Food waste remains one of the most significant challenges in the retail sector, particularly within the produce department.
According to ReFED’s Food Waste Monitor, 70.7 million tons of surplus food were generated in all sectors across all states in 2024. Of this, produce represented 32.1 million tons, or 45.3%. To combat this, retailers are increasingly turning to innovative technology and collaborative pacts to recover value and reduce environmental impact.
Too Good To Go: Turning Surplus into Opportunity
Too Good To Go has emerged as a solution for retailers looking to mitigate the loss of surplus food. By using its Surprise Bag model, the platform allows retailers to sell items that are nearing their best-before date — especially highly perishable produce — at a discounted price to consumers.
Too Good To Go’s new white paper, “Retail’s $348B Problem,” examines the scale of surplus-driven revenue loss in U.S. grocery and why food waste is shifting from an operational concern to a material profitability question.
The company says the environmental and operational impact of this model is measurable:
- Emissions and resources — Across the U.S., unsold or uneaten food is responsible for 24% of landfill inputs and 3.5% of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Retail reach — In 2024 alone, the Too Good To Go community saved over 135 million meals. Major retailers, including Whole Foods Market, have integrated this system to manage daily inventory fluctuations that would otherwise result in shrink.
- Financial recovery — Beyond sustainability, the platform enables retailers to recover the wholesale cost of goods that would otherwise represent a total loss, creating a “win-win-win” for the business, the consumer and the planet, according to the company.
- Since its launch in the U.S. in 2020, Too Good To Go says it has helped its network of partners recover an extra $139.8 million in added revenue.
The practical application of these surplus-reduction strategies is best illustrated through the direct insights and data provided by Whole Foods Market and Pemberton Farms, the company says, showcasing how both national and local retailers are navigating the operational challenges of produce waste.
Pemberton Farms, Boston
By the numbers:
- Pemberton Farms has earned $47,659 in recovered revenue since partnering with Too Good To Go.
- That revenue is a direct result of the 12,280-plus meals it has saved from going to waste through the Too Good To Go app; this can include everything from prepared foods and bakery items to bags stocked with produce that might not be as pretty but is still perfectly good.
- The store has had an 87% return rate among new shoppers who have visited the store for the first time through Too Good To Go.
“Too Good To Go has done so many other things for our business that we never could have put a metric on in the beginning,” says Greg Saidnawey, store manager for Pemberton Farms. “One of the biggest things is just how much foot traffic gets pushed into the store. And once people are in here, we pride ourselves on being the kind of place where the whole store becomes an impulse buy.”
Whole Foods Market, multiple locations
By the numbers:
- Whole Foods Market initially piloted its collaboration with Too Good To Go in 2023, launching two Too Good To Go Surprise Bag product categories across seven store locations.
- Following a successful pilot, the program expanded in 2024 to more than 430 stores, and within six months, it scaled nationwide to all 530-plus locations.
- After demonstrating consistent operational success at the national level, Whole Foods Market further deepened the collaboration by introducing seven additional product categories across more than 530 stores. The expansion significantly increased its food surplus recovery, aided its goals of cutting food waste in half by 2030 and further embedded waste reduction into everyday store operations.
“We believe every effort to reduce food waste is an opportunity to make a difference as part of our purpose to nourish people and the planet,” says Caitlin Leibert, vice president of sustainability for Whole Foods Market. “Expanding our collaboration with Too Good To Go into even more departments is a simple yet powerful way to bring value to our customers and communities while helping build a more sustainable food future, one meal at a time.”
The U.S. Food Waste Pact: Industrywide Progress
While individual platforms like Too Good To Go address immediate surplus, the U.S. Food Waste Pact focuses on systemic change through data transparency and collective action. The 2025 Impact Report highlights a pivotal shift in how the retail industry manages its supply chain.
Key findings from the Pact’s retail signatories include:
- Reduction in unsold food — Retailers participating in the pact reported a 1.1% decrease in unsold food rates from 2023 to 2024. This improvement is particularly notable as it occurred despite an overall increase in the total volume of food handled by these businesses.
- Economic gains — This reduction in waste translated to a $15.9 million decrease in the wholesale cost of surplus food, proving that efficiency in the produce aisle directly bolsters the bottom line.
- Collaborative scale — The pact has nearly doubled its signatory base, now including major players such as Aldi US, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market.
- Pilot success — Targeted pilot projects within the pact have demonstrated that focused interventions can lead to waste reductions of over 50% in specific categories, providing a roadmap for broader implementation across the retail landscape.
Through the combination of consumer-facing apps and rigorous industrywide reporting, the retail sector is moving closer to the national goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030.
