WILMINGTON — Weekly, when Kelly Burdoo is putting together output needs for her bespoke marshmallow company, Mallowdoos, she now accounts for cut-off ends and scraps that come from wholesale production. These bits go toward “surprising” consumers with a sweet treat, thanks to a global app centered on reducing food waste and now creeping its way into Wilmington.
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The social impact company Too Good to Go was founded in 2015 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and is considered the largest marketplace for surplus food. It was the most accessed app in the discount and offer category in 2024, reaching 23 million downloads.
Here is how it works: Businesses pull together products to sell at a discount — normally a third of the full price. These items usually would be discarded due to overproduction, sell-by dates closing in, or a particular product just not moving as expected. Instead of being tossed out, the products are packed into “surprise bags” and reserved by customers via the Too Good app, with instructions to pick up during certain hours. Think of it as a modern-day sales rack, only with an added element of surprise; consumers don’t know what they’re getting in their grab bags, in effect gamifying the process.
Too Good to Go enacted the “Surprise Bag Model” to reflect “the unpredictable nature of food waste,” according to Sarah Soteroff, head of the company’s public relations. Every day is different in the industry with surplus items often changing among restaurants, bakeries and retail, so this approach allows flexibility.
While food waste accounts for 10% of greenhouse emissions worldwide, in the United States the Environmental Protection Agency estimates each year it attracts around 170 million metric tons of CO2e. The app gives real-time feedback to both consumers and businesses on how their use of Too Good impacts food waste and thwarts CO2e. Burdoo became a vendor two weeks ago and has avoided 113 kilograms of CO2e so far, she said.
Since 2014 the company boasts saving around 400 million meals, equivalent to 1.1. million tons of CO2e avoided.
Burdoo heard about the app roughly six or so months ago from the “Good Mythical Morning” podcast and immediately reached out to learn more. At the time, Too Good to Go was non-existent in the area market, but that changed when Burdoo checked in again last month.
Currently available in more than 900 cities in Europe, Canada, Asia and Australia, Too Good to Go is in 45 American towns, with a goal to grow by 24 by the end of the year.
“We’ve kept the model intentionally simple — no delivery or added complexity — so it’s efficient, scalable, and sustainable for both consumers and partners,” Soteroff said, adding the app moved into North Carolina last June.
Though active in the Charlotte and Triangle regions, Too Good to Go hasn’t officially launched in Wilmington. Rather, the program has been easing into the Port City, with its national partners Krispy Kreme, Circle K and Whole Foods. Local businesses have since joined, including Empire Deli and Bagels, Round Bagels and Donuts, and Mallowdoos.
“Wilmington is a natural next step as interest and engagement continue to grow locally,” Soteroff said. “While timelines for new partnerships can vary, we’re encouraged by the momentum.”
So far in New Hanover County, the app has attracted 1,300 unique paying users; it’s free to download, but in-app purchases are made to the store when orders for the surprise bags are placed. It also has saved 600 meals from going to waste in the local landfill, Soteroff said: “That translates to 3,540 pounds of CO2e avoided.”
While the goal is to decrease carbon emissions and food waste, Too Good To Go also increases a business’ bottom line and customer base, and by proxy saves consumers money.
“From an economic perspective of getting goods and services, this is great,” Wilmington resident and app user Jessica Cremer said. “In this economy, if more people knew about it, who might be tight around money, this could be someone’s meal — whatever their socioeconomic situation is.”
The cost of groceries has risen by 23.6% in the last four years, according to the Consumer Price Index. The National Restaurant Association notes prices at eateries have increased by around 25%. This makes food-savings apps, such as Too Good to Eat and Flashfood, popular (Flashfood also pushes discounted items approaching “best by” dates and is available in Wilmington but only lists DashMart as its primary vendor so far).
Burdoo said Too Good to Go’s sustainability approach appealed to her; so far, she has sent out almost 50 surprise bags. They cost a little more than $5 each and contain around two sleeves of artisanal marshmallows, which vary in flavor — such as creme brulee, cookie dough, strawberry shortcake and chocolate-dipped varieties, among others.
