Surprise bags are filled with food that would otherwise be thrown out.
International surplus food app Too Good to Go has launched in Tauranga.
The app lets users buy discounted “surprise bags” of unsold food that would otherwise go to waste.
Domino’s Pizza, Bakers Delight and Blomquists Bakery are participating in Tauranga.
Too Good to Go country director Joost Rietveld said the launch came as food prices increased.
StatsNZ reported a 4.5% rise in the 12 months to February.
Entrepreneurs founded the app in Copenhagen in 2015 after watching an untouched buffet being thrown away.
Too Good To Go has since expanded across Europe, North America, Australia and now New Zealand.
Rietveld said the app was launched in Auckland in October. The team had seen early interest and people in New Zealand downloaded the app faster than people in Canadian and United States markets.
The app has so far attracted 80,000 New Zealand users. Rietveld said this meant more than 65,000 meals had been “saved” in six months, and 350 food businesses had joined.
Rietveld said the strong early demand allowed the nationwide rollout to move quickly.
New Zealand’s uptake of surprise bags was immediately strong.
“Usually it takes us quite a while before people know about it, understand the concept, and start sharing it with each other,” Rietveld said.
“In New Zealand, that was instant. And that’s quite unique."
Rietveld said rising food prices meant users were including surprise bags in their weekly food shop.
A $10 bakery bag could contain up to $30 worth of bread that could last several days or be frozen.
Rietveld said New Zealand had a $3 billion annual food-waste problem, and wants to contribute to the goal to halve it by 2030, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
“We’re not going to be the ones that’s going to deliver that big ambitious number, but we want to contribute to it."
He said he hoped businesses would rethink the assumption that unsold food must be thrown away and instead adopt a more sustainable approach.
“What I really love is when businesses start to get a different perspective on that and think, ‘Hey, there are different ways to run my food business’."
Baker’s Delight national area manager Scott Randles said the chain joined to better manage leftover food.
He said it helped franchisees recover costs while giving customers access to quality products at a lower price.
The partnership had been popular, Randles said, with strong demand and a straightforward rollout.
“It’s practical, and it makes sense for both the customer and the business.”
New research from Kai Commitment, a food-waste reduction programme, showed that one‑third of New Zealand food businesses believed their waste was under control.
Interim executive director Carmen Doran said food waste was often seen as a sustainability issue. However, the research findings showed that it was a business performance problem.
The Bay of Plenty Times ordered a $6.99 surprise bag from Blomquists Bakers in Greerton on Thursday.
The bag contained nearly 750g of baked goods, including three cold desserts (iced rolls with and without cream, a filled doughnut) and three warm savouries (a pizza slice, sausage roll and mince pie).
The mince pie alone is listed on their website for $5.90.
Zoe Blake is a multimedia journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post.