Too late, too far, too little choice: Why surplus food apps face challenges matching meals with takers

"They all want merchants near their home, near the office, and at a very steep discount and at a very convenient timing," says the founder of a food rescue app.

This audio is generated by an AI tool.

SINGAPORE: Picking up bread at a 50 per cent discount on your way home from work might sound easy – but what if it was only for collection after 9pm and it was more than two bus stops away?

Not many people would go through the hassle.

These considerations of time, distance and convenience are among the challenges faced by food apps that are trying to keep edible food from going to waste. Users weigh these factors before deciding whether picking up such food is worth their while.

Last month, parliament passed a motion tabled by the People’s Action Party’s Government Parliamentary Committee for Sustainability and the Environment, calling for efforts to reduce food waste and shore up food resilience in Singapore.

One of its proposals was to strengthen partnerships with society to reduce food waste.

In 2025, Singapore generated 790,000 tonnes of total food waste, which averages to about 128kg of food waste per person annually.

Food rescue has traditionally been led by volunteers, but about a decade ago, apps that help businesses sell food at discounted prices began popping up in Singapore.

Platforms like Yindii and Treatsure give businesses such a channel, while apps like Olio and GoodHood.SG facilitate the redistribution of food and other items without charging recipients.

The apps in this space have reported significant growth, but they face a common challenge in scaling due to mismatches between demand and supply, including where and when food is available.

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A surprise bakery bag that CNA bought through Yindii for S$7.50, half of its original price, and collected after 9pm. (Photo: CNA/Koh Wan Ting)

CONVENIENCE A MAIN FACTOR

I tried out the apps to find out how easy it would be to pick up food on my daily schedule.

On the handful of occasions I used the apps in heartland areas, meals were often not available when I needed them, or they were unsuitable, or simply too far away.

For example, a meal I could have had for dinner was only available at 8pm, which was too late for me. On another occasion, a bundle of bread that I could have saved for breakfast the next day was available, but the bakery was more than a kilometre away.

The few times I did manage to buy food through the apps were when I happened to be near a bakery nearing closing hour on the way home, and could pop by. I also managed to pick up dinner after 8pm but only because work ended late that day.

This was one of the hurdles faced by FoodToo, one of the later entrants to the surplus food redistribution scene.

"They all want merchants near their home, near the office, and at a very steep discount and at a very convenient timing," founder Kelvin Yap said.

These barriers proved too high to overcome for FoodToo, which began winding down in late March, less than a year after it officially launched. It is no longer operating.

Mr Yap, who began developing the platform in 2024, spoke of the challenges that prevented the app from gaining traction. Its roughly 2,200 users and about 65 merchants – a mix of eateries, hawkers and bakeries – towards the end were not enough.

Onboarding larger chain outlets and franchises proved to be a challenge, as they often needed the app to integrate their systems and workflows. But this also meant options around customers were limited, leading to fewer transactions.

Timing and distance were also issues – users were less willing to travel far for food available later in the day.

"If it's 9pm, you would only go somewhere like downstairs, right? Like very close, you wouldn't travel. You won't go beyond one bus stop. Our golden mark is one bus stop," he said.

"So that was where we found that users start dropping off."

A similar platform that has achieved more scale is Yindii, which was founded in Bangkok and launched in Singapore in August 2024.

Businesses list unsold food in surprise bags at discounted prices and customers can pick them up during a collection window.

The app had around 250,000 users by the end of 2025 and close to 400,000 by September this year, head of partnerships Terry Quek said. About 60 per cent of users place repeat orders, with such users accounting for around 95 per cent of all orders.

Despite this, it has also faced the challenge of matching supply with demand in certain areas.

"The better locations are the ones that are in convenient locations, that are near MRT (stations). That will definitely have a higher chance of a higher sell-out rate.

"The ones that are in more (secluded) areas, you require a user to have a car to drive to, then of course the sell-out rate is lower," Mr Quek said.

Yindii is piloting a new delivery service, called Yindii Drop, where surplus products with long shelf lives would be sent to customers.

James Cook University’s Professor of Strategy and Sustainability Adrian Kuah said convenience and the need to achieve sufficient scale and network density were among the key challenges faced by the platforms.

While Singapore has a high population density that can support efficient transportation, the domestic market remains small, so a platform needs substantial participation from merchants and consumers to generate sufficient transaction volume, he added.

While consumers may support reducing food waste, they could still be unwilling to travel far, accept inconvenient collection times, tolerate uncertain product availability, or purchase food perceived as less fresh, he said.

