City restaurant to sell off uneaten food via new app

A RESTAURANT has become the first in the city to sign up for an innovative new phone app allowing them to resell food that would otherwise be thrown away at the end of the night.
Craig and Felicity Cameron, owners of Reekie's Smokehouse

Edinburgh Smokehouse Meats. ContributedCraig and Felicity Cameron, owners of Reekie's Smokehouse

Edinburgh Smokehouse Meats. Contributed
Craig and Felicity Cameron, owners of Reekie's Smokehouse Edinburgh Smokehouse Meats. Contributed

Diners at Reekie’s Smokehouse will be able to snap up a pot of leftovers for just £3.80 after hours thanks to the “Too Good To Go” app.

The free app links hungry customers to restaurants selling unsold food for a fraction of the price, ensuring none of the eatery’s produce goes to waste.

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Through the pioneering partnership, late-night diners can pick up cut-price food including slow smoked beef brisket, locally sourced haggis and barbeque pulled pork at the Holyrood Road restaurant when it closes at 9pm.

Owners Craig and Felicity Cameron have revealed the initial suggestion to resell the food was made by a customer and said they were delighted to be the first restaurant in Edinburgh to try out the scheme.
Craig said: “We wanted to make sure that anything left over wouldn’t go to waste, and to do so in the most eco-friendly way possible.”

“It was actually a customer who suggested we should sell all the food we don’t use when we close and we loved the idea, but we just didn’t know how to go about doing it.

“Obviously, with the nature of our business, we’re making food that sometimes takes 22 hours to fully prepare, so we’re having to really guess how much we’re likely to need.

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“From a business perspective it makes sense too – people can try even a small amount of our food and then maybe that’ll inspire them to come back when we’re properly open and try us again. We’re delighted to be the first Edinburgh restaurant to be taking advantage of this scheme and we hope we can encourage others in the Capital to get on board.”

Diners can download the app for free from either the Apple or Android stores.

From there, customers can pay for their meal and collect it from the restaurant in one of Too Good To Go’s fully-biodegradable boxes, making the experience completely eco-friendly.

The online platform was founded in Denmark in 2015 and already has a worldwide presence in six countries, so far helping to redistribute more than one million meals and saving tonnes of food from being wasted.

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Figures released by Greener Scotland showed Scots waste more than 380,000 tonnes of food every year.

Chris Wilson, co-founder of Too Good To Go, said: “We’ve been keen to bring Too Good To Go to Edinburgh for some time and couldn’t have been more delighted when Reekie’s came aboard our food waste revolution.

“We’ve had a fantastic reception from local users who are seizing the opportunity to grab a great meal at an even better price, all whilst helping reduce food waste.

“At a time when over one-third of all the food produced around the world is being thrown away, we hope Reekie’s can be the example for Edinburgh food businesses to follow and pledge their commitment to sustainability.”

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