A new app launching in Charlotte aims to reduce food waste by giving customers discounted food.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Food waste in the United States is estimated to be 30 to 40 percent of the food supply, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
That equates to roughly 133 billion pounds of food, or $161 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.
WCNC Charlotte spoke with businesses in Charlotte looking for solutions and working to reduce food waste.
Local restaurant Love in Action has only been open for 15 months but is already growing in popularity, but like any other restaurant, any food that’s prepared but not sold at the end of the day ends up in the trash.
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Chef OG and Nyja, co-owners of Love in Action Cafe, said they set up shop in a food desert just off Tuckaseegee Road.
“We want to be part of the community and make sure people have access to healthy food,” Chef Naija said.
Before the two chefs transformed the building into a vegan restaurant, it was a fried chicken spot and then a soul food spot, Naija said.
Despite the 180-degree turnaround, residents have grown to love the new cuisine, she said.
“Customers come in, look at the menu, see a chicken sandwich or a cheesesteak, and they don’t know it’s vegan, and we don’t know they don’t know,” she says, “and they say it’s really good and they eat it.”
Most of the food Chef OG and Naija sell is “made to order,” so they don’t generate much food waste, but unsold pre-made food typically goes to waste.
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A new app launching in Charlotte in the next few days aims to help Love in Action and other local restaurants avoid the hassle of throwing out food at the end of the night.
Sarah Soteroff, a spokesperson for the Too Good to Go app, said everyone can benefit from the app.
“That means food is purchased at a steep discount and businesses are able to recoup revenue that would otherwise be lost by not having to throw food out,” Soteroff said.
Soteroff said first-time customers pay a very low price for their Too Good To Go order, but many customers return at their own convenience and pay the full price.
The “Love in Action” crew said they witnessed this firsthand.
“As Too Good To Go sends us more customers, we get more repeat customers and they get so little food, so it’s really exciting,” Chef OG said, “and they want more. The repeat customers come back and buy the meal at full price.”
Too Good to Go officially launches here in Charlotte on June 5th.
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