“Consumer convenience – particularly location, collection time, choice and perceived food quality – is therefore an important determinant of consumer demand,” said Prof Kuah.

This surprise bag was priced at S$10, with pick-up from 10pm. (Photo: CNA/Koh Wan Ting)

GROWING NUMBER OF USERS

Treatsure, which connects users to hotels and grocers with surplus food, said consumers and businesses are generally more receptive, which can be seen partly by growing uptake rates.

Treatsure is known for its "buffet-in-a-box", where users pay for a box that they can fill with food from hotel buffets shortly before it ends.

Chief executive and co-founder Preston Wong said that in the app's early years, between 2017 and 2018, it had a few thousand users and about 10 per cent to 20 per cent of food on average was taken by users.

Nearly a decade later, some of its outlets regularly see take-up rates of 70 to 100 per cent.

Mr Wong said Treatsure's user base grew 81 per cent in 2025. "We estimate at least one in four are repeat users and on average, each active user purchases surplus food from us at least two to four times a month," he said.

Mr Wong said that bread and cooked food may be more available towards business closing hours, but less so in the morning, except at hotels that serve bread and pastries for breakfast.

The timing varies by location, with surplus food appearing earlier in areas like Raffles Place or Changi Business Park than in the heartlands, as some places close earlier than others.

Prof Kuah said the unpredictable supply of surplus food and its relatively low transaction value were business hurdles.

“Surplus food has relatively low monetary value and sometimes transporting it creates transaction costs. A S$5 (US$3.90) to S$10 purchase does not leave a great deal of margin for the platform,” Prof Kuah pointed out.

Cost factors such as labour, packaging, technology, payment and logistics can quickly overwhelm any available margin, said Prof Kuah.

WHAT ABOUT FREE FOOD?

The supply-demand challenge persists for apps that are giving away food for free.

Olio, an app that facilitates the free redistribution of food and has been available in Singapore for more than eight years, said demand for food was "extremely high".

More than 200,000 people have joined the app in Singapore, with around 15,000 people using it in the last month.

"The far bigger challenge is encouraging people who have surplus food to take the time to share it," a spokesperson said.

Demand and supply were also not always concentrated in the same areas.

The spokesperson told CNA that Bukit Timah, Tengah, Sembawang and Novena stood out as areas with more food on offer than people picking it up, while Ang Mo Kio, Kallang and Jurong West saw "very high demand relative to supply", often with as many as five people requesting each listing.

Olio also offers slots for volunteers to collect food from the F&B stalls and list it on the app for others to pick up.

GoodHood.SG, a community app focused primarily on the free sharing of items and is not profit-motivated, said about 300 users gave away or collected food through its platform in 2021. By 2025, 8,000 users were sharing food on a regular basis.

The platform estimates that more than 10,000 are involved when subsequent redistribution is included, founder Nigel Teo said.

About 74 per cent are repeat users, with baked goods and desserts the food most commonly given away, followed by prepared meals, then fruits and vegetables.

It partners D2L.sg, a tech social enterprise that focuses on working with suppliers and food-rescue volunteers, while GoodHood.SG provides the technology and community for redistribution.

"We are a platform to foster neighbourliness through simple acts of kindness like freecycling to verified beneficiaries and food rescue," Mr Teo said.

He added that there was plenty of interest and support for the rescue of edible food as it has intrinsic value.

"As more awareness of food rescue happens, the market will eventually, naturally eliminate edible food surplus," he added.

Prof Kuah said the apps that facilitate free-sharing and those selling discounted food have different roles in the ecosystem.

While the former facilitates redistribution between consumers by providing the technology that allows rescued food to be distributed rapidly and locally, the other platforms can potentially recover economic value.

This bowl of oden, bought from a food kiosk at half price, was only available from 8pm. The kiosk had food left in its fryer when CNA picked up this bowl. (Photo: CNA/Koh Wan Ting)

Another difficulty with measuring the impact of such apps is knowing for certain whether food sold through them would otherwise have been thrown away.

Founder of D2L.sg Lin Qinghui distinguished between the platforms based on the point at which food is redistributed, rather than whether consumers pay for it.

On platforms such as Yindii and Treatsure, food still has economic value to the business and is being offered for sale, while Olio and GoodHood.SG redistribute food that no longer has a value to businesses providing it, she said.

In this light, food sold at a discount on apps would not necessarily qualify as “rescued”, as it is difficult to know what would otherwise have happened to it.

