November 7, 2024 • 48 mins
Jamie Crummie, the dynamic co-founder of Too Good To Go, joins us to share his transformative journey from a legal career to pioneering a global movement against food waste. Brace yourself for an enlightening conversation that promises to reveal how Jamie's personal values and upbringing—rooted deeply in justice and sustainability—led him to create the world's largest marketplace for surplus food. Discover how his venture is making a positive impact on the planet while providing businesses with innovative solutions to turn potential losses into opportunities.
Our discussion takes a closer look at the significant role of Too Good To Go in promoting sustainability, particularly in the context of food waste and insecurity. With partnerships ranging from local eateries to retail giants like Whole Foods, Too Good To Go offers a unique "triple win" scenario—consumers enjoy savings, businesses cut waste, and the environment thrives. Jamie gives us a glimpse into the future of food systems, emphasizing that sustainable business practices not only make ecological sense but are commercially savvy as well.
Throughout our conversation, Jamie underscores the power of passion and mentorship in driving entrepreneurial success. He shares insights on maintaining focus and resilience amidst challenges, painting a vivid picture of how staying true to a vision can lead to global impact. The episode wraps up with a personal touch, where Jamie opens up about his favorite comfort food and shares advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on balancing perfectionism with progress. Tune in to be inspired by Jamie's story and to learn how you too can be a catalyst for change.
Biography:
Jamie Crummie is the co-founder of Too Good To Go, the world's largest marketplace for surplus food. With a background in law, Jamie holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Leeds University and a Master’s in Human Rights Law (LLM) from Queen Mary University. His legal training and passion for human rights laid the foundation for his commitment to fighting food waste and promoting sustainable practices.
Too Good To Go, founded in 2016, is a market-leading app that empowers consumers to save unsold food from restaurants and retailers, ensuring it doesn’t go to waste. The app connects over 80 million users with 135,000 active food businesses across 17 countries, collectively rescuing over 250 million meals. Under Jamie’s leadership, the company has grown into a global movement dedicated to inspiring and empowering individuals to take action against food waste. The mission of Too Good To Go extends beyond technology, fostering a community of “Waste Warriors” who are driving positive change for the planet.
Jamie’s impact has been widely recognized. He was named an Obama Leader in 2023, Sustainability Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards in 2022, and a Trailblazing Activist in Forbes' 50 Next class of 2021. He has also been honored as One Young World’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020 and included in Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Europe in 2019. Driven by purpose and a vision for a healthier planet, Jamie continues to seek collaborations that support sustainable food systems and environmental impact.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Too Good To Go is an app you may have heard of or
even used.
Available in over 17 countries,with more than 100 million
downloads, it connects nearly150,000 food businesses with
consumers eager to purchasesurplus food at a significant
value.
You might wonder how does thistie into retail?
In reality, this app embodiesthe very essence of what retail
(00:22):
is the exchange of goods orservices in this case, food for
fair or relative value in thiscase, definitely fair.
Today, on Retail Relates, we'rejoined by Jamie Crummey, a
co-founder of Too Good To Go.
Joining us from the UK, jamieCrummey is the co-founder of Too
Good To Go, the world's largestmarketplace for surplus food.
With a background in law, jamieholds a Bachelor of Laws LLB
(00:46):
from Leeds University and aMaster's in Human Rights Law an
LLM from Queen Mary University.
His legal training and passionfor human rights laid the
foundation for his commitment tofighting food waste and
promoting sustainable practices.
Too Good to Go, founded in 2016, is a market-leading app that
empowers consumers to saveunsold food from restaurants and
(01:06):
retailers, ensuring it doesn'tgo to waste.
The app connects over 80million users with 135,000
active food businesses across 17countries, collectively
rescuing over 250 million meals.
Under Jamie's leadership, thecompany has grown into a global
movement dedicated to inspiringand empowering individuals to
(01:27):
take action against food waste.
The mission of Too Good to Goextends beyond technology,
fostering a community of wastewarriors who are driving
positive change for the planet.
Jamie's impact has been widelyrecognized he was named an Obama
Leader in 2023, sustainabilityEntrepreneur of the Year at the
Great British EntrepreneurAwards in 2022, and a
(01:49):
trailblazing activist in Forbes'50 Next Class of 2021.
He has also been honored as OneYoung World's Entrepreneur of
the Year in 2020 and included inForbes' 30 Under 30 in Europe
in 2019.
Driven by purpose and a visionfor a healthier planet, jamie
continues to seek collaborationsthat support sustainable food
systems and environmental 30Under 30 in Europe in 2019.
Driven by purpose and a visionfor a healthier planet, jamie
(02:09):
continues to seek collaborationsthat support sustainable food
systems and environmental impact.
I think you'll find thisepisode fascinating, not only
for the story behind thisrapidly expanding concept, but
also for getting to know JamieCrummey personally.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Well, it's a pleasure to welcome Jamie Crummey to
Retail Relates today.
He is the co-founder of TooGood to Go and a lot of other
things on his resume.
Jamie, welcome to the podcasttoday.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Thank you very much for having me.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So we gave a little bit of your bio in the intro and
we'll include a full bio in theshow notes.
What we like to start off withhere is a little bit of a
different question.
If you go back through yourcareer, noting that you are one
of the top 30 under 30, so youare in the midst of a career
(02:55):
right now what are the threemost pivotal moments, either
from a career or lifeperspective, that have brought
you to where you are right now?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, it's quite a profound question to look back
on, and there are countlessinteractions, engagements, which
have had a huge impact on whereI've sort of decided to go in
my career and the choices I'vemade.
But I would say that thebiggest impact that it's
probably had on my, my careerwould be my, my family, my
(03:27):
upbringing.
Now, I've always been someonewho struggled to refer to
themselves as a entrepreneur oreven as a social entrepreneur.
It wasn't something that, uh,that I eased into quickly.
I think that really comes from,you know, my own sort of
reflections of what I think onentrepreneurism is, and it's
(03:47):
these like Hollywood images ofkids who grew up, you know, with
a different hustle, with a newbusiness idea every day, every
week, or hustling in the schoolplayground, you know, and I
wasn't that kind of guy, youknow, I wasn't the kid who was,
you know, was trying to undercutthe school canteen by selling
cookies or whatever at a dropprice.
(04:08):
In fact, I was actually some ofmy friends.
But what I have been is someonewho's always been motivated by
social and environmental impact,and that very much comes from
my upbringing.
My parents have been advocatesof social and environmental
justice and so I suppose,through osmosis.
You know, these became passionsof mine, and so that is
(04:30):
something which has framed thepath I've taken and the
decisions that I've made.
In short, that has brought meto a space where I'm driven by
impact, and I think there's aninteresting question there,
which is what impact means to meand for me, impact is around.
You know, it's social impact,it's creating environmental
(04:51):
impact, but it's also aligningthose with other realms of
impact, whether that becommercial impact as well and
using business as this source ofgood.
So my upbringing wouldcertainly be the first one, and
then I would look at my timethrough academia, through school
, and the relationships andfriendships I've made there
which have helped shape who I'vebeen.
(05:13):
You know I'm quite a sociableperson and maybe we'll get this
across the podcast today, butit's those friendships have been
hugely important as beingsoundboard and sparring partners
, but also as people who cankeep you grounded.
You know, at times when, hey,you know you really need people
who give you that reality check,and I think that that third
(05:34):
biggest lesson has been startingto to get to go itself.
You know, that is installingyour own business.
I think is like a.
It's a, it's a fast track of anMBA.
You know you learn everythingwithin a few weeks and months
feels like years and uh, andslowly my hair has been um,
growing backwards.
(05:55):
It's it's aged me quite, quitesignificantly, but it's been a,
uh yeah, an amazing experienceand an amazing journey which I
can take huge amount fromexperience and an amazing
journey which I can take a hugeamount from.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
When you were younger , did you have a certain dream
or aspiration or you know, therewere kids that wanted to be a
fireman or an astronaut or wasthere something that you
envisioned for your path otherthan this?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Well, actually it's funny.
You say that my mother was likeclearing out some things in my
family home and she came acrossthis end-of-year journal where
myself and my other pupils, atthe age of 10, we had written
down what it was that we wantedto do with our lives.
And, bizarrely enough, I thinkthe two things I'd written down
(06:38):
was I wanted to be aprofessional football player or
soccer player and I also wantedto be a barrister.
Because I wanted to be abarrister so I could help people
.
And I think you know there is,you know that was actually a
path that I was pursuing.
So I started my training as alawyer.
I did my master's in humanrights law, I studied law, but
(06:59):
it was again this connectionbetween impact and wanting to
deliver social and environmentalimpact, and so I like to think,
even at the age of 10, I hadthat foresight and I wanted to
become a barrister because Iwanted to help people and I
wanted to deliver value, whichis something nice to reflect on,
didn't quite make the footballplayer that.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, if it makes you feel better, I would tell you
that, with Paul Agotham andmyself, when you said football,
all three of us knew you meantsoccer.
So you answer that question,you know, has there been a
failure in your life that you'velearned from?
(07:46):
Or I'll give you an alternatequestion.
Is there a point in yourjourney where you hit a
crossroads and said you know, Iwant to go in a little bit of a
different direction?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Well, I'm glad you asked that question and you
haven't eased me in.
You know you've gone straightover with the hard ones.
There's been, you know,countless challenges across um,
across my career.
You know, I think back to evenstarting too good to go.
