CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An app aimed at curbing food waste from small businesses and finding discounts for customers has launched in Charlotte.
The creators of Goodie Bag characterize it as a "marketplace for surplus food," and Queen City businesses on the platform said their customers are gobbling the offerings up.
Goodie bags could include an odd number of mismatched bagels from a local shop or unsold pizza slices. Since the customer may not be able to choose the flavors or toppings they get, items are offered at a discount. Discounts on the app right now are as high as 70%.
Hannah Neville, owner of Honeybear Bake Shop in West Charlotte, said her business model, which does not rely on a traditional storefront with ready-made items, does not produce as much waste as other businesses might, but sometimes leftovers just happen.
"We typically throw away a lot of extra products, where it's like, less than 12 cookies," Neville said. "I can't really do much with those."
Upon Goodie Bag's Charlotte launch in early February, Neville said that probable trash has now become a revenue treasure.
"I posted two large goodie bags, and they were gone within seconds," Neville said.
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Eddy Connors and Luke Siegert founded the app, after their experiences as college students working in the food service industry.
"We came across the problem--the two wicked problems of food waste, and food unaffordability," Connors said. "Both we had experienced on a personal level."
From the producer to the consumer level, estimates show the U.S. wastes a large share of its food. Feeding America, a food rescue non-profit, reports the U.S. throws away close to 40% of its food a year, or 80 million tons, worth $444 billion.
"It's a wicked problem that kind of runs throughout the whole industry," Siegert said, recalling his restaurant work.
According to the United Nations, food waste does not just waste the food and the labor, land, and water that went into producing it. It also festers in landfills, fueling greenhouse gases.
"We were always ideating startup ideas that would innovate archaic systems that weren't really serving the public," Connors said.
Prior to its arrival in Charlotte, Goodie Bag launched in Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, and Phoenix, and has about 100 businesses logged on to its platform across all markets.
"What we're seeing in Charlotte is definitely incredible," Connors said. "We've sold, at this point over 1,200 bags... in just 20 days, and essentially all of them have been bought and picked up, and on average, it's getting bought in less than a minute, 20 seconds."
Goodie Bag has about 30 Charlotte businesses participating, and Connors and Siegert said they are always looking to add more. They said the app takes a 33% commission on items sold, and is free for consumers, who would only pay for any goodie bags they want.
"I've sold roughly 100 bags so far, and it's a little bit more than $500," Neville said. "So, that's something that I just wouldn't have before, and I think any revenue, especially with... inflation and everything these days, every cost is so high."
Neville said she also appreciates the extra exposure to new customers.
"What I find that I'm excited about is it gets people who typically wouldn't try your product coming and trying it," Neville said. "And they really like it."
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