The app to save food joins the charitable donations

BarcelonaThis April, the main obligations stipulated in Law 1/2025 on the Prevention of Food Loss and Waste will come into effect. This law mandates prevention plans to avoid food waste, focusing on donations or the redistribution of surplus food to those in need. The goal is to create a more responsible industry that doesn't discard food that could help many people struggling to feed themselves. Among the donation priorities established by the law is the donation of perfectly good food, which would otherwise go to waste, to social organizations that assist people with limited resources. In this context, the Too Good To Go app announces the launch in Spain of Donations+, a technological solution that connects food businesses with charitable organizations. The app facilitates more efficient, traceable, and legally compliant donations of surplus food, according to the app's developer. In this way, the company expands its range of solutions to continue helping companies in the food sector reduce waste and comply with the new regulatory framework.

"With Donations+, we digitize and optimize the entire donation process, allowing companies to access a tool that helps them manage donations, connect with a network of charities in their area, obtain the necessary documentation to access corporate tax incentives and deduct up to 5%, reduce waste, thus complying with the objectives of the law and avoiding potential financial penalties," explains Marie Lindström, General Manager of Too Good To Go in Spain.

Donations+ is an expansion of the Too Good To Go Platform. This platform features modular software that helps the food retail sector manage its surplus food in a comprehensive way. It was created to address a widespread problem among food businesses: many donation processes are still manual, inconsistent, require a lot of paperwork, and are difficult to manage on a daily basis. Meanwhile, charities struggle with a lack of visibility into when and where food is available, a lack of information about the contents of donations, and various logistical hurdles. All of this ultimately means that, despite the best intentions of both parties to give and distribute food, surplus food often doesn't reach those who need it, explains Too Good To Go.

Donations+ fully digitizes the process. Through the platform, accessible from a PDA, mobile device, or computer, food businesses scan products, and a donation is created detailing the food items it contains. Once this is done, the donation is published on the platform, and a real-time notification is automatically sent to compatible charities with the donation's contents and collection times. This system, through the platform, allows these potential recipients to reserve the donation immediately.

The system optimizes coordination between establishments and charities. Thanks to this, the tool allows donor companies to reduce their manual work, improve collection rates, and have complete traceability of the donation, with access to delivery notes, digital signatures, donation certifications for accessing tax incentives, and audit-ready documentation. "With Donations+, we want giving food to be as simple and reliable as any other operational process in store," says Lindström. "Furthermore, with this new solution, we also support charities by helping ensure that surplus food reaches those who need it."

Real-time information

With this system, social organizations have real-time information on what food is available, when, and where, allowing them to plan better and ensuring compatibility between the donated food and the needs of each organization. Too Good To Go is currently working on agreements with various social entities in Spain.

Too Good To Go states that this technology reinforces its commitment to the entire food ecosystem and takes another step in its mission to combat food waste from a holistic perspective, expanding its range of solutions. Present in more than 20 countries, the company connects millions of users through its app with food establishments that offer their surplus in the form of packs Surprise at reduced prices. In addition, the company has also launched Pantry Boxes, which allows consumer brands and manufacturers to sell unsold products through boxes that users can save in the app and have delivered to their homes. More recently, the company has also added the option to save pet food, making it easier for brands and businesses specializing in this area to redistribute their surplus. The company claims that, in Spain alone, it has saved more than 32 million packs of pet food, thanks to more than 10 million users and over 20,000 establishments.