I mentioned how I never thoughtof myself as a entrepreneur.
I probably would have viewedmyself more as some sort of
(08:18):
change agent.
But there was this decisionbetween, you know, myself and my
co-founders we started too GoodTo Go initially as sort of a
passion project, and there wasthis decision that I had to make
Did I want to go all in intostarting a business that I knew
could have and should have hugeamounts of scale and potential,
(08:40):
or would I carry on doing andfollowing that dream that I had
as a 10-year-old and pursuingthat career in law?
And I'm typically quite arisk-averse person and
everything was telling me Ishould stick with law.
These are where my passions lie, et cetera, et cetera.
And so this was like a bigcrossroads, a big junction, and
(09:01):
for me, the lesson that Ilearned here was, you know, it
was very much about like tryingto follow your passions, and
those passions that you can havein life can change, they can
evolve.
But there was always this oneconstant with me, which is I
wanted to follow somewhere whereI could have the most amount of
impact and starting your ownbusiness.
When you have this vision forwhere it can go and that
(09:22):
capacity to scale and inspirepeople and inspire businesses
and really sort of change, um,change people's habits and
perceptions on something.
That was what I well, what Idecided to do, and it was so
important for me to be able tofollow that, that passion, and
see it through.
And one thing I always sort ofreflect upon is how, by
(09:42):
following my passion, I've beenable to grow further resilience,
because by doing something thatI'm passionate about, by doing
something that I care about,when you hit these inevitable
challenges which you'rereferring to, it's easier to
pick yourself up and dustyourself off and keep going,
because you're intrinsicallymotivated by what it is that you
(10:04):
do.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
The need for intrinsic motivation is critical
when it comes to startups.
You talked about Too Good To Gobeing a passion project.
Now I am a consumer of Too GoodTo Go.
I've used it for about twoyears now For our audience.
Can you just talk about whatToo Good To Go is, how it
evolved as a concept and whatinspired you to take on the big
(10:27):
challenge of tackling food waste?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
So for those that aren't aware, and I'll do a
subtle plug for you to downloadit but Too Good To Go is a
social impact company.
We exist essentially to dreamof a planet of no food waste,
where we connect businesses withtechnology to create further
impact.
Now we have several differentproducts, but when we first
(10:51):
started, and at the heart of ourbusiness, is our marketplace,
and this is the Too Good To Goapp, which connects individuals
with businesses who have surfacefood for sale.
And we've now grown thismarketplace to 19 markets across
three continents, where we haveover 100 million users of our
app, over 160,000 participatingfood businesses who,
(11:14):
collectively, this community hasrescued over 370 million meals
from going to waste.
And then, since then, in thelast few years, we've introduced
further product to help usaddress food waste the whole way
across the food value chain.
So this includes our 2G2Goplatform, whereby we use an
(11:34):
AI-powered modular solution tohelp retailers with their
reduce-to-clear process,enabling them to save even more
food from going to waste.
Then to save even more foodfrom going to waste.
And then the too good to goparcels business, which is where
we work with manufacturers sobusinesses further down the
supply chain to redistribute andgive a a route to market for
products in their facilitieswhich would otherwise have gone
(11:57):
to waste.
So this is a direct to consumeroffering where, too good to go,
surprise parcels are deliveredto our partners, so that is.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Can I ask you a second, jamie?
Is that latter something that'savailable in the 19 countries,
or is that something you justrolled out?
I had not heard of?
That ends the question.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
The parcels business is currently available in
different markets across Europe.
We've launched it in Germanyand Austria most recently, and
we'll be looking at differentmarkets across Europe, such as
the UK, to launch this as well,but it's not quite yet available
in North America.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Now you said 19 countries and, if I remember
correctly, you've also hit 100million consumers or registered
users.
Talk us through the journey.
How do you get that?
You know, get that customer one.
And how do you get adoptionamongst both the retailers and
you're a two-sided market.
You need to have consumers onthe platform and you need to
(12:58):
have retailers if you willselling their products.
How do you achieve that?
It's really a daunting task.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yes, we certainly set ourselves some high standards,
and when we look back and wecast our mind back to 2015 to
2016, when this was still just anovel idea, I often look back
and we were typically viewed asdisruptors within this space,
were and we still are innovators, and so this was, you know,
(13:26):
this was, um, you know,difficult to be able to to get
that traction within businesses,but also get that traction
amongst consumers, because we,as a business, we were yeah, we
were um a pretty lean startup.
Yeah, we didn't have hugeamounts of of to begin with.
We were self-funded by myselfand by my co-founders.
(13:47):
We had some grant funding, butit meant that we had to be
resourceful, and so, by beingresourceful, this was where we
had to wear multiple hats acrossthe business, and that meant
waking up in the morning andgoing out and speaking to
businesses.
Going out and speaking tobusinesses pitching an idea
(14:08):
where we didn't really have aproduct yet ready for them, we
hadn't sort of finisheddeveloping our app itself.
But then it also meant thatduring that day, you know, we
were having to, you know, engagewith customers and get feedback
on the product itself, and Ithink this goes back, then, to
one of those themes I sort ofspoke about earlier, which is
about being passionate and thatbecause we were such a
(14:30):
passionate bunch around where weknew we could take two to go,
where this idea essentially,where we were trying to bring
this to this level of passionateenthusiasm was infectious, and
so we were able to bringbusinesses on this journey with
us.
And then, once it came tolaunching the app, again it was
(14:52):
being created, being resourceful.
I can remember walking thestreets of London and other
cities across the UK, talking towhoever I sat beside on a bus,
on a train, encouraging them todownload the Tugetogo app and
leaving a flyer or somethinglike that with them.
So it was very much in thoseearly days about being
(15:13):
resourceful and about ensuringthat that passion came across,
so that people wanted to findout more and people wanted to
come on that journey with us.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
So I'm going to double click on two points that
you just said.
First, you said resourceful.
You talked about leaving flyersand talking to consumers.
So if you think about theevolution of a startup when
budgets are constrained, did youuse a lot of marketing it
sounds like more of the PRapproach to build and did you
use social media to kind of getyourself into the eyes of the
(15:45):
public?
Speaker 3 (15:46):
PR became a fantastic tool for us to utilize.
In the early days, as Imentioned, you know, we were
often viewed as disruptors.
We are innovators.
We were creating a solution toa problem of food waste which,
you know, back in 2015, back in2016, wasn't necessarily part of
everyday public discourse, itwasn't something on top of
(16:08):
people's minds, and what we wereable to do is to utilize PR as
a tool to get this organiccoverage.
We were wearing these multiplehats.
As I say, we were writing ourown press releases and sending
these out, and I can recall onepress release that we must have
sent out at sort of the start of2016.
(16:30):
And we ended up getting intouch with a journalist who
wanted to test, to go out.
They wanted us to cover theirtrain fare, which, begrudgingly,
we agreed to do so, but theywrote an article which ended up
being shared thousands of timesacross social media and, as a
(16:50):
result of this, you know, we had, you know, different
journalists reaching out to usand, as a result, you know our
marketplace.
You know it grew in supply, butit also grew in demand as well,
so we had lots of businesses whowere learning about us, which,
you know, we couldn't havereached at that scale had it not
been for the PR.
And similarly, we reachedconsumers across sort of
(17:13):
different markets and vastgeographies, which we wouldn't
have been able to do given ourbudget constraints, but it
wasn't all smooth sailing forsure.
If I look back to those earlydays, we had this influx of
demand on our marketplace, but,like many marketplaces, we were
(17:35):
supply constrained and so weperhaps didn't have food
businesses, retailers and so onand so forth in areas where
people were downloading our appand wanting to use the
marketplace.
So there was this challenge,which was really leaning into
the available PR but at the sametime, trying to be focused on
(17:57):
where this PR was being rolledout, given that we didn't have
an infinite amount of supply onthe app itself.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Now talking about that.
I didn't realize you were inbusiness from 2016.
So it's almost a decade thatyou've been around.
So congratulations.
I mean that's amazing.
And 19 countries now.
What have you seen from boththe consumer side and the
retailer side, on the desire forsustainability right and the
(18:26):
heterogeneity that comes acrossdifferent countries?
19 countries, three continentsI heard you say what's that been
like and I feel sustainabilityebbs and flows.
It might be a primary focussometimes, maybe not so much
later on.
How have you seen it both froma consumer side and a retailer
side?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
yeah, really good question.
The short answer is, and pardonthe pun, the appetite for
fighting food waste hasdramatically increased over the
past 10 years and there's, youknow, of course, a whole host of
like contributing to this,whether it be the very notion
that we're experiencing climatechange right now.
(19:05):
It's no longer an existentialthreat, but something that we
see and are experiencing everyday, be it in parts of the US
where we're having bins and roadsigns melting before our very
eyes, through to the increase ofextreme weather patterns
leading to floods and forestfires, and so on and so forth.
(19:25):
So there is this heightenedawareness that we are
experiencing these events, and Ialso think there is a much
greater desire from businessesto play an active role in being
part of the solutions for this.
And certainly what we see withmany businesses is this
increased appetite to work withsolution providers like
(19:47):
ourselves, because we are ableto help them create a tangible
impact but, at the same time, doso in a way which makes
commercial sense for them.
So to go back and talk aboutToo Good To Go when businesses
used Too Good To Go, they wereable to recover some cost on
food that would otherwise havebeen wasted.
