any interest in a too good to go thread? I’m a fan of MichaelI (e90th) bakery’s bag, I’ll post a photo next time I grab an order (which is competitive!)
1 Like
I had downloaded the app a while back but then never used it, so this might motivate me to pay attention to what’s around me.
Last time, Breads Bakery was on it, which is a good sign. LPQ is also on. Not many other things around me, but I’ll keep an eye on it now.
1 Like
Are you me?
1 Like
Probably?
2 Likes
There are three places that I like in our neck of the woods, one of them is typically sells out within minutes of posting. After missing for weeks and weeks it finally occurred to me they might have an api I could periodically query.
Sure enough, found the api and an open source dev kit someone wrote. So then I had the bright idea to write an app to notify users about new availability from their fav places and potentially auto purchase.
As I was thinking through the app I realized the barrier to entry was pretty low which prompted me to see if someone had already written an app and of course, there two or three in the App Store.
Around that time my iPhone went for a swim, I learned my iTunes backup was corrupt and wrote some code to scavenge the backup. Thinking maybe my next million dollar idea was to productize my code, searched to see if someone had written an app and of course, there were two or three in the App Store.
And so on.
1 Like
I haven’t been able to grab pastrami queen, wondering if there’s a pastrami sandwich in that bag. Lot of pizza and bagel places but I’d rather purchase one fresh bagel on the rare morning I eat bagels and the pizza places sell when they close, often in the wee hours of the morning.
I was a little obsessed with Too Good Too Go in Toronto for about 2 weeks, trying to get goods from some top bakeries. The windows to buy would close in seconds. There are some Regional Reddits that show what people have managed to purchase.
I made around 8 purchases before deciding to delete the app.
One, from a place with gourmet cookies that are similar to Levain, was the best bang for the buck.
I missed 3 pickup times. One vendor changed the pickup up time, which meant I had a 25 minute window before it closed on a Sunday. I was stuck on a bus, and I missed the window by 3 minutes. Doors locked, staff had gone home. Another time, another place, stuck in traffic, got there 5 minutes late, doors locked, I could see staff inside, but they didn’t come to the door. 3rd time, I went home to charge my phone so I could show them my pickup code. I didn’t realize until I got home that the coffee shop closed at 4:30 pm, not 5. 
One nice cheese + coffee shop had a cheese and charcuterie package which ended up being very stale bread sticks , some slightly oxidized salami and slices of parmesan. Around $7-$8.
With some bakeries, I realized, I rather pay top dollar for fresh. There are places that are doing this to save waste and help out customers, but some places are using it as a way to sell stuff that should be free.
Here is our Toronto Too Good to Go thread.
2 Likes
Maybe it’s a newer feature but I’ve always been given the choice of canceling my order if the pickup window is changed.
As for pastry, at least in our area, it’s end of day items, so for example a muffin or croissant that was baked in the morning and pickup is at 3:30. Having said that, some of the bags are so full we end up reheating savory pastry (things like bourekas) over the next couple of days.
1 Like
Some top bakeries do this in Toronto. Other top bakeries are selling the day olds at the end of the day, so they’re 36 h old. Some places are definitely delivering more value. The bakery with the Italian hot table sells the hot tables items the day before, but packages up thar next day’s items in the last half hour of business. Leaving nothing for the regular shopper who wants a slice (me)
Glad that yours are selling that day’s pastries at the end of the day!
The Eataly Flatiron Large Bag is meant to be the best and sells out almost instantly. (A 2G2G FB group noted that some people are using bots to get it.) I scored one over a year ago and for $11.99 it included a few loaves of bread, 3 or 4 sandwiches, and several pieces of focaccia. Since the items still had the prices on them I remember it being well over $100 in value. Definitely fantastic.
Varenyk House in Ridgewood is also supposed to have a fantastic one but I have yet to score one, not so much due to the difficulty of procuring it but due to my inability to get to that neighborhood during pickup times.
They recently updated the app to allow delegation of pickup…
1 Like
From today’s NYT, gift link.
The headline makes it sound like the author was dumpster-diving.
4 Likes
Idiotic. My favorite line: “My biggest gripe? The containers. Lots and lots of plastic”.
That, only paragraphs after "The goal is to save money, anxiety and some greenhouse gases. Worldwide, discarded food accounts for [8 to 10 percent of planet-warming emissions]"
I’m just gonna guess that setting up stands outside these places & giving away food at the end of the day (or calling soup kitchens that pick up) didn’t occur to anyone? Tax deduction would save as much $, no anxiety over the cutesy “surprise” packs & no net loss on climate issues via plastic. Not to mention that I figure that some of the food received will get tossed by the recipients. And… Potato Chips???.. really.
Well, there’s a hot take! I don’t think soup kitchens accept food that isn’t canned or otherwise factory-sealed. And ordering food through an app obviates having employees stand outside with no certainty that the food they’re dishing out will get picked up.
4 Likes
true. and they probably couldn’t get employees to do it without agreeing to put out a tip jar.
That kind of thing only works during power failures. I scored some pretty good sushi during that blackout in 2002 or thereabouts.
free sushi you say? now that I’m retired with lots of time on my hands, I can probably hack a blackout or two before I’m arrested.
the places near us typically have around 5 bags of food, it would be interesting to understand why they don’t put more food on the platform. what they do with the remainder of their food waste and why they’ve chosen this platform. I suppose I could ask my D, she works in this space.
I was living at 22nd & 2nd, and at least two of the sushi places in the 'hood set up tables outside and just handed out everything they had, since it was gonna spoil anyway. You would not have been arrested!
2 Likes
I’d be arrested for hacking into the power grid and causing a blackout so you and I could eat free sushi. or is that not a crime anymore, so hard to tell these days.