Ms Lin described these platforms as an additional channel for businesses to promote discounted food to consumers, albeit those who are more invested in sustainability.

"The thing is they are still operating within the business opening hours, so it's very hard to say that food waste is reduced because of these apps or platforms," Ms Lin said, adding that the apps appeared more to be helping businesses avoid surplus rather than sell surplus food.

Surplus food from businesses refers to food that remains unsold or unconsumed after operating hours, and could result from overproduction or lower demand.

"I think it is accurate to say that they can potentially help to reduce waste, but it won't really be accurate to say that they are actually rescuing the food," she said.

A meal sold through the app could have gone to waste, but it also could have been bought by another customer, said Ms Lin.

Her experience with D2L.sg underlined the difficulties of scaling the process of diverting food waste to other means.

While D2L.sg started out as a volunteer-led food rescue group, it was eventually formalised into a company to work more closely with businesses and become more financially sustainable, Ms Lin said.

"I realised that in order to scale up our impact, it's really quite impossible to remain as a food rescue group," she said.

D2L.sg now describes itself as a food waste steward, using technology and data to help businesses track their waste and divert different types towards their most appropriate uses.

It also provides clients with data on how and where their food waste is generated, which can help them identify ways to prevent it.

Prof Kuah similarly positions the platforms at different stages along a wider food surplus “cascade” where preventing food surplus remains a priority.

Where edible surplus remains, platforms that sell discounted food could “create a secondary market” by connecting businesses with consumers, he said.

Food that cannot readily be sold can then be redistributed through charities, food banks and community networks, while food no longer suitable for consumption could be diverted in other ways, including composting, and disposal through incineration as a last resort.

But even when food is redistributed, the platforms show that finding willing takers is only one part of the equation.

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“他们都希望商家离家近、离办公室近，而且折扣力度很大，时间也很方便，”一款食品救援应用程序的创始人说。

这段音频由人工智能工具生成。

新加坡：下班回家路上顺便买个面包，还能享受五折优惠，听起来很容易——但如果只能在晚上 9 点以后取，而且取货地点离家超过两站公交车程呢？

没多少人会费这个劲。

时间、距离和便利性等因素是食品应用程序面临的挑战之一，这些应用程序旨在防止可食用食物被浪费。用户在决定是否值得取走这些食物之前，会权衡这些因素。

上个月，国会通过了人民行动党政府可持续发展与环境国会委员会提出的动议，呼吁努力减少食物浪费，增强新加坡的粮食韧性。

其中一项提议是加强与社会各界的合作，以减少食物浪费。

到 2025 年，新加坡将产生 79 万吨食物垃圾，平均每人每年产生约 128 公斤食物垃圾。

食物救援传统上是由志愿者领导的，但大约十年前，帮助企业以折扣价出售食物的应用程序开始在新加坡涌现。

Yindii 和 Treatsure 等平台为企业提供了这样的渠道，而 Olio 和 GoodHood.SG 等应用程序则促进了食品和其他物品的重新分配，而无需向接收者收取费用。

该领域的应用程序都报告了显著增长，但由于供需不匹配（包括食物的供应地点和时间），它们在规模化方面面临着共同的挑战。

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CNA通过Yindii平台以7.50新元的价格购买了一个惊喜烘焙礼包，价格仅为原价的一半，并在晚上9点后取走。（图片：CNA/Koh Wan Ting）

便利性是主要因素

我试用了这些应用程序，想看看在我的日常作息安排下取餐是否方便。

我曾在少数几次在内陆地区使用这些应用程序时，经常发现我需要的餐食要么没有，要么不合适，要么距离太远。

例如，我本来可以吃的晚餐要到晚上八点才有，对我来说太晚了。还有一次，我本来可以买一捆面包留到第二天早上吃，但面包店离我家超过一公里。

我通过外卖应用买到食物的次数屈指可数，都是因为回家路上正好路过一家快要关门的面包店，可以顺便进去买的。还有一次，晚上八点以后我才买到晚餐，不过那是因为那天我下班比较晚。

这是 FoodToo 面临的障碍之一，FoodToo 是后来进入剩余食品再分配领域的公司之一。

创始人 Kelvin Yap 表示：“他们都希望商家离家近、离办公室近，并且能以非常优惠的价格和非常方便的时间提供服务。”