So not only does it makeenvironmental sense, it makes
(20:09):
commercial sense for thesebusinesses too sustainable
business practices from thisawareness that doing something
that is sustainable isn't a costsink, but it can be something
which benefits society, whichbenefits your consumers, but
also benefits your bottom lineas a business too.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
So what you said right now triggered a question
for me, which is that there aremultiple ways to reduce food
waste, right?
So companies donate food, andthen there's the option of
commercialization so that itdoesn't go to waste.
In the US at least, we have, Ithink, about 35 million-odd
people who are food insecure.
Who is the audience?
Who do you expect to get thesesurprise packages, which can be
(20:54):
big, large?
Are they the people who arefood insecure or are they
existing customers?
Does it matter to you?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
One of the beautiful things I think about Too Good To
Go is the means to get accessto food at a convenient time for
them as they're leaving theoffice, or whether it's a family
who is using Too Good To Gobecause it allows them to do
something which is positive forthe environment, but at a price
point which is more accessibleto them.
Or perhaps it's being used bypensioners, who again are using
(21:40):
Too Good To Go because it is away for them to feel more
connected to businesses withintheir local area whilst at the
same time saving some money.
So I think the really beautifulthing about Too Good To Go is
this vast demographic, thatwe're able to increase access to
food but, importantly, allowpeople to do something which
(22:00):
they can feel good about andalso save some money at the same
time, which, in a competitiveliving crisis becomes and the
climate crisis becomes a verylike pertinent issue.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
I love that answer.
I asked this question for thereason that, as I was hearing
you speak, I was wondering rightlike so the smaller retailers?
The commercialization aspect iscritically important.
For them, you get new customersinto the doorstep.
For the larger retailers, Ithink it might be more the PR
that comes from.
It might be more beneficial,and hence part of the reason why
(22:32):
I questioned you who is yourretail customers of the smaller
guys?
Do you have some big retailerson board, particularly in the US
or the smaller guys.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Do you have some big retailers on board, particularly
in the US?
Well, we've actually recentlystarted rolling out with Whole
Foods across the US, which hasbeen a fantastic partnership to
date and where again, we havelike real tangible impact in the
amount of food that we aresaving together.
Outside of the US, we work withretailers like um, like aldi,
(23:02):
um and car four, uh, otherbritish retailers like um,
morrisons as well.
So it really is a a breadth ofbusinesses from, or retailers
from, hypermarket through tohigh-end organizations like
whole foods, as well as withinthe the convenience sector, so
the likes of the 7-Elevens andbusinesses like this.
(23:22):
So it really is the breadth ofthe retail spectrum and this
lends itself to the flexibilityand adaptability of 2-2-Go
depending on the retailer'sstore operation.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Congratulations on the Whole Foods.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
They haven't made it to Orlando, I guess yes we're
still in the rollout process,but as soon as it gets to
Orlando, I encourage you torescue the surprise bags from
Whole.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Foods.
Well, they have made it toVirginia Beach and actually I
had discovered Too Good to Gothrough social media.
I tried it a few weeks ago andwas rather pleased.
So it's amazing how it comestogether Without putting you on
the spot with comparing theglobal consumer versus the US
consumer.
Have you found the US consumerin a different place, and what
(24:12):
do you think that US businessesand consumers can learn from
what is going on globally?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
First and foremost, when we look at the US, it is
materially different to any ofthe other markets in which we're
currently operating because ofthe sheer size and scale, so the
potential to have impact in theUS is astronomical.
When we look at the levels offood waste happening within the
(24:40):
retail sector in the US, incontrast to Europe, for example,
there is far more food beingwasted in US food service and
hospitality as well as retail,and so the capacity for us to
have an impact is absolutelyhuge.
When we look at it from aconsumer adoption piece, there
are some clear parallels andcommon red threads.
(25:03):
When we look at consumers inall our other markets, it is
this notion of being able to dosomething which is not only
positive for your wallet, butthis feeling of doing something
good for the environment andgood for society as well.
And this has been the greatthing which we've been able to
tap into into consumer andbusiness mindsets, which is this
notion of what we call thetriple win, and it's a triple
(25:26):
win whereby consumers are ableto discover new foods, discover
new flavors at price pointswhich are more affordable for
them.
It's an opportunity forbusinesses to attract new
customers, reduce their wastedisposal costs and recover some
costs on food waste, attractingnew customers all the same time,
(25:48):
or, ultimately, doing somethingwhich is positive for the
environment as well and this hasbeen super important for us as
we've entered the US, but alsoin any market in which we enter
is communicating this triple win.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
It's interesting you say that because it does create
value for the retailer and forthe consumer.
It's really a frictionlessvalue proposition because the
notion that I can pay $7 to get$18 worth of value from, in this
case, whole Foods, while doingsomething good and maybe trying
something at Whole Foods that Iwouldn't have otherwise tried,
(26:25):
is a win-win-win.
Do you see this having and Idon't want you to give away any
trade secrets so we can takethis out, but do you see this
having an application as youshop in more traditional retail,
of being able to create thistriple concept of a, of a triple
(26:45):
win into other sectors?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
into other industries , which is essentially saying
that you know we can do thingswhich are positive for the
environment and a way thateverybody can win.
You know there shouldn't be, orthere doesn't need to be,
losers in this um, in thisscenario, but we can all do
things which have a goodcommercial return whilst at the
(27:24):
same time deliveringenvironmental and social impact
too.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Jamie, I've been hearing you speak and it's been
a fascinating conversation.
I've been trying to think aboutwhat's next.
You started as a marketplace todeal with surplus.
Now you've gone into parcels,which implies you are building
out supply chain networks.
I'm curious what's next?
Are you going to be a retailer?
(27:48):
I mean you've built the supplychain network.
You have a hundred millionregistered users, you can be the
largest retailer in some waysand you can deal with impossible
foods of some sort, rightdealing with waste and going
direct to consumer from thesource.
Is that the future that youthink for too good to go?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
you're being very kind to us with um, with your
visions of the impact we cancreate, but for us, where we're
laser focused on is creatingimpact around food waste, and so
this is having a holistic viewacross our food value chain and
seeing where we can startdelivering impact, and we'll
(28:31):
always explore whether this canbe done through product
innovations.
So you're right, we started ina marketplace.
The marketplace itself lookedon um on how we could engage
with with food service,hospitality and retail.
We now have our to do to goplatform, which looks at those,
those two um two segments aswell, and now we have the the
(28:53):
parcels business, which islooking at manufacturing and
processing.
So for us, that, uh, thatvision for us is very much
looking at how we can startextracting further value through
product innovations across thatfood value chain to ensure that
no good food has to go to waste.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
So, both as a startup entrepreneur and as a consumer
and as a human, where do you seeconsumer behavior evolving over
the next decade or two?
Speaker 3 (29:26):
It really is quite a fascinating question that,
because we have seen a huge risein more consumer conscious
brands.
If we take food waste itself asan example within this, back in
2015, 2016, when we werestarting up, there was nowhere
(29:47):
near as much innovation withinthis food waste space as there
is now.
Whereas I can go to a localsupermarket here in the UK and I
can buy beers which are madefrom surplus bread, I can buy
condiments which are made fromsurplus vegetables, there are
marketplaces like 2G2Go, whichexists, there's progressive
(30:08):
legislation which is happeningto ensure food waste is reported
and reduced at a country level.
Yet, at the same time, we'reseeing growth of other
marketplaces which I mean forlack of a better way to describe
(30:33):
them are not sustainable.
They're getting built onconvenience, it's built on cheap
labor, it's built on cheapproducts which aren't typically
good for the environment norsustainable in the way in terms
of the air miles that they aretraveling.
So we see these two sort ofconflicts, but what I do hope is
going to happen is moresustainable practices are going
to prevail.
(30:53):
I hope, through furtherregulation, I hope through the
introduction of new policies,that we will see businesses
which are operating through aESG lens will prevail, because
what we must have is businessbeing used as this force for
good, particularly when we lookat how consumerism is growing
(31:18):
and developing over the nextyears to come.
I am hopeful that you arecorrect, but I would certainly
be one of these people who iseternally optimistic.
I think far too often we canlook at what's happening through
the doom and gloom.
(31:39):
If we look at the climatecrisis itself right now, it's so
easy for us to be overwhelmedand riddled with climate anxiety
.
I think it is important for usto champion some of those
success stories and even ifprogress may not be happening at
the rate in which we want it to, at least we're hopefully
(31:59):
moving in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
If Paula was on right now, she'd be making fun of me,
because I would say that'ssomething I'm going to write
down and take back to my team.
You probably said that to me onjust the right day.
Where progress isn't happeningas fast as you want, at least
progress is being made and youhave to recognize it, which is
one of the reasons that we dolike having these conversations,
(32:20):
especially with students, butalso those who are within the
industry.
I want to pivot now to advice,and this is not just for college
students, budding entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, it can
be for anybody.
What is the best piece ofadvice that you've ever received
(32:41):
that has added value?
Or you can answer it adifferent way what's the best
piece of advice that you weregiven that you decided to ignore
?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
The best advice that I think I received as an
entrepreneur was around stayingfocused.
I think this applies not just toentrepreneurship, but it
applies to so many differentwalks of life, particularly in
professional environments, andit was to stay laser focused on
(33:12):
what it is that your vision wasand what it is that you're
trying to deliver.
