Foodsharing is a global movement that helps people get food for free or, conversely, share their excesses.
People share their products through special websites and applications. Organisations such as bakeries or restaurants are often partners in the foodsharing. They also give away surplus products.
In this overview, we have reviewed the best leftover food apps that may be a salvation for those who need food.
Karma
This free mobile app helps you save food from cafes and restaurants and get great discounts for it.
Thus, the developers of the service offer not only to save money but also to fight against food waste.
Every year one-third of all food produced in the world is thrown away.
Thousands of institutions get rid of delicious, fresh dishes that could not sell or prepared in excess.
At the same time, food waste is recognized as one of the most dangerous sources of pollution on the planet.
Karma service shares information about new establishments and promotions. In the application, you can receive handy push notifications, create a list of favorite places, and select institutions on the map.
Using this app, you need to find nearby the most profitable offers from partners (restaurants, cafes, bakeries). Then you need to make an order, pay for it online and pick it up on-site.
This app is the easiest way to buy food from restaurants with up to 80% discount. In the app, you will find day discounts on burgers and pizza and other favorite dishes.
Downloads: 500 000+
Customers rating: (4 / 5)
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Resq Club
Helsinki company Resq Club uses technology to combat food waste.
The budding company’s online service allows people to buy excess food from restaurants at a reduced price (usually 40-60 percent).
Users can use the application to check which meals are available on that day, order, pay for, and pick up food.
They can also receive notifications about offers from their favorite restaurants or for certain foods. Such as vegetarian meals.
Since Resq was launched in January 2016, more than 150 restaurants have signed up for the service to reduce food waste and received extra sales.
While most of the dishes (around 300 per day) are offered in the afternoon. The service also has cafes, bakeries, and evening restaurants among its customers.
Downloads: 500 000+
Customers rating: (4.6 / 5)
FoodPulsar
FoodPulsar trucks pick up excess food from supermarkets in the morning.
Then, the Loop chef team plans the day’s menu based on available ingredients.
The restaurant only needs about 10 percent of the food it collects, the rest it donates to various charities.
Socially responsible values also apply to Loop’s recruitment policy.
The restaurant helps immigrants, socially excluded youth and the long-term unemployed find their way back to working life.
This has inspired others to follow their example.
Downloads: 1 000+
Customers rating: (4.6 / 5)
FoodKeeper
Many good quality foodstuffs end up in the trash because their shelf life is approaching.
Although markets use discounts “still fresh” to sell these products off the shelves, they do not always reach customers.
But the Finnish start-up company Froodly may have found a solution.
The FoodKeeper mobile app rewards consumers for reporting still fresh, discounted products in their local stores.
They share a discounted product photo, price, and shop information in the app and receive reward points, such as free coffee.
Others can use this information to find great products at a low price, helping reduce food waste.
Downloads: 50 000+
Customers rating: (3.8 / 5)
OLIO
OLIO is a social networking application whose main purpose is to engage people in the universal exchange of food.
In this way, all users of the service manage food more efficiently and help reduce unnecessary food waste.
Once an account is created, users are encouraged to upload photos and descriptions of products that they have a surplus of.
For example, a rich vegetable crop, excessive canning, or leftovers of other food.
OLIO is currently working with cafes and supermarkets to reduce food waste in these industries. This has a positive impact not only on business but also on consumer attitudes towards food.
The universal use of apps such as OLIO has revealed the positive potential of the network community to address important issues.
Downloads: 100 000+
Customers rating: (4.6 / 5)
YWaste
This app especially covers the USA only because the country is facing a food crisis and about 40% of food is wasted every year.
Moreover, 133 billion pounds of food is thrown away by the restaurants themselves.
To combat the food crisis, such applications play an important role in redistributing remaining food to those in need.
The main motive for this application is to support small businesses and bring people together to exchange delicious food.
Retailers put their leftovers in the app. Users are pushed to get notification of the food available nearby and they can easily pick them up from the nearest restaurants.
Up to 75% discount By the end of the day, users receive a 75% discount and the best deals at the nearest restaurants.
Downloads: 10 000+
Customers rating: (3.2 / 5)
Bring Me Home
Forgotten parsley, a piece of cheese that lasts more than one month and in addition sour milk – a frequent pattern in any fridge.
Many of us forget about the bought products. The British startup Bring Me Home calls for “no throwing away food”.
The project has developed a mobile app that sends reminders of products that are forgotten in the fridge and offers recipes with them.
The service is ideal for families making big purchases.
How does the Bring Me Home app work? The user only needs to take a picture of the shop receipt.
The app classifies the products itself and sends notifications when they are about to expire.
Downloads: 10 000+
Customers rating: (3.7 / 5)
Too Good To Go
The Danish app Too Good to Go is one of the best examples of how a social startup can grow into an international network in a short time.
This mobile app offers restaurants and cafes to sell excess food at discounts instead of throwing them away.
Restaurants determine the size of the discount and the time in which to pick up dishes that are not redeemed in a day.
This is a free app and doesn’t include any ads.
Besides, the startup offers customers “surprise packages” – sets of food, before unknown to users.
Downloads: 10 000+
Customers rating: (3.9 / 5)
NoFoodWasted
This picture is hard to imagine: a solid man in an expensive suit chooses on the shelves goods at a discount.
Meat with 35% and milk with a 40% discount is an excellent “catch”, according to August de Vocht.
This serial entrepreneur is doing well with his money. He buys a discounted product for ideological reasons.
In 2014, August de Vocht carried his ideas for reducing food waste into masses. He founded the NoFoodWasted startup.
First, he invested his own savings in developing the application. Later he managed to find an investment of €350,000.
NoFoodWasted is a mobile app that offers an overview of discounts in restaurants, bakeries (the Dutch are known to be big fans of flour) and supermarkets nearby.
Downloads: 10 000+
Customers rating: (2.3 / 5)
Feed the Need
The Feed the Need application offers to buy surplus restaurant food at discounts.
Today there are 340 registered restaurants, and the service is available in 7 cities.
The startup earns on commission – each restaurant is charged 10-15% of sales.
Every second 51 tons of food is thrown away in the world. Thanks to this application you save money and time, and restaurants solve the problem of food waste.
It’s cheaper, greener and more convenient than delivering food.
How it works:⠀
- The partners – restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and hotels – place in the annex promotions for unsold dishes of the day and state how long it is possible to pick up the order.
- Using the card in the application you can find discounts and promotions in restaurants nearby.
- You make an order, pay for it online and pick it up at a restaurant at a specified time. You can pick up food or you can stay and eat on the spot.
No longer need to endlessly scroll sites with the food delivery and puzzle over what to cook for dinner. Start saving food for the benefit of you!
Downloads: 1 000+
Customers rating: (4.1 / 5)
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DamoGO
40% of the food is wasted, and one in seven is starving. Using the DamoGO app, you can buy food from a restaurant or organization.
Then, deliver it to some non-profit organizations that serve the hungry.
If you want to do something good for the planet, the best way is to deliver food to the needy and see the happiness on their faces.
This rescue mission helps to make someone smile on their face. You just have to choose food and give it to someone who is food insecure.
You can also give the food to an organization that works as an intermediary in helping poor people.
- Discover new restaurants and cafes.
- Add your favorite places to your Favourites and be the first to know about new discounts at restaurants and cafes.
- Pay for your order with a bank card through any payment system.
This application directs you every time on your way to the delivery point.
It easily connects to your already registered on social networks. Through them, you can invite more people into this rescue mission to help the hungry.
Downloads: 1 000+
Customers rating: (4.5 / 5)