这些障碍对FoodToo来说难以克服，该公司在正式上线不到一年后，于3月下旬开始逐步停止运营。目前，该公司已停止运营。

叶先生于2024年开始开发该平台，他谈到了阻碍该应用普及的挑战。到最后，其约2200名用户和约65家商户（包括餐馆、小贩和面包店）的数量仍然不够。

事实证明，让大型连锁店和加盟店接入该应用是一项挑战，因为他们通常需要该应用来整合他们的系统和工作流程。但这同时也意味着他们面向客户的选择有限，导致交易量减少。

时间和距离也是需要考虑的因素——用户不太愿意为了当天晚些时候才能吃到的食物而长途跋涉。

“如果是晚上9点，你只会去楼下之类的地方，对吧？就像去很近的地方，你不会走远。你不会超过一站公交车。我们的黄金标准就是一站公交车，”他说。

“所以我们发现用户就是从这里开始流失的。”

另一个类似的平台是 Yindii，它规模更大，于 2024 年 8 月在曼谷创立，并在新加坡推出。

商家将未售出的食品装入惊喜袋中，以折扣价出售，顾客可以在指定时间内领取。

合作关系负责人郭特里表示，该应用程序预计到2025年底将拥有约25万用户，到今年9月将接近40万用户。约60%的用户会重复下单，这些用户贡献了约95%的订单。

尽管如此，它在某些领域也面临着供需不匹配的挑战。

“位置越好的房源，越靠近交通便利的地铁站越好。这样的房源肯定更容易售罄。”

郭先生说：“那些位于比较偏僻地区的房源，需要用户开车前往，那么售罄率当然会较低。”

Yindii 正在试行一项名为 Yindii Drop 的全新配送服务，该服务会将保质期长的剩余产品直接发送给客户。

詹姆斯库克大学战略与可持续发展教授 Adrian Kuah 表示，便利性以及实现足够的规模和网络密度是这些平台面临的主要挑战之一。

他补充说，虽然新加坡人口密度高，可以支持高效的交通运输，但国内市场仍然很小，因此平台需要商家和消费者的大量参与才能产生足够的交易量。

他表示，虽然消费者可能支持减少食物浪费，但他们可能仍然不愿意长途跋涉，接受不方便的收集时间，容忍产品供应的不确定性，或者购买被认为不太新鲜的食物。

“因此，消费者便利性——特别是地点、取货时间、选择和感知到的食品质量——是消费者需求的重要决定因素，”Kuah教授说。

这款惊喜礼包售价10新元，可于晚上10点后领取。（图片：CNA/Koh Wan Ting）

用户数量不断增长

Treatsure 是一家将用户与拥有剩余食物的酒店和杂货店联系起来的公司，该公司表示，消费者和企业普遍更容易接受这种模式，这可以从不断增长的接受率中得到部分体现。

Treatsure 以其“盒装自助餐”而闻名，用户只需支付一定费用即可购买一个盒子，然后在酒店自助餐即将结束时，将食物装入其中。

首席执行官兼联合创始人 Preston Wong 表示，该应用程序在 2017 年至 2018 年的早期，拥有几千名用户，平均约有 10% 至 20% 的食物被用户取走。

近十年后，其部分门店的销售转化率经常达到 70% 到 100%。

黄先生表示，Treatsure 的用户群在 2025 年增长了 81%。他说：“我们估计至少有四分之一的用户是回头客，平均而言，每个活跃用户每月至少从我们这里购买两到四次剩余食品。”

黄先生表示，面包和熟食在临近下班时间可能会比较容易买到，但在早上则不太容易买到，不过酒店早餐会提供面包和糕点。

不同地点的剩余食物出现时间有所不同，莱佛士坊或樟宜商业园等地区比居民区更早出现剩余食物，因为有些地方关门比其他地方早。

Kuah教授表示，剩余食品供应的不可预测性及其相对较低的交易价值是商业障碍。

“剩余食物的货币价值相对较低，而且运输有时还会产生交易成本。5澳元（3.90美元）到10新加坡元的购买价格，留给平台的利润空间并不大，”柯教授指出。

Kuah教授表示，劳动力、包装、技术、支付和物流等成本因素会迅速吞噬任何可用的利润空间。

免费食物呢？

对于免费赠送食物的应用程序来说，供需挑战依然存在。

Olio 是一款促进食物免费再分配的应用程序，已在新加坡运营超过八年。该应用程序表示，对食物的需求“非常高”。

新加坡已有超过 20 万人注册使用该应用程序，其中上个月约有 1.5 万人使用。

一位发言人表示：“更大的挑战在于鼓励有剩余食物的人抽出时间分享食物。”