“It has definitely brought more customers,” Burdoo said. “One day I didn’t have any bags available, but there was a family that came in and said: ‘We saw you on Too Good and wanted to come in and see your store.’”
Metrics show in two weeks Mallowdoos has been “favorited” 131 times, Burdoo said, with more than 7,100 users having seen her company.
A former real estate title agent, Burdoo began Mallowdoos in 2017 after being laid off from her job. She started making the homemade fluff for her family for Christmastime treats but found a passion for it, so much so she launched a business that would set up at area farmers markets.
“It was a great way for me to find community,” Burdoo said, having moved to Wilmington from Kansas in 2016.
When Covid-19 hit, Burdoo went back into the mortgage business, as the farmers markets stopped, but in 2022 she received a buyout offer from the company she worked for at the time. Burdoo wanted to re-enter the marshmallow business, but as a single mom knew it had to become more than peddling markets. After researching packaging and wholesale, she found her niche.
“And it’s been fantastic and mostly stable,” Burdoo said.
Her small business helps other small- and medium-sized businesses, as Mallowdoos’ products are shipped to boutiques nationwide, including Carolina Candy Company in downtown Wilmington and Lantana’s in Southport. The Mallowdoos shop is located in the Cargo District on the second floor of the Alcove Beer Garden building. Somewhat tucked away, Burdoo was looking at creative ways to market her retail establishment since foot traffic waned.
“And this seemed like such a unique concept to take care of what would otherwise probably be thrown away and finding some value in it, of getting people into my store and feeling good about how I’m doing it. It’s not a marketing ploy. I don’t like to overwhelm people with advertising and emails,” she said. “It just doesn’t feel good to me.”
Cremer said she became aware of Too Good to Use due to a TikTok video showing people opening their surprise bags. Originally from the northern Virginia-D.C. area, Cremer said when she signed on to the app initially, it tracked her old stomping ground with a “hotbed” of businesses.
“It was blowing up with restaurants — that’s what I’d like to see more of here,” Cremer said, who has her app broadened to 10 miles or so surrounding New Hanover County.
Burdoo agreed, noting the app taps into local food-conscious consumers and with more local businesses signed on, it becomes appealing for all users. It’s the essential “rising tides lifts all boats” mentality.
“So if you’ve got burgers that aren’t going to sell, why not have them go out the door and create some goodwill and foot traffic?” Burdoo asked. “And the next time people have family in town, they’ll remember: ‘Oh I did have an incredible burger here through Too Good to Go — let’s just go there and support them because they’ve got great food.’”
Cremer has primarily used the app at Whole Foods, spending around $7 a bag that she picks up from the store’s bakery. Items have included bagels, apple turnovers, cookies and croissants.
“The only thing is you have to pick it up between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.,” near the grocery store’s closing hour, Cremer explained. “I like a good bargain and when you have the top-tier establishments, like Whole Foods, I’m more inclined to take it. And I’m all the way down in Myrtle Grove, so it’s not an easy pop-in at 9 o’clock at night.”
Businesses listed on the app indicate pickup hours and what may be featured the bags without giving specifics; for instance, Whole Foods notes it’s a “bakery bag,” meaning consumers shouldn’t expect meat or pantry items. Circle K lists “treats and eats,” which is open to a host of varied items from the convenience store. Krispy Kreme, of course, is donuts.
Too Good takes a nominal fee from business sales — almost $2 of a $6 bag, for instance — and pays out vendors once a quarter. Aside from the money it generates to the business, Burdoo finds it also allows her a way to test out new products or help rotate what’s in the retail shop more frequently.
“So I tried out an orange espresso flavor a few weeks ago,” she explained. “It was much more orange than espresso and I want to go back to the drawing board on it. So this offers me a way to take care of my testers as well.”
Too Good To Go has a rating system for users, so Burdoo will get feedback on Mallowdoos’ products. She can utilize the list of people who peruse her store on the app to send discounts to as well, essentially incentivizing more returns.
“I love that that’s an option because I think, with a lot of these things, there are some people who just show up, take the bag and run,” Burdoo said. “And that’s fine, too, because it’s still accomplishing my purpose of getting rid of waste.”
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