Photo courtesy of Jerome Pennington Photography

In 2015, the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors requested that the Department of Public Health set a new law in motion for food facilities in Los Angeles. It required them to throw out the extra ingredients they had left over at the end of each day, and if they did not comply, they would receive a critical risk violation. Later that year, six men in Denmark developed an app that helps prevent food waste while simultaneously supporting businesses and helping users save money buying food. 

TooGoodToGo is an app that was developed in 2015 by Bjørn Momsen, Stian Olesen, Klaus Bagge Pedersen, Adam Sigbrand and Brian Christensen. Later on in 2017, one of the co-founders of Endomondo, a fitness guidance website, joined in as the CEO of the app. Users of the app can be business owners as well as consumers. The way the app works is that restaurants sign up for the app and offer mystery bags that include dishes they normally have left over at the end of each day. Locally here in Santa Clarita, the price of these bags can range from $4.99 to $6.99 each, but they may be higher or lower in other parts of the world. Any time during the day, you can check to see if any restaurants near you have mystery bags for sale. If one looks interesting, you select and pay for a bag in the app. The app will also tell you what time of the day the bag will be ready for pick up (typically at the end of the day). When it’s time to pick up your food, all you have to do is show your order confirmation on the app to the restaurant employees and they will give you your mystery bag. 

For a week, I ordered TooGoodToGo mystery bags from various restaurants around SCV and here’s what I got:

Day 1

Panera Bread – $4.99 ($5.46 with tax)

• 2 blueberry muffins
• Chocolate croissant
• “Kitchen Sink” cookie – chocolate chips, caramel chips, sugar sprinkles on top
• Everything bagel

They asked me to choose five items from all the food they have left over. In addition to the items we chose, they also had other types of cookies, donuts, and a wide selection of bagels.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Pennington Photography

California Fish Grill – $4.99 ($5.46 with tax)

One-quart containers of:

• Rice
• Kale slaw
• Clam chowder

Day 2

The DW Cookie Company – $4.99 ($5.46 with tax)

• 2 chocolate peanut butter
• Chocolate chocolate chip
• Butterscotch and white chocolate chip
• Peanut butter
• M&Ms
• Chocolate chip
• Cranberry and white chocolate chip

California Fish Grill – $4.99 ($5.46 with tax)

Bag # 1

• Kale slaw
• Mashed potatoes
• Gravy

Bag # 2

• Kale slaw
• Roasted corn

Panera Bread – $4.99 ($5.46 with tax)

• 2 lemon cookies
• 2 salted caramel + chocolate chip cookies

I also ordered a mystery bag from The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf but they canceled my bag because they didn’t have any excess food at the end of the day.

Day 3

Anna’s Armenian Bakery – $5.99 ($5.46 with tax)

• 4 burnt meat boreks – flavor was good but the pastry was burnt

Anna’s Armenian Bakery still had a lot of different food left on the counter for sale – baklava, cheese rolls, and assorted pastries. It was weird because if the idea of Too Good to Go is establishments get rid of excess food at the end of the day, why were they still selling a bunch of food and only gave out burnt meat boreks for the Too Good to Go surprise bags? 

Once again, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf canceled my Surprise Bag because they didn’t have any surplus food at the end of the day. 

The Trolley Stop in the Canyon Country Farmer’s Market also canceled our Surprise Bag because they didn’t have any surplus food at the end of the day.

Day 4

California Fish Grill – $4.99 ($5.46 with tax)

• 2 containers of rice
• Kale slaw

Day 5

S&S Donut & Bake Shop & Deli (Canyon Country) – $6.99 ($7.65 with tax)

• One dozen donuts
  1. Glazed donut with coconut flakes on top
  2. Cake donut with chocolate glaze and chocolate chips on top
  3. Cake donut with chocolate glaze and coconut flakes on top
  4. Cinnamon crumb cake donut
  5. Blueberry cake donut
  6. French cruller
  7. Cake donut with white glaze and chocolate chips on top
  8. Old-fashioned 
  9. Chocolate cake donut
  10. Chocolate cake donut with chocolate glaze
  11. Birthday cake donut with sprinkles on top
  12. Buttermilk donut with maple glaze

Panera Bread – $4.99 ($5.46 with tax)

• Large chocolate chip cookie
• Brownie
• Blueberry muffin with a nice crumbly top
• Cinnamon roll