the existing solutions?
Too Good To Go—But Not Good Enough for India?
Too Good to Go, while built on a valuable mission to reduce food waste, operates on a fundamentally different consumer motivation: sustainability. Its model of selling surplus food through “mystery boxes” appeals to ethically driven users but lacks the predictability and choice valued by the broader Indian market.
Cultural perceptions around freshness and food safety further complicate adoption, particularly when users are expected to pick up orders during off-peak hours. Combined with the prevalence of low-margin food items and already discounted daily offerings, platforms aiming to monetise surplus food face substantial barriers to scale.
In India, surplus food at the food outlets is often redistributed through informal or charitable networks. So often, excess biryani and food are given away to in-house staff, security guards, low-wage workers, or local volunteers, rather than being distributed via technology-driven platforms.
In addition, food outlets often reuse items the following day, which can compromise quality and health safety.
These deeply ingrained habits of food sharing reduce both the volume of surplus available and the incentive structures upon which platforms like Too Good To Go depend.
Furthermore, Too Good To Go’s operational model relies heavily on efficiency, including real-time app updates, streamlined pick-up processes, and dynamic pricing.
However, in India, hyperlocal logistics models already contend with high customer acquisition costs, unreliable real-time inventory, and low average order values, factors that directly undermine Too Good To Go’s model of optimisation.
Another challenge in establishing a model like this in India is its regulatory landscape, which is complex and often unpredictable. Navigating food quality standards, GST compliance, labour laws, and state-specific policies can significantly delay or derail the operations of emerging startups.
Trust is paramount in food-related ventures. Even a single incident involving food safety can provoke widespread public backlash or trigger regulatory scrutiny. Due to lingering concerns over liability and food safety, both regulators and businesses are generally cautious about the redistribution or resale of surplus food.
Finally, India’s early-stage funding environment poses a challenge for Too Good To Go-style ventures. While seed-stage startups may attract initial interest, securing future investments remains difficult unless there is clear evidence of profitability and strong unit economics.
Existing Solutions for Food Wastage in India
That said, India isn’t devoid of solutions for food wastage.
In 2020, Change Started wrote an article about the massive food wastage happening due to food order cancellations on platforms like Zomato and Swiggy. According to our calculations, roughly 1,350 to 1,600 tonnes of food are wasted in India due to online food delivery cancellations.
Thankfully, four years later, recognising the issue of around 400,000 food orders cancellations every month on its platform, Zomato initiated a feature called ‘Food Rescue’.
Through this feature, the cancelled order will pop up on the Zomato app for customers within a 3 km radius of the delivery partner carrying the order. The amount paid by the new customer will be shared with the original customer and with the restaurant partner.
Apart from this, India’s leading food delivery apps, Zomato and Swiggy, are addressing food waste through strategic partnerships and sustainable practices.
Zomato’s Feeding India and Swiggy’s Hope, Not Hunger initiatives connect restaurants with NGOs to redistribute surplus food to underserved communities. In some cities, Swiggy’s delivery fleet assists with transporting donations.
Both platforms also offer data analytics to restaurant partners, helping them reduce overproduction by tracking demand and menu performance. Additionally, features like opt-in cutlery and smaller portion options promote mindful consumption, indirectly reducing personal and restaurant-level waste.
Besides a growing commitment to sustainability within India’s food delivery ecosystem, there are a few Indian green startups that are uniquely providing solutions for food wastage.
Delhi startup Wastelink turns surplus food into feed ingredients for cattle, poultry, and aquaculture. Its product mixes different food streams into a single, consistent ingredient, selling directly to animal feed manufacturers.
Indore-based startup Raheja Solar, which received funding on the TV reality show Shark Tank India Season 4, enables farmers to preserve surplus produce such as fruits and vegetables through a solar-based sun dryer. This helps farmers to reduce post-harvest losses and add value to their produce.
FSSAI, a statutory body under the Indian government, is also involved in solving food wastage and food recovery.
The government body introduced the Indian Food Sharing Alliance (IFSA), designed to prevent food loss and waste by promoting food donation and connecting businesses, civil groups, citizens, and food collection agencies such as No Food Waste, Indian Food Banking Network, Feeding India, Robin Hood Army, Goonj, etc.
IFSA coordinates food recovery and donation activities, integrating diverse stakeholders to feed the needy and reduce food wastage along the supply chain, from production to household consumption. It has also supported public awareness campaigns such as “Save Food, Share Food.”
Wrapping Up
India’s socio-economic and regulatory landscape doesn’t lend itself easily to a direct transplant of Too Good To Go’s model.
Cultural practices, economics, trust issues, and operational obstacles all converge to make it a challenging proposition.
What India truly needs are ingenious homegrown alternatives that embrace our cultural, economic, and logistical realities, but channel the same spirit of reducing food wastage and building community, such as Too Good To Go.
There is also a need to create an ecosystem to support such a model, including policy support, consumer readiness, and operational infrastructure.
Until then, convenience-led platforms like Swiggy and Zomato remain far more aligned with Indian consumer behaviour.
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