需求和供给也并非总是集中在同一地区。

发言人告诉亚洲新闻台，武吉知马、登加、三巴旺和诺维娜等地区食物供应量远超取餐人数，而宏茂桥、加冷和裕廊西等地区则“供不应求”，通常每份食物都有多达五个人点餐。

Olio 还提供志愿者名额，让他们从餐饮摊位收集食物，并在应用程序上列出，供其他人领取。

GoodHood.SG 是一款专注于物品免费分享的社区应用程序，不以盈利为目的。该应用程序表示，2021 年约有 300 名用户通过其平台赠送或收集食物。到 2025 年，将有 8000 名用户定期分享食物。

该平台创始人 Nigel Teo 表示，如果将后续的再分配也计算在内，该平台估计涉及的人数超过 10,000 人。

约 74% 的用户是回头客，最常赠送的食品是烘焙食品和甜点，其次是预制餐食，然后是水果和蔬菜。

它与 D2L.sg 合作，D2L.sg 是一家专注于与供应商和食物救援志愿者合作的科技社会企业，而 GoodHood.SG 则提供再分配所需的技术和社区。

“我们是一个旨在通过简单的善举来促进邻里情谊的平台，例如向经过核实的受益人免费赠送物品和食物救援，”张先生说。

他还补充说，人们对拯救可食用食物表现出浓厚的兴趣和支持，因为食物本身具有内在价值。

“随着人们对食物救援的认识不断提高，市场最终会自然而然地消除可食用的剩余食物，”他补充道。

Kuah教授表示，促进免费分享的应用程序和销售折扣食品的应用程序在生态系统中扮演着不同的角色。

前者通过提供技术使获救食品能够快速、本地化地分发，从而促进消费者之间的再分配；而其他平台则有可能回收经济价值。

这碗关东煮是从路边摊半价买的，只在晚上8点后供应。CNA记者取走这碗关东煮时，摊位的油锅里还剩一些食物。（图片：CNA/许婉婷）

衡量此类应用程序的影响的另一个难点在于，我们无法确定通过这些应用程序销售的食物是否会被丢弃。

D2L.sg 的创始人林清辉区分了各个平台，依据的是食物重新分配的环节，而不是消费者是否为此付费。

她表示，在 Yindii 和 Treatsure 等平台上，食物对商家仍然具有经济价值，并被出售；而 Olio 和 GoodHood.SG 则将对商家不再有价值的食物重新分配。

从这个角度来看，通过应用程序打折出售的食品不一定能算作“拯救”食品，因为很难知道如果没有打折，这些食品最终会变成什么样子。

林女士将这些平台描述为企业向消费者（尤其是那些更注重可持续发展的消费者）推广折扣食品的又一渠道。

林女士表示：“问题在于，这些应用程序或平台仍然在营业时间内运行，因此很难说这些应用程序或平台减少了食物浪费。”她还补充说，这些应用程序似乎更多的是在帮助企业避免食物过剩，而不是帮助企业出售剩余食物。

企业剩余食品是指营业时间结束后仍未售出或未消费的食品，可能是由于生产过剩或需求下降造成的。

“我认为说它们有可能帮助减少浪费是准确的，但说它们实际上在拯救食物就不准确了，”她说。

林女士表示，通过该应用程序售出的餐食可能会被浪费掉，但也有可能被其他顾客购买。

她在 D2L.sg 的经历凸显了将食物垃圾转移到其他用途这一过程规模化的困难。

林女士表示，D2L.sg 最初是一个由志愿者领导的食物救援组织，但最终正式成立为一家公司，以便与企业更紧密地合作，并实现财务上的可持续性。

“我意识到，为了扩大我们的影响力，仅仅作为一个食物救援组织是远远不够的，”她说。

D2L.sg 现在自诩为食物垃圾管理者，利用技术和数据帮助企业追踪其垃圾，并将不同类型的垃圾分流到最合适的用途。

它还向客户提供有关其食物垃圾的产生方式和地点的数据，这可以帮助他们找到防止食物垃圾产生的方法。

Kuah 教授同样将这些平台定位在更广泛的粮食过剩“级联”的不同阶段，防止粮食过剩仍然是首要任务。

他表示，在仍有剩余可食用食品的情况下，销售折扣食品的平台可以通过连接企业和消费者来“创造二级市场”。

无法轻易售出的食物可以通过慈善机构、食品银行和社区网络重新分配，而不再适合食用的食物可以通过其他方式进行处理，包括堆肥，最后才可以通过焚烧进行处置。

但即使食物被重新分配，这些平台也表明，找到愿意接受的人只是等式的一部分。

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