Because what I found is it's soeasy to get distracted by the
next new shiny thing and, youknow, if we look at it from a
too good to go point of view,what was so important for us in
those early days was to staysuper focused on, you know,
(33:32):
growing the supply and growingthe consumer base within our
marketplace.
Yet there were always otherlike new opportunities which
would arise and you would tellyourself, there were ways in
which we can deliver impact.
I mentioned how we benefited ahuge amount from PR at Two Year
To Go.
In those early days, there wereopportunities.
(33:54):
I had to do interviews withjournalists in markets that we
had no connection to whatsoever,but it became something
interesting, it became somethingdifferent, and that in itself
became a bit of a distraction,and so, for me, what became
incredibly important was, afterexperiencing this, to stay super
(34:17):
focused on what the task athand was rather than trying to
get deviated or sidetracked bythose next new exciting projects
.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
So I have another follow-up to that.
Is there a particular mentorthat comes to mind that has left
a lasting impact on you?
Speaker 3 (34:39):
I mean, I've been hugely fortunate to engage with
a huge array of differentmentors.
One mentor of mine is a friend.
Actually he was a friend I met,but he's been a very successful
entrepreneur in his own rightas well, is a gentleman called
Brendan Ward.
(35:00):
Right as well is a, a gentlemancalled brendan ward, and he has
always been a?
Um, a strong advocate of whatI've um, what I've been set out
to do, but also being able tochallenge at those right times
as well, and I think that iswhat's, you know, super
important with a, with a mentor.
It's someone that you can trustand, as a result, you know they
(35:21):
, they can challenge you and youcan have that, that healthy
conflict, jeremy I.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
I loved your when you chose to focus on greater focus
as the attribute.
It resonated a lot with me.
I often say that you need tohave a greater focus, a sharp
focus on the end goal, theconsumers, the partners, the
value that you add, but shouldshow flexibility on how you get
there.
I think there are two traitsthat are critical for a
(35:50):
successful entrepreneur.
Let's just talk a little bitmore about what makes a
successful entrepreneur.
What's the undervalued trait?
I heard you say resiliencebefore.
What is the undervalued trait?
I heard you say resiliencebefore.
What is the undervalued traitthat, in your opinion, is
critical today to stand out asan entrepreneur, as an
individual in general?
Speaker 3 (36:11):
Yeah, yes, I mean, there's a huge array of
(36:36):
characteristics, not all which Isee in myself, but I see in
some of my co-founders.
And yes, building a businessaround.
I think that is integral to bepassionate, because that is
where that intrinsic desire,that care, comes from and,
ultimately, people invest inpeople.
It's a huge tool to be able tobring people on that journey
(36:57):
with you.
If you're able to convey thatpassion, if you're able to
convey that vision, that why andwith that passion, as I say,
like grows, resilience andstarting a business, starting
any type of venture, there aregoing to be huge amounts of ups
and, sadly, quite a few downs aswell, and so it really is
(37:20):
important to celebrate thosemilestones.
But by being passionate aboutthat cause that why that vision
I find it is so much easier topull yourself out of bed when
the going is getting toughbecause you genuinely care about
this, this, this greaterpurpose.
(37:40):
In addition to that, there isthis, um, this, I'm not sure the
entire way to describe it, butit's about not being a
perfectionist, about being ableto operate at speed, and I've
spoken to countless ofentrepreneurs who have tried to
make their MVP the most perfectthing that they can.
(38:02):
But what is so important isabout just getting your skin in
the game, getting that immediatefeedback from your clients,
from your partners, from yourcustomers, because being a
perfectionist is slowing youdown.
So I think there is this sweetspot, this nexus between being a
perfectionist and wanting tooperate at speed, and if you can
(38:25):
find that sweet spot in themiddle, you can really start
executing your solution at scale.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
What's the saying?
Don't be the perfect the enemyof good, or something to that
effect.
Right, jamie, off script again,but what you said triggered
something right?
So passion drives the will toovercome difficult times and
it's critical for anentrepreneur, but it's also
(38:54):
sometimes can be a hurdle whenit comes to knowing when to
packet it right, like when toactually call it a day, and
sometimes you invest a lot more.
I'm curious what is yourperspective?
I'm a researcher who tries tostudy these human aspects of
things.
So what's the line?
Where do you how any guidanceon when you tell an A?
(39:18):
You know Now's the time to stopthis project.
Do you have any thoughts onthat?
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Well, when I talk about being passionate, I'm
talking about being passionatefor your cause, for your just
cause, for your vision, visionfor what that?
Why is so?
It's not necessary beingpassionate about a certain
product or commodity, but it is.
It's being passionate aboutwhat that that just causes, and
(39:46):
so, for me, that would bepassionate about delivering
impact through fighting foodwaste for others, that that that
might be something else, and soI don't think there is a line
when it comes to that.
If you're passionate about itand you have this greater cause,
then you will intuitively tryand find solutions in which to
(40:08):
address it.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
That's fair.
Very good point, very astutepoint.
All right, so now we come tothe fun part of things, the
rapid fire section.
No, you're not allowed to thinkon the song, you just go there
and so what comes off your thecuff and I'll start things off.
I'm a big foodie, so I'm goingto start off by asking you the
food question no pun intendedthere either.
(40:34):
Which is, what is your favoritecomfort food?
Don't say fish and chips.
It is my mom's favorite comfortfood Pizza, right.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
No, it would have to be margarita pizza Simple but
delicious.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Okay, I have to ask this Is there one place that,
actually, I'm going to go fortwo?
Is there a margarita pizza inparticular, anywhere in the
world, any specific restaurantthat you would absolutely crave
at any given moment?
Speaker 3 (41:14):
I've had the fortune of going to some amazing places.
I've traveled around italy andeven around sicily, so there was
a specific pizza I enjoyed inpalermo and sicily once, so I'm
gonna have to go with whateverrandom uh street, uh street.
(41:36):
This was, but it was fantastic.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Perfect, all right, I'll ask the official second
follow-up and then let Gautamtake it home.
If you could transport yourselfanywhere in the world
instantaneously you can go for24 hours instantaneously back
where would you go?
Speaker 3 (41:57):
It would be somewhere warm, it would be somewhere in
nature and it would be somewhereby the sea.
But I think, more importantlythan where, it is with who.
And for me it would betransporting myself with friends
, with family, because for me itis that social connection and
(42:18):
those um those relationshipswhich are the most important to
me so, as is my style, I'm goingto go off of script, jamie, and
I'm going to ask you the lastquestion, which is too good to
go.
Speaker 4 (42:31):
You get surprise packages.
What is a surprise package thatyou have seen out there that
was really unique, and I cantell you I've seen a few really
interesting options out there.
On the tiktok world yes, well,it's favorite in the sense of
unique, right like somethingthat you would not have thought
(42:51):
would be in a surprise bag.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Well, one of my favorite and most unique
surprise bags was one of thefirst ones I ever rescued, so it
was from a cafe here in London,in central London, and for me
they just embodied everythingwhich Too Good To Go is supposed
to be about, which is aboutbeing creative.
It's about reducing food waste,and this Too Good To Go
(43:17):
surprise bag I got.
It had a bit of lentil salad init, it had a croissant, it had
a slice of tortilla, it had afocaccia roll with I think it
was goat cheese and something init, but it was a whole melee of
different foods.
I think there was some tomatosalad in there as well, but it
(43:43):
had just been the lunch rush.
The croissants would be goingstale, so they couldn't use them
the next day.
There wasn't enough of thelentil salad or the tomato salad
to make up a whole portion, butit was perfect for what to to
go.
Does so enable them to haveempty plates and, luckily for me
, I love all of those foods.
(44:03):
So it was, uh, it was fantastic, but it yeah, it was unique in
the sense that it was thiseclectic mix of different food
types, but it really was aboututilizing everything which was
left, so that no good food wouldgo to waste.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
All right.
So I'm going to say thank you,but I am going to throw in one
last one.
If we would have asked you whatyour walk-on song is, would you
have had a song or an artist?
Speaker 3 (44:29):
My walk-on song would have to be Oasis.
I mean, ever since the reuniontour has been announced, I could
not stop listening to them.
I grew up with Oasis and I'm ahuge, huge fan.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
I missed my chance to see Liam in Madrid,
unfortunately, when he wasopening for the Foo Fighters and
they had to cancel.
Jamie, this was absolutelyfantastic.
I appreciate you joining us andmaking the time.
I cannot wait to have thisedited and get this both to our
students and to our generalaudience, and, on behalf of all
(45:07):
of us, we're wishing you thegreatest success with Too Good
to Go, because it really is afantastic business model and I'm
looking forward to seeing itcontinue to grow and have an
impact.
Speaker 3 (45:22):
Well, thank you so much for having me Been a
pleasure speaking.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
All right, gautam, so I don't think we have that much
time to banter today.
I don't know how we're going tocut any of that conversation
out.
It was fascinating.
If you have a takeaway or two,what would they be?
Speaker 4 (45:39):
Yeah, I think the conversation holds for itself.
I have two takeaways.
One was the role of PR ingetting a company to grow, and
it's often unspoken, and so,from a substantive perspective,
that's probably my takeaway.
And from a more intangibleperspective, the biggest
takeaway for me was how Jamietalked about championing success
(46:02):
, celebrating wins.
We often forget to do that inthe hubbub of life.
