Food Donation Technologies

Basic Needs Association (TIDER) is an NGO, which serves as Turkey’s umbrella organisation for food banking network. It conveys food banking knowledge and experience to the newly-established food banks, and supports impoverished communities with access to basic needs, education and employment.

Chiper offers a digital marketplace that sells recognized brands to the general public at a discount. Chiper buys the products from industry and employs sales people from the general public. These sales staff get 15% of the revenue. Anything not sold gets donated to charities. The seller takes the physical product and is responsible for getting it to the buyer.

Copia offers an on-demand app that allows users to schedule pickups of surplus food from restaurants, hotels, hospitals, corporate cafeterias, and other businesses which are re-distributed to local non-profit recipients. The app also enables tracking of surplus food, access to real-time data to prevent over-purchasing and overproduction.

Fazla Gida (Whole Surplus) is a wholesale online marketplace that allows food suppliers (farmers, manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers and importers) to upload their quality surplus products to the platform for food banks, NGOs, recycling firms and commercial buyers (industrial caterers, manufacturers, sports stadiums, hotels, restaurants and cafeterias) to purchase at a discounted price.

Flashfood offers an app that helps customers find groceries that are closer to the expiration date and purchase them at a discount. Flashfood customers can search for stores in their area via the app, browse through deals, and place orders for delivery or pickup.

Food Rescue US engages local volunteers to transfer fresh food surpluses fom businesses to social service agencies using a web-based app. This model doesn’t require large nonprofit infrastructure and empowers communities to use existing resources to serve themselves. The system operates in 40 locations in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

FoodCloud connects businesses with charities so that surplus food is directed towards feeding the needy instead of going to waste. Businesses either deliver food to FoodCloud Hubs or FoodCloud collects the food using their refrigerated vans. After collecting the surpluses, the food is counted, uploaded to an IT system, and stored. While in storage, a food safety system ensures the food is in safe condition and hands it off to a charity by the next day.

FoodShare is a digital platform introduced by the Food Forward SA to manage logistics for recovery and redistribution of surplus food to registered non-profit organisations.

Full Harvest operates a food trading business-to-business platform mainly targeting large-scale farmers (vegetable farms greater than 1,000 acres and fruit farms larger than 100 acres), who can sell irregular and surplus produce on the platform to food and beverage companies.

Hungry Harvest accumulates excess and irregular produce from farmers and wholesalers at a low price to sell to consumers in customizable harvest boxes. The company gets its supplies from farmers, produce packers, wholesalers, and retail distribution centers.

Imperfect Foods is an online grocery delivery platform designed to reduce food waste. The company collects surplus food that would otherwise be thrown away (from farmers, meat producers, grocers) which it redistributes to consumers via app or website.

Karma is an online app that sells discounted surplus food to consumers. Karma works primarily with restaurants but is currently expanding to grocery stores and to more European markets.

Matsmart functions as an online marketplace that sells surplus production from producers and distributors and sells it to consumers at heavily discounted prices through their own online shop. The company was officially launched in Sweden and expanded to Finland and Germany, and aims to expand its services through the rest of Europe with a focus on the Nordics.

MealConnect is part of Feeding Amercia and provides food surplus donation services to a network of food banks, which respond locally to donation posts. MealConnect operates with both national and independent food companies, including large retailers and small family-owned restaurants.

Misfits Market operates a subscription-based service that delivers boxes of irregular or blemished organic fruits and vegetables, as well as pantry staples, at a discounted price to the consumer. The company buys the produce from farmers and sources pantry staples from food brands, allowing shoppers to customize the products for their boxes.

OLIO is a food-sharing app that connects neighbors, volunteers, and businesses willing to share surplus food. The location-based platform allows people to list and post photos of surplus food items to be shared with others. The company generates revenue by charging a subscription fee for extra features in its app, while its core service of neighbor-to-neighbor food sharing remains free.

Phenix operates a web platform and a mobile app that provides food management solutions for selling or donating excess food to consumers at a discounted price. Stores publish ads for usable products and consumers can choose the type of basket to purchase.

Spoiler Alert offers a business-to-business trading platform connecting food manufacturers, distributors and retailers with a network of discount channels to manage food inventory and reduce wastage. Data-driven tools support discount sales and donation processes for slow-moving and excess food inventory.

Too Good To Go operates a free mobile app that connects customers to restaurants and stores with unsold or surplus food. Customers are able to buy the food at greatly reduced prices.

Winnow provides technology to help the hospitality industry to accurately measure, reduce and manage food waste. Using AI-enabled tool, kitchen can automatically track food waste, cut costs and save time.

Y Waste is an app and food donation platform, with focus on food retail. The end recipients experiencing food insecurity pick up the donated food directly from shops and restaurants instead of relying on charities, using a personal code issued by certified charities.