Problem addressed

Around 88 million tonnes of food is wasted annually in the European Union. In Finland alone, approximately 120–160 million kilograms of food is wasted by households (about 20–25 kilogrammes per person).  This waste costs the EU an estimated EUR 143 million and has significant negative effects on the environment, as food waste depletes the world of finite natural resources, such as water, and contributes to global warming.

Innovative solution

The Finnish start-up ResQ Club has developed a location-based mobile app that enables consumers to buy surplus food that would otherwise be thrown away by restaurants, cafes, hotels and grocery stores. The food is discounted from 30% up to 100%. The chosen food product can be bought through the app using a payment card or PayPal. Once the transaction has gone through, the consumer is able to pick up the meal whenever they want from a pick-up window set by the supplier, and without having to wait. Restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores can sign up to ResQ Club through the online platform, where they can announce their surplus products and meals. ResQ Club’s overall goal is to limit the amount of food that goes to waste in restaurants to zero.

ResQ adopts a franchising model, but also operates some market areas itself. Its management remains centralised in Finland. All the profits made by ResQ are reinvested back into the company, mostly for hiring purposes.

Key results and benefits

The benefits of this initiative extend both to restaurants and customers. Consumers are able to buy food that is close to its expiry date, at a reduced price. Restaurants, cafes and grocery stores are able to sell food that would otherwise go to waste. Latest figures show that the app has over 30 000 active monthly users and sells around 80 000 portions of food each month in the cities where ResQ Club is active. The app has been downloaded 800 000 times. A total of 7 000 restaurants, cafes and grocery stores have so far registered on the app, and about 1 300 of them sell food through the platform each week.

According to one grocery store owner, daily food waste at his store ‘has gone down from three shopping carts to half a shopping cart’. ResQ Club helps to save 273 tonnes of CO2 emissions every month,, which is equivalent to 44 car rides around the world, 227 flights between Helsinki and New York, and 43 tonnes of edible food. 

Potential for mainstreaming

ResQ Club was set up in 2015 in Finland, but has quickly grown, and now also operates in Sweden, Germany, and Poland. Thanks to ResQ Club’s expansion, the initial start-up has become sustainable and cash-positive, and aims to expand further geographically. ResQ Club’s current success and expansion demonstrates strong potential for transferability to other European contexts. The mobile app is key in the success of the project, as it ensures wide reach of the service by making the process of buying and selling surplus food as easy as possible. The key conditions for successful transfer to another context would be start-up funding for the development of an appropriate app and widespread publicity in order to reach partners and users.

ResQ Club’s success is demonstrated by nominations and awards. In the Nordic Startup Awards in Finland, ResQ Club won ‘Best Newcomer’ in 2017, ‘Best Social Impact Startup’ in 2017 and 2018, and ‘People's Choice’ in 2018. ResQ Club also won ‘Environmental Act of the Year’ from the City of Helsinki in 2017, and was among the top 3 nominated in the ‘Global Mobile Internet Creative Development Competition’ in 2017.