We are the focus on the nextbigger win, and so there were
good takeaways for me to mullover to mull it over.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
Yeah, and I think for me, I agree with those and I
think for me, it really is thefocus on the circular economy
and whether we're talking aboutrecycled or reclaimed, or
reconsidered is a term I'veheard as of late it's obvious
that, with them launchingoverseas and the success that
they've had in 17 countries Ithink you mentioned, and
(46:40):
obviously just getting itstarted in the US, but it not
being as big here.
We've had other guests thathave talked about how overseas
there's a higher adoption rateand consideration rate and when
that'll take place here.
So fascinating conversation,when that'll take place here, so
fascinating conversation, andI'm really interested to see how
(47:00):
this continues to progress overthe next several years.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
Yeah, me too, and selfishly.
I'm also interested in seeingwhen the Too Good To Go and
Amazon Whole Foods partnershipcomes to Orlando so that I can
start using them.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
I've used it, I've enjoyed it and I do agree with
uh.
I think he said in there it wasa win, win, win.
It's not often that in thisbusiness you can find a win, win
, win, but when you uh, when youcan, that's a win.
So, all right, Gotham, great tosee you.
And uh, paula, I know you'regoing to enjoy listening to this
.
And for everybody else, thankyou for staying tuned to Retail
(47:40):
Relates.
We appreciate you and lookforward to having you join us
next time.
Too Good To Go is an app you may have heard of or
even used.
Available in over 17 countries,with more than 100 million
downloads, it connects nearly150,000 food businesses with
consumers eager to purchasesurplus food at a significant
value.
You might wonder how does thistie into retail?
In reality, this app embodiesthe very essence of what retail
(00:22):
is the exchange of goods orservices in this case, food for
fair or relative value in thiscase, definitely fair.
Today, on Retail Relates, we'rejoined by Jamie Crummey, a
co-founder of Too Good To Go.
Joining us from the UK, jamieCrummey is the co-founder of Too
Good To Go, the world's largestmarketplace for surplus food.
With a background in law, jamieholds a Bachelor of Laws LLB
(00:46):
from Leeds University and aMaster's in Human Rights Law an
LLM from Queen Mary University.
His legal training and passionfor human rights laid the
foundation for his commitment tofighting food waste and
promoting sustainable practices.
Too Good to Go, founded in 2016, is a market-leading app that
empowers consumers to saveunsold food from restaurants and
(01:06):
retailers, ensuring it doesn'tgo to waste.
The app connects over 80million users with 135,000
active food businesses across 17countries, collectively
rescuing over 250 million meals.
Under Jamie's leadership, thecompany has grown into a global
movement dedicated to inspiringand empowering individuals to
(01:27):
take action against food waste.
The mission of Too Good to Goextends beyond technology,
fostering a community of wastewarriors who are driving
positive change for the planet.
Jamie's impact has been widelyrecognized he was named an Obama
Leader in 2023, sustainabilityEntrepreneur of the Year at the
Great British EntrepreneurAwards in 2022, and a
(01:49):
trailblazing activist in Forbes'50 Next Class of 2021.
He has also been honored as OneYoung World's Entrepreneur of
the Year in 2020 and included inForbes' 30 Under 30 in Europe
in 2019.
Driven by purpose and a visionfor a healthier planet, jamie
continues to seek collaborationsthat support sustainable food
systems and environmental 30Under 30 in Europe in 2019.
Driven by purpose and a visionfor a healthier planet, jamie
(02:09):
continues to seek collaborationsthat support sustainable food
systems and environmental impact.
I think you'll find thisepisode fascinating, not only
for the story behind thisrapidly expanding concept, but
also for getting to know JamieCrummey personally.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Well, it's a pleasure to welcome Jamie Crummey to
Retail Relates today.
He is the co-founder of TooGood to Go and a lot of other
things on his resume.
Jamie, welcome to the podcasttoday.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Thank you very much for having me.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So we gave a little bit of your bio in the intro and
we'll include a full bio in theshow notes.
What we like to start off withhere is a little bit of a
different question.
If you go back through yourcareer, noting that you are one
of the top 30 under 30, so youare in the midst of a career
(02:55):
right now what are the threemost pivotal moments, either
from a career or lifeperspective, that have brought
you to where you are right now?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, it's quite a profound question to look back
on, and there are countlessinteractions, engagements, which
have had a huge impact on whereI've sort of decided to go in
my career and the choices I'vemade.
But I would say that thebiggest impact that it's
probably had on my, my careerwould be my, my family, my
(03:27):
upbringing.
Now, I've always been someonewho struggled to refer to
themselves as a entrepreneur oreven as a social entrepreneur.
It wasn't something that, uh,that I eased into quickly.
I think that really comes from,you know, my own sort of
reflections of what I think onentrepreneurism is, and it's
(03:47):
these like Hollywood images ofkids who grew up, you know, with
a different hustle, with a newbusiness idea every day, every
week, or hustling in the schoolplayground, you know, and I
wasn't that kind of guy, youknow, I wasn't the kid who was,
you know, was trying to undercutthe school canteen by selling
cookies or whatever at a dropprice.
(04:08):
In fact, I was actually some ofmy friends.
But what I have been is someonewho's always been motivated by
social and environmental impact,and that very much comes from
my upbringing.
My parents have been advocatesof social and environmental
justice and so I suppose,through osmosis.
You know, these became passionsof mine, and so that is
(04:30):
something which has framed thepath I've taken and the
decisions that I've made.
In short, that has brought meto a space where I'm driven by
impact, and I think there's aninteresting question there,
which is what impact means to meand for me, impact is around.
You know, it's social impact,it's creating environmental
(04:51):
impact, but it's also aligningthose with other realms of
impact, whether that becommercial impact as well and
using business as this source ofgood.
So my upbringing wouldcertainly be the first one, and
then I would look at my timethrough academia, through school
, and the relationships andfriendships I've made there
which have helped shape who I'vebeen.
(05:13):
You know I'm quite a sociableperson and maybe we'll get this
across the podcast today, butit's those friendships have been
hugely important as beingsoundboard and sparring partners
, but also as people who cankeep you grounded.
You know, at times when, hey,you know you really need people
who give you that reality check,and I think that that third
(05:34):
biggest lesson has been startingto to get to go itself.
You know, that is installingyour own business.
I think is like a.
It's a, it's a fast track of anMBA.
You know you learn everythingwithin a few weeks and months
feels like years and uh, andslowly my hair has been um,
growing backwards.
(05:55):
It's it's aged me quite, quitesignificantly, but it's been a,
uh yeah, an amazing experienceand an amazing journey which I
can take huge amount fromexperience and an amazing
journey which I can take a hugeamount from.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
When you were younger , did you have a certain dream
or aspiration or you know, therewere kids that wanted to be a
fireman or an astronaut or wasthere something that you
envisioned for your path otherthan this?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Well, actually it's funny.
You say that my mother was likeclearing out some things in my
family home and she came acrossthis end-of-year journal where
myself and my other pupils, atthe age of 10, we had written
down what it was that we wantedto do with our lives.
And, bizarrely enough, I thinkthe two things I'd written down
(06:38):
was I wanted to be aprofessional football player or
soccer player and I also wantedto be a barrister.
Because I wanted to be abarrister so I could help people
.
And I think you know there is,you know that was actually a
path that I was pursuing.
So I started my training as alawyer.
I did my master's in humanrights law, I studied law, but
(06:59):
it was again this connectionbetween impact and wanting to
deliver social and environmentalimpact, and so I like to think,
even at the age of 10, I hadthat foresight and I wanted to
become a barrister because Iwanted to help people and I
wanted to deliver value, whichis something nice to reflect on,
didn't quite make the footballplayer that.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, if it makes you feel better, I would tell you
that, with Paul Agotham andmyself, when you said football,
all three of us knew you meantsoccer.
So you answer that question,you know, has there been a
failure in your life that you'velearned from?
(07:46):
Or I'll give you an alternatequestion.
Is there a point in yourjourney where you hit a
crossroads and said you know, Iwant to go in a little bit of a
different direction?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Well, I'm glad you asked that question and you
haven't eased me in.
You know you've gone straightover with the hard ones.
There's been, you know,countless challenges across um,
across my career.
You know, I think back to evenstarting too good to go.
I mentioned how I never thoughtof myself as a entrepreneur.
I probably would have viewedmyself more as some sort of
(08:18):
change agent.
But there was this decisionbetween, you know, myself and my
co-founders we started too GoodTo Go initially as sort of a
passion project, and there wasthis decision that I had to make
Did I want to go all in intostarting a business that I knew
could have and should have hugeamounts of scale and potential,
(08:40):
or would I carry on doing andfollowing that dream that I had
as a 10-year-old and pursuingthat career in law?
And I'm typically quite arisk-averse person and
everything was telling me Ishould stick with law.
These are where my passions lie, et cetera, et cetera.
And so this was like a bigcrossroads, a big junction, and
(09:01):
for me, the lesson that Ilearned here was, you know, it
was very much about like tryingto follow your passions, and
those passions that you can havein life can change, they can
evolve.
But there was always this oneconstant with me, which is I
wanted to follow somewhere whereI could have the most amount of
impact and starting your ownbusiness.
When you have this vision forwhere it can go and that
(09:22):
capacity to scale and inspirepeople and inspire businesses
and really sort of change, um,change people's habits and
perceptions on something.
That was what I well, what Idecided to do, and it was so
important for me to be able tofollow that, that passion, and
see it through.
