What can a restaurant do when there is food left over from the lunch service? It can use apps such as the ResQ Club service. The service has been specifically developed to promote the use of surplus food from restaurants and to reduce food waste. Customers can browse leftover items through a smartphone app or internet browser. For example, unsold lunches can be purchased at approximately half price after lunch hour, typically 40-60 % cheaper than the original price. The food is ordered and paid for through the application, and it can be picked up within the time frame specified by the restaurant. It is also possible to receive offer notifications from preferred restaurants or for certain types of foods, such as vegetarian meals.

Leftover food is normally nothing but a cost and trouble for the restaurant. If they sell ten take-away meals in a day at, for example, € 5 each, the restaurant will earn approximately € 7 500 a year from the service. It already has 250 000 registered users and 1 900 participating restaurants. It has saved more than 550 000 meals from going to waste!

Key benefits

• Restaurants and supermarkets in Finland alone throw away 150-200 million kg of food every year. ResQ Club helps to diminish food waste and spoilage

• ResQ Club describes its mobile app as a ‘food rescue service’, enabling people to buy restaurant surplus meals at a cheap price and to prevent food ending up in the bin

• Lunch restaurants, cafes, bakeries and also evening restaurants reduce food waste while gaining additional sales

• Selling with ResQ increases revenues by 2-6 %

• Besides extra income, ResQ Club attracts new customers and demonstrates that businesses care about the environment

• The ResQ app is available for iPhones, Android phones and web browsers

• The service is available in Finnish, English, Swedish, German, Dutch and Estonian

Other apps providing a similar service exist across Europe. Have a look at what exists in your own country!