The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that Americans throw away up to 40% of perfectly good food everyday — and one company has made it its mission to fight food waste.
Too Good To Go was founded in Copenhagen in 2016, and now it's become the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food.
The company's app, where businesses can sell their surplus at a discount to consumers, finally launched in Hawaiʻi, bringing the service to all 50 states.
HPR spoke with two people involved in bringing Too Good To Go to Hawai’i: Allie Denburg, their associate director of strategy and operations, and Daniel Lee, owner of Island Glazed Donuts in ‘Aiea. The two spoke about the positive impact it's already had on local business.
Interview Highlights
On partnering with Too Good To Go
DANIEL LEE: When I got a call from the rep at Too Good To Go just a few months ago, we were really excited to hear from them, mainly because just what they offer and how we can partner together. I think what makes it great for us is having the ability to use Too Good To Go when we have a surplus of inventory at the end of the day, right? And that affected us too in the way we plan for our business. You know how many to make, not making too many, not making too little. So now we have a lot of flexibility and more comfort when we make extra donuts, knowing that we can provide for Too Good To Go so others can enjoy our delicious donuts at the end of the day for cheaper value than retail.
On how Too Good To Go works
ALLIE DENBURG: It's a free app that you can download in the App Store, and basically you can search from a selection of surprise bags, which have a variety of items that are still perfectly good to eat but would have otherwise been thrown out. So I think donuts are a great example where donut shops want to bake fresh every day, like they want to have great quality fresh donuts. And you don't know exactly how many customers are going to come in on a given day. It's really hard to predict exactly how much you know you need to make. So the perfectly good donuts that would have otherwise gotten thrown out, you can now buy on Too Good To Go at a discount. So most surprise bags are about a third of the original retail price, so it's a great deal. It's a great way to also try new stores in your area.
On fighting food waste
LEE: I don't think any business enjoys throwing away any extra food, you know. So I just think that it's a good program to have, and that allows the business owners, or on my end, a way to recover some of the costs it requires to make the donuts coming from the ingredients, labor, also electricity. All of that adds up, and being able to at least sell some of the leftover product is a huge, huge help.
DENBURG: I think we really like to say that it's a win-win-win, because it's a win for businesses, for consumers and for the environment.
More information about Too Good To Go can be found on their website, and more information on where to find Island Glazed Donuts can be found on their Instagram.
This story aired on The Conversation on April 29, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