And one thing I always sort ofreflect upon is how, by
(09:42):
following my passion, I've beenable to grow further resilience,
because by doing something thatI'm passionate about, by doing
something that I care about,when you hit these inevitable
challenges which you'rereferring to, it's easier to
pick yourself up and dustyourself off and keep going,
because you're intrinsicallymotivated by what it is that you
(10:04):
do.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
The need for intrinsic motivation is critical
when it comes to startups.
You talked about Too Good To Gobeing a passion project.
Now I am a consumer of Too GoodTo Go.
I've used it for about twoyears now For our audience.
Can you just talk about whatToo Good To Go is, how it
evolved as a concept and whatinspired you to take on the big
(10:27):
challenge of tackling food waste?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
So for those that aren't aware, and I'll do a
subtle plug for you to downloadit but Too Good To Go is a
social impact company.
We exist essentially to dreamof a planet of no food waste,
where we connect businesses withtechnology to create further
impact.
Now we have several differentproducts, but when we first
(10:51):
started, and at the heart of ourbusiness, is our marketplace,
and this is the Too Good To Goapp, which connects individuals
with businesses who have surfacefood for sale.
And we've now grown thismarketplace to 19 markets across
three continents, where we haveover 100 million users of our
app, over 160,000 participatingfood businesses who,
(11:14):
collectively, this community hasrescued over 370 million meals
from going to waste.
And then, since then, in thelast few years, we've introduced
further product to help usaddress food waste the whole way
across the food value chain.
So this includes our 2G2Goplatform, whereby we use an
(11:34):
AI-powered modular solution tohelp retailers with their
reduce-to-clear process,enabling them to save even more
food from going to waste.
Then to save even more foodfrom going to waste.
And then the too good to goparcels business, which is where
we work with manufacturers sobusinesses further down the
supply chain to redistribute andgive a a route to market for
products in their facilitieswhich would otherwise have gone
(11:57):
to waste.
So this is a direct to consumeroffering where, too good to go,
surprise parcels are deliveredto our partners, so that is.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Can I ask you a second, jamie?
Is that latter something that'savailable in the 19 countries,
or is that something you justrolled out?
I had not heard of?
That ends the question.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
The parcels business is currently available in
different markets across Europe.
We've launched it in Germanyand Austria most recently, and
we'll be looking at differentmarkets across Europe, such as
the UK, to launch this as well,but it's not quite yet available
in North America.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Now you said 19 countries and, if I remember
correctly, you've also hit 100million consumers or registered
users.
Talk us through the journey.
How do you get that?
You know, get that customer one.
And how do you get adoptionamongst both the retailers and
you're a two-sided market.
You need to have consumers onthe platform and you need to
(12:58):
have retailers if you willselling their products.
How do you achieve that?
It's really a daunting task.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yes, we certainly set ourselves some high standards,
and when we look back and wecast our mind back to 2015 to
2016, when this was still just anovel idea, I often look back
and we were typically viewed asdisruptors within this space,
were and we still are innovators, and so this was, you know,
(13:26):
this was, um, you know,difficult to be able to to get
that traction within businesses,but also get that traction
amongst consumers, because we,as a business, we were yeah, we
were um a pretty lean startup.
Yeah, we didn't have hugeamounts of of to begin with.
We were self-funded by myselfand by my co-founders.
(13:47):
We had some grant funding, butit meant that we had to be
resourceful, and so, by beingresourceful, this was where we
had to wear multiple hats acrossthe business, and that meant
waking up in the morning andgoing out and speaking to
businesses.
Going out and speaking tobusinesses pitching an idea
(14:08):
where we didn't really have aproduct yet ready for them, we
hadn't sort of finisheddeveloping our app itself.
But then it also meant thatduring that day, you know, we
were having to, you know, engagewith customers and get feedback
on the product itself, and Ithink this goes back, then, to
one of those themes I sort ofspoke about earlier, which is
about being passionate and thatbecause we were such a
(14:30):
passionate bunch around where weknew we could take two to go,
where this idea essentially,where we were trying to bring
this to this level of passionateenthusiasm was infectious, and
so we were able to bringbusinesses on this journey with
us.
And then, once it came tolaunching the app, again it was
(14:52):
being created, being resourceful.
I can remember walking thestreets of London and other
cities across the UK, talking towhoever I sat beside on a bus,
on a train, encouraging them todownload the Tugetogo app and
leaving a flyer or somethinglike that with them.
So it was very much in thoseearly days about being
(15:13):
resourceful and about ensuringthat that passion came across,
so that people wanted to findout more and people wanted to
come on that journey with us.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
So I'm going to double click on two points that
you just said.
First, you said resourceful.
You talked about leaving flyersand talking to consumers.
So if you think about theevolution of a startup when
budgets are constrained, did youuse a lot of marketing it
sounds like more of the PRapproach to build and did you
use social media to kind of getyourself into the eyes of the
(15:45):
public?
Speaker 3 (15:46):
PR became a fantastic tool for us to utilize.
In the early days, as Imentioned, you know, we were
often viewed as disruptors.
We are innovators.
We were creating a solution toa problem of food waste which,
you know, back in 2015, back in2016, wasn't necessarily part of
everyday public discourse, itwasn't something on top of
(16:08):
people's minds, and what we wereable to do is to utilize PR as
a tool to get this organiccoverage.
We were wearing these multiplehats.
As I say, we were writing ourown press releases and sending
these out, and I can recall onepress release that we must have
sent out at sort of the start of2016.
(16:30):
And we ended up getting intouch with a journalist who
wanted to test, to go out.
They wanted us to cover theirtrain fare, which, begrudgingly,
we agreed to do so, but theywrote an article which ended up
being shared thousands of timesacross social media and, as a
(16:50):
result of this, you know, we had, you know, different
journalists reaching out to usand, as a result, you know our
marketplace.
You know it grew in supply, butit also grew in demand as well,
so we had lots of businesses whowere learning about us, which,
you know, we couldn't havereached at that scale had it not
been for the PR.
And similarly, we reachedconsumers across sort of
(17:13):
different markets and vastgeographies, which we wouldn't
have been able to do given ourbudget constraints, but it
wasn't all smooth sailing forsure.
If I look back to those earlydays, we had this influx of
demand on our marketplace, but,like many marketplaces, we were
(17:35):
supply constrained and so weperhaps didn't have food
businesses, retailers and so onand so forth in areas where
people were downloading our appand wanting to use the
marketplace.
So there was this challenge,which was really leaning into
the available PR but at the sametime, trying to be focused on
(17:57):
where this PR was being rolledout, given that we didn't have
an infinite amount of supply onthe app itself.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Now talking about that.
I didn't realize you were inbusiness from 2016.
So it's almost a decade thatyou've been around.
So congratulations.
I mean that's amazing.
And 19 countries now.
What have you seen from boththe consumer side and the
retailer side, on the desire forsustainability right and the
(18:26):
heterogeneity that comes acrossdifferent countries?
19 countries, three continentsI heard you say what's that been
like and I feel sustainabilityebbs and flows.
It might be a primary focussometimes, maybe not so much
later on.
How have you seen it both froma consumer side and a retailer
side?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
yeah, really good question.
The short answer is, and pardonthe pun, the appetite for
fighting food waste hasdramatically increased over the
past 10 years and there's, youknow, of course, a whole host of
like contributing to this,whether it be the very notion
that we're experiencing climatechange right now.
(19:05):
It's no longer an existentialthreat, but something that we
see and are experiencing everyday, be it in parts of the US
where we're having bins and roadsigns melting before our very
eyes, through to the increase ofextreme weather patterns
leading to floods and forestfires, and so on and so forth.
(19:25):
So there is this heightenedawareness that we are
experiencing these events, and Ialso think there is a much
greater desire from businessesto play an active role in being
part of the solutions for this.
And certainly what we see withmany businesses is this
increased appetite to work withsolution providers like
(19:47):
ourselves, because we are ableto help them create a tangible
impact but, at the same time, doso in a way which makes
commercial sense for them.
So to go back and talk aboutToo Good To Go when businesses
used Too Good To Go, they wereable to recover some cost on
food that would otherwise havebeen wasted.
So not only does it makeenvironmental sense, it makes
(20:09):
commercial sense for thesebusinesses too sustainable
business practices from thisawareness that doing something
that is sustainable isn't a costsink, but it can be something
which benefits society, whichbenefits your consumers, but
also benefits your bottom lineas a business too.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
So what you said right now triggered a question
for me, which is that there aremultiple ways to reduce food
waste, right?
So companies donate food, andthen there's the option of
commercialization so that itdoesn't go to waste.
In the US at least, we have, Ithink, about 35 million-odd
people who are food insecure.
Who is the audience?
Who do you expect to get thesesurprise packages, which can be
(20:54):
big, large?
Are they the people who arefood insecure or are they
existing customers?
Does it matter to you?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
One of the beautiful things I think about Too Good To
Go is the means to get accessto food at a convenient time for
them as they're leaving theoffice, or whether it's a family
who is using Too Good To Gobecause it allows them to do
something which is positive forthe environment, but at a price
point which is more accessibleto them.
Or perhaps it's being used bypensioners, who again are using
(21:40):
Too Good To Go because it is away for them to feel more
connected to businesses withintheir local area whilst at the
same time saving some money.
So I think the really beautifulthing about Too Good To Go is
this vast demographic, thatwe're able to increase access to
food but, importantly, allowpeople to do something which
(22:00):
they can feel good about andalso save some money at the same
time, which, in a competitiveliving crisis becomes and the
climate crisis becomes a verylike pertinent issue.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
I love that answer.
I asked this question for thereason that, as I was hearing
you speak, I was wondering rightlike so the smaller retailers?
The commercialization aspect iscritically important.
For them, you get new customersinto the doorstep.
For the larger retailers, Ithink it might be more the PR
that comes from.
It might be more beneficial,and hence part of the reason why
(22:32):
I questioned you who is yourretail customers of the smaller
guys?
Do you have some big retailerson board, particularly in the US
or the smaller guys.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Do you have some big retailers on board, particularly
in the US?
Well, we've actually recentlystarted rolling out with Whole
Foods across the US, which hasbeen a fantastic partnership to
date and where again, we havelike real tangible impact in the
amount of food that we aresaving together.
Outside of the US, we work withretailers like um, like aldi,
(23:02):
um and car four, uh, otherbritish retailers like um,
morrisons as well.
So it really is a a breadth ofbusinesses from, or retailers
from, hypermarket through tohigh-end organizations like
whole foods, as well as withinthe the convenience sector, so
the likes of the 7-Elevens andbusinesses like this.
(23:22):
So it really is the breadth ofthe retail spectrum and this
lends itself to the flexibilityand adaptability of 2-2-Go
depending on the retailer'sstore operation.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Congratulations on the Whole Foods.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
They haven't made it to Orlando, I guess yes we're
still in the rollout process,but as soon as it gets to
Orlando, I encourage you torescue the surprise bags from
Whole.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Foods.
Well, they have made it toVirginia Beach and actually I
had discovered Too Good to Gothrough social media.
I tried it a few weeks ago andwas rather pleased.
So it's amazing how it comestogether Without putting you on
the spot with comparing theglobal consumer versus the US
consumer.
Have you found the US consumerin a different place, and what
(24:12):
do you think that US businessesand consumers can learn from
what is going on globally?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
First and foremost, when we look at the US, it is
materially different to any ofthe other markets in which we're
currently operating because ofthe sheer size and scale, so the
potential to have impact in theUS is astronomical.
When we look at the levels offood waste happening within the
(24:40):
retail sector in the US, incontrast to Europe, for example,
there is far more food beingwasted in US food service and
hospitality as well as retail,and so the capacity for us to
have an impact is absolutelyhuge.
When we look at it from aconsumer adoption piece, there
are some clear parallels andcommon red threads.
(25:03):
When we look at consumers inall our other markets, it is
this notion of being able to dosomething which is not only
positive for your wallet, butthis feeling of doing something
good for the environment andgood for society as well.
And this has been the greatthing which we've been able to
tap into into consumer andbusiness mindsets, which is this
notion of what we call thetriple win, and it's a triple
(25:26):
win whereby consumers are ableto discover new foods, discover
new flavors at price pointswhich are more affordable for
them.
It's an opportunity forbusinesses to attract new
customers, reduce their wastedisposal costs and recover some
costs on food waste, attractingnew customers all the same time,
(25:48):
or, ultimately, doing somethingwhich is positive for the
environment as well and this hasbeen super important for us as
we've entered the US, but alsoin any market in which we enter
is communicating this triple win.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
It's interesting you say that because it does create
value for the retailer and forthe consumer.
It's really a frictionlessvalue proposition because the
notion that I can pay $7 to get$18 worth of value from, in this
case, whole Foods, while doingsomething good and maybe trying
something at Whole Foods that Iwouldn't have otherwise tried,
(26:25):
is a win-win-win.
Do you see this having and Idon't want you to give away any
trade secrets so we can takethis out, but do you see this
having an application as youshop in more traditional retail,
of being able to create thistriple concept of a, of a triple
(26:45):
win into other sectors?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
into other industries , which is essentially saying
that you know we can do thingswhich are positive for the
environment and a way thateverybody can win.
You know there shouldn't be, orthere doesn't need to be,
losers in this um, in thisscenario, but we can all do
things which have a goodcommercial return whilst at the
(27:24):
same time deliveringenvironmental and social impact
too.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Jamie, I've been hearing you speak and it's been
a fascinating conversation.
I've been trying to think aboutwhat's next.
You started as a marketplace todeal with surplus.
Now you've gone into parcels,which implies you are building
out supply chain networks.
I'm curious what's next?
Are you going to be a retailer?
(27:48):
I mean you've built the supplychain network.
You have a hundred millionregistered users, you can be the
largest retailer in some waysand you can deal with impossible
foods of some sort, rightdealing with waste and going
direct to consumer from thesource.
Is that the future that youthink for too good to go?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
you're being very kind to us with um, with your
visions of the impact we cancreate, but for us, where we're
laser focused on is creatingimpact around food waste, and so
this is having a holistic viewacross our food value chain and
seeing where we can startdelivering impact, and we'll
(28:31):
always explore whether this canbe done through product
innovations.
So you're right, we started ina marketplace.
The marketplace itself lookedon um on how we could engage
with with food service,hospitality and retail.
We now have our to do to goplatform, which looks at those,
those two um two segments aswell, and now we have the the
(28:53):
parcels business, which islooking at manufacturing and
processing.
So for us, that, uh, thatvision for us is very much
looking at how we can startextracting further value through
product innovations across thatfood value chain to ensure that
no good food has to go to waste.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
So, both as a startup entrepreneur and as a consumer
and as a human, where do you seeconsumer behavior evolving over
the next decade or two?
Speaker 3 (29:26):
It really is quite a fascinating question that,
because we have seen a huge risein more consumer conscious
brands.
If we take food waste itself asan example within this, back in
2015, 2016, when we werestarting up, there was nowhere
(29:47):
near as much innovation withinthis food waste space as there
is now.
Whereas I can go to a localsupermarket here in the UK and I
can buy beers which are madefrom surplus bread, I can buy
condiments which are made fromsurplus vegetables, there are
marketplaces like 2G2Go, whichexists, there's progressive
(30:08):
legislation which is happeningto ensure food waste is reported
and reduced at a country level.
Yet, at the same time, we'reseeing growth of other
marketplaces which I mean forlack of a better way to describe
(30:33):
them are not sustainable.
They're getting built onconvenience, it's built on cheap
labor, it's built on cheapproducts which aren't typically
good for the environment norsustainable in the way in terms
of the air miles that they aretraveling.
So we see these two sort ofconflicts, but what I do hope is
going to happen is moresustainable practices are going
to prevail.
(30:53):
I hope, through furtherregulation, I hope through the
introduction of new policies,that we will see businesses
which are operating through aESG lens will prevail, because
what we must have is businessbeing used as this force for
good, particularly when we lookat how consumerism is growing
(31:18):
and developing over the nextyears to come.
I am hopeful that you arecorrect, but I would certainly
be one of these people who iseternally optimistic.
I think far too often we canlook at what's happening through
the doom and gloom.
(31:39):
If we look at the climatecrisis itself right now, it's so
easy for us to be overwhelmedand riddled with climate anxiety
.
I think it is important for usto champion some of those
success stories and even ifprogress may not be happening at
the rate in which we want it to, at least we're hopefully
(31:59):
moving in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
If Paula was on right now, she'd be making fun of me,
because I would say that'ssomething I'm going to write
down and take back to my team.
You probably said that to me onjust the right day.
Where progress isn't happeningas fast as you want, at least
progress is being made and youhave to recognize it, which is
one of the reasons that we dolike having these conversations,
(32:20):
especially with students, butalso those who are within the
industry.
I want to pivot now to advice,and this is not just for college
students, budding entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, it can
be for anybody.
What is the best piece ofadvice that you've ever received
(32:41):
that has added value?
Or you can answer it adifferent way what's the best
piece of advice that you weregiven that you decided to ignore
?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
The best advice that I think I received as an
entrepreneur was around stayingfocused.
I think this applies not just toentrepreneurship, but it
applies to so many differentwalks of life, particularly in
professional environments, andit was to stay laser focused on
(33:12):
what it is that your vision wasand what it is that you're
trying to deliver.
Because what I found is it's soeasy to get distracted by the
next new shiny thing and, youknow, if we look at it from a
too good to go point of view,what was so important for us in
those early days was to staysuper focused on, you know,
(33:32):
growing the supply and growingthe consumer base within our
marketplace.
Yet there were always otherlike new opportunities which
would arise and you would tellyourself, there were ways in
which we can deliver impact.
I mentioned how we benefited ahuge amount from PR at Two Year
To Go.
In those early days, there wereopportunities.
(33:54):
I had to do interviews withjournalists in markets that we
had no connection to whatsoever,but it became something
interesting, it became somethingdifferent, and that in itself
became a bit of a distraction,and so, for me, what became
incredibly important was, afterexperiencing this, to stay super
(34:17):
focused on what the task athand was rather than trying to
get deviated or sidetracked bythose next new exciting projects
.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
So I have another follow-up to that.
Is there a particular mentorthat comes to mind that has left
a lasting impact on you?
Speaker 3 (34:39):
I mean, I've been hugely fortunate to engage with
a huge array of differentmentors.
One mentor of mine is a friend.
Actually he was a friend I met,but he's been a very successful
entrepreneur in his own rightas well, is a gentleman called
Brendan Ward.
(35:00):
Right as well is a, a gentlemancalled brendan ward, and he has
always been a?
Um, a strong advocate of whatI've um, what I've been set out
to do, but also being able tochallenge at those right times
as well, and I think that iswhat's, you know, super
important with a, with a mentor.
It's someone that you can trustand, as a result, you know they
(35:21):
, they can challenge you and youcan have that, that healthy
conflict, jeremy I.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
I loved your when you chose to focus on greater focus
as the attribute.
It resonated a lot with me.
I often say that you need tohave a greater focus, a sharp
focus on the end goal, theconsumers, the partners, the
value that you add, but shouldshow flexibility on how you get
there.
I think there are two traitsthat are critical for a
(35:50):
successful entrepreneur.
Let's just talk a little bitmore about what makes a
successful entrepreneur.
What's the undervalued trait?
I heard you say resiliencebefore.
What is the undervalued trait?
I heard you say resiliencebefore.
What is the undervalued traitthat, in your opinion, is
critical today to stand out asan entrepreneur, as an
individual in general?
Speaker 3 (36:11):
Yeah, yes, I mean, there's a huge array of
(36:36):
characteristics, not all which Isee in myself, but I see in
some of my co-founders.
And yes, building a businessaround.
I think that is integral to bepassionate, because that is
where that intrinsic desire,that care, comes from and,
ultimately, people invest inpeople.
It's a huge tool to be able tobring people on that journey
(36:57):
with you.
If you're able to convey thatpassion, if you're able to
convey that vision, that why andwith that passion, as I say,
like grows, resilience andstarting a business, starting
any type of venture, there aregoing to be huge amounts of ups
and, sadly, quite a few downs aswell, and so it really is
(37:20):
important to celebrate thosemilestones.
But by being passionate aboutthat cause that why that vision
I find it is so much easier topull yourself out of bed when
the going is getting toughbecause you genuinely care about
this, this, this greaterpurpose.
(37:40):
In addition to that, there isthis, um, this, I'm not sure the
entire way to describe it, butit's about not being a
perfectionist, about being ableto operate at speed, and I've
spoken to countless ofentrepreneurs who have tried to
make their MVP the most perfectthing that they can.
(38:02):
But what is so important isabout just getting your skin in
the game, getting that immediatefeedback from your clients,
from your partners, from yourcustomers, because being a
perfectionist is slowing youdown.
So I think there is this sweetspot, this nexus between being a
perfectionist and wanting tooperate at speed, and if you can
(38:25):
find that sweet spot in themiddle, you can really start
executing your solution at scale.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
What's the saying?
Don't be the perfect the enemyof good, or something to that
effect.
Right, jamie, off script again,but what you said triggered
something right?
So passion drives the will toovercome difficult times and
it's critical for anentrepreneur, but it's also
(38:54):
sometimes can be a hurdle whenit comes to knowing when to
packet it right, like when toactually call it a day, and
sometimes you invest a lot more.
I'm curious what is yourperspective?
I'm a researcher who tries tostudy these human aspects of
things.
So what's the line?
Where do you how any guidanceon when you tell an A?
(39:18):
You know Now's the time to stopthis project.
Do you have any thoughts onthat?
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Well, when I talk about being passionate, I'm
talking about being passionatefor your cause, for your just
cause, for your vision, visionfor what that?
Why is so?
It's not necessary beingpassionate about a certain
product or commodity, but it is.
It's being passionate aboutwhat that that just causes, and
(39:46):
so, for me, that would bepassionate about delivering
impact through fighting foodwaste for others, that that that
might be something else, and soI don't think there is a line
when it comes to that.
If you're passionate about itand you have this greater cause,
then you will intuitively tryand find solutions in which to
(40:08):
address it.
Speaker 4 (40:11):
That's fair.
Very good point, very astutepoint.
All right, so now we come tothe fun part of things, the
rapid fire section.
No, you're not allowed to thinkon the song, you just go there
and so what comes off your thecuff and I'll start things off.
I'm a big foodie, so I'm goingto start off by asking you the
food question no pun intendedthere either.
(40:34):
Which is, what is your favoritecomfort food?
Don't say fish and chips.
It is my mom's favorite comfortfood Pizza, right.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
No, it would have to be margarita pizza Simple but
delicious.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Okay, I have to ask this Is there one place that,
actually, I'm going to go fortwo?
Is there a margarita pizza inparticular, anywhere in the
world, any specific restaurantthat you would absolutely crave
at any given moment?
Speaker 3 (41:14):
I've had the fortune of going to some amazing places.
I've traveled around italy andeven around sicily, so there was
a specific pizza I enjoyed inpalermo and sicily once, so I'm
gonna have to go with whateverrandom uh street, uh street.
(41:36):
This was, but it was fantastic.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Perfect, all right, I'll ask the official second
follow-up and then let Gautamtake it home.
If you could transport yourselfanywhere in the world
instantaneously you can go for24 hours instantaneously back
where would you go?
Speaker 3 (41:57):
It would be somewhere warm, it would be somewhere in
nature and it would be somewhereby the sea.
But I think, more importantlythan where, it is with who.
And for me it would betransporting myself with friends
, with family, because for me itis that social connection and
(42:18):
those um those relationshipswhich are the most important to
me so, as is my style, I'm goingto go off of script, jamie, and
I'm going to ask you the lastquestion, which is too good to
go.
Speaker 4 (42:31):
You get surprise packages.
What is a surprise package thatyou have seen out there that
was really unique, and I cantell you I've seen a few really
interesting options out there.
On the tiktok world yes, well,it's favorite in the sense of
unique, right like somethingthat you would not have thought
(42:51):
would be in a surprise bag.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Well, one of my favorite and most unique
surprise bags was one of thefirst ones I ever rescued, so it
was from a cafe here in London,in central London, and for me
they just embodied everythingwhich Too Good To Go is supposed
to be about, which is aboutbeing creative.
It's about reducing food waste,and this Too Good To Go
(43:17):
surprise bag I got.
It had a bit of lentil salad init, it had a croissant, it had
a slice of tortilla, it had afocaccia roll with I think it
was goat cheese and something init, but it was a whole melee of
different foods.
I think there was some tomatosalad in there as well, but it
(43:43):
had just been the lunch rush.
The croissants would be goingstale, so they couldn't use them
the next day.
There wasn't enough of thelentil salad or the tomato salad
to make up a whole portion, butit was perfect for what to to
go.
Does so enable them to haveempty plates and, luckily for me
, I love all of those foods.
(44:03):
So it was, uh, it was fantastic, but it yeah, it was unique in
the sense that it was thiseclectic mix of different food
types, but it really was aboututilizing everything which was
left, so that no good food wouldgo to waste.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
All right.
So I'm going to say thank you,but I am going to throw in one
last one.
If we would have asked you whatyour walk-on song is, would you
have had a song or an artist?
Speaker 3 (44:29):
My walk-on song would have to be Oasis.
I mean, ever since the reuniontour has been announced, I could
not stop listening to them.
I grew up with Oasis and I'm ahuge, huge fan.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
I missed my chance to see Liam in Madrid,
unfortunately, when he wasopening for the Foo Fighters and
they had to cancel.
Jamie, this was absolutelyfantastic.
I appreciate you joining us andmaking the time.
I cannot wait to have thisedited and get this both to our
students and to our generalaudience, and, on behalf of all
(45:07):
of us, we're wishing you thegreatest success with Too Good
to Go, because it really is afantastic business model and I'm
looking forward to seeing itcontinue to grow and have an
impact.
Speaker 3 (45:22):
Well, thank you so much for having me Been a
pleasure speaking.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
All right, gautam, so I don't think we have that much
time to banter today.
I don't know how we're going tocut any of that conversation
out.
It was fascinating.
If you have a takeaway or two,what would they be?
Speaker 4 (45:39):
Yeah, I think the conversation holds for itself.
I have two takeaways.
One was the role of PR ingetting a company to grow, and
it's often unspoken, and so,from a substantive perspective,
that's probably my takeaway.
And from a more intangibleperspective, the biggest
takeaway for me was how Jamietalked about championing success
(46:02):
, celebrating wins.
We often forget to do that inthe hubbub of life.
We are the focus on the nextbigger win, and so there were
good takeaways for me to mullover to mull it over.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
Yeah, and I think for me, I agree with those and I
think for me, it really is thefocus on the circular economy
and whether we're talking aboutrecycled or reclaimed, or
reconsidered is a term I'veheard as of late it's obvious
that, with them launchingoverseas and the success that
they've had in 17 countries Ithink you mentioned, and
(46:40):
obviously just getting itstarted in the US, but it not
being as big here.
We've had other guests thathave talked about how overseas
there's a higher adoption rateand consideration rate and when
that'll take place here.
So fascinating conversation,when that'll take place here, so
fascinating conversation, andI'm really interested to see how
(47:00):
this continues to progress overthe next several years.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
Yeah, me too, and selfishly.
I'm also interested in seeingwhen the Too Good To Go and
Amazon Whole Foods partnershipcomes to Orlando so that I can
start using them.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
I've used it, I've enjoyed it and I do agree with
uh.
I think he said in there it wasa win, win, win.
It's not often that in thisbusiness you can find a win, win
, win, but when you uh, when youcan, that's a win.
So, all right, Gotham, great tosee you.
And uh, paula, I know you'regoing to enjoy listening to this
.
And for everybody else, thankyou for staying tuned to Retail
(47:40):
Relates.
We appreciate you and lookforward to having you join us
next time.
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