Retail Relates
'Retail Relates' is not just a podcast; it's a journey into the heart of retail and commerce. Our episodes traverse the path from traditional marketplaces to digital platforms, highlighting the successes, trials, and invaluable lessons learned along the way. We're conversing with those shaping the industry—from the front lines to behind the scenes, the creative minds to the global strategists - offering a diverse 360-degree perspective. We're revealing the relationships and personal narratives that make retail engaging and accessible. 'Retail Relates' is an invitation to explore the world's interconnectedness through the lens of retail, encouraging listeners to discover the personal journeys and stories of those who drive innovation and unite us across cultures and continents.
Retail Relates
Empowering Change Through Reimagining Food Culture: A Conversation with Jamie Crummie
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Jamie Crummie, the dynamic co-founder of Too Good To Go, joins us to share his transformative journey from a legal career to pioneering a global movement against food waste. Brace yourself for an enlightening conversation that promises to reveal how Jamie's personal values and upbringing—rooted deeply in justice and sustainability—led him to create the world's largest marketplace for surplus food. Discover how his venture is making a positive impact on the planet while providing businesses with innovative solutions to turn potential losses into opportunities.
Our discussion takes a closer look at the significant role of Too Good To Go in promoting sustainability, particularly in the context of food waste and insecurity. With partnerships ranging from local eateries to retail giants like Whole Foods, Too Good To Go offers a unique "triple win" scenario—consumers enjoy savings, businesses cut waste, and the environment thrives. Jamie gives us a glimpse into the future of food systems, emphasizing that sustainable business practices not only make ecological sense but are commercially savvy as well.
Throughout our conversation, Jamie underscores the power of passion and mentorship in driving entrepreneurial success. He shares insights on maintaining focus and resilience amidst challenges, painting a vivid picture of how staying true to a vision can lead to global impact. The episode wraps up with a personal touch, where Jamie opens up about his favorite comfort food and shares advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on balancing perfectionism with progress. Tune in to be inspired by Jamie's story and to learn how you too can be a catalyst for change.
Biography:
Jamie Crummie is the co-founder of Too Good To Go, the world's largest marketplace for surplus food. With a background in law, Jamie holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Leeds University and a Master’s in Human Rights Law (LLM) from Queen Mary University. His legal training and passion for human rights laid the foundation for his commitment to fighting food waste and promoting sustainable practices.
Too Good To Go, founded in 2016, is a market-leading app that empowers consumers to save unsold food from restaurants and retailers, ensuring it doesn’t go to waste. The app connects over 80 million users with 135,000 active food businesses across 17 countries, collectively rescuing over 250 million meals. Under Jamie’s leadership, the company has grown into a global movement dedicated to inspiring and empowering individuals to take action against food waste. The mission of Too Good To Go extends beyond technology, fostering a community of “Waste Warriors” who are driving positive change for the planet.
Jamie’s impact has been widely recognized. He was named an Obama Leader in 2023, Sustainability Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards in 2022, and a Trailblazing Activist in Forbes' 50 Next class of 2021. He has also been honored as One Young World’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020 and included in Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Europe in 2019. Driven by purpose and a vision for a healthier planet, Jamie continues to seek collaborations that support sustainable food systems and environmental impact.
Too Good To Go is an app you may have heard of or even used. Available in over 17 countries, with more than 100 million downloads, it connects nearly 150,000 food businesses with consumers eager to purchase surplus food at a significant value. You might wonder how does this tie into retail? In reality, this app embodies the very essence of what retail is the exchange of goods or services in this case, food for fair or relative value in this case, definitely fair. Today, on Retail Relates, we're joined by Jamie Crummey, a co-founder of Too Good To Go. Joining us from the UK, jamie Crummey is the co-founder of Too Good To Go, the world's largest marketplace for surplus food.
Speaker 1:With a background in law, jamie holds a Bachelor of Laws LLB from Leeds University and a Master's in Human Rights Law an LLM from Queen Mary University. His legal training and passion for human rights laid the foundation for his commitment to fighting food waste and promoting sustainable practices. Too Good to Go, founded in 2016, is a market-leading app that empowers consumers to save unsold food from restaurants and retailers, ensuring it doesn't go to waste. The app connects over 80 million users with 135,000 active food businesses across 17 countries, collectively rescuing over 250 million meals. Under Jamie's leadership, the company has grown into a global movement dedicated to inspiring and empowering individuals to take action against food waste.
Speaker 1:The mission of Too Good to Go extends beyond technology, fostering a community of waste warriors who are driving positive change for the planet. Jamie's impact has been widely recognized he was named an Obama Leader in 2023, sustainability Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards in 2022, and a trailblazing activist in Forbes' 50 Next Class of 2021. He has also been honored as One Young World's Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020 and included in Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Europe in 2019. Driven by purpose and a vision for a healthier planet, jamie continues to seek collaborations that support sustainable food systems and environmental 30 Under 30 in Europe in 2019. Driven by purpose and a vision for a healthier planet, jamie continues to seek collaborations that support sustainable food systems and environmental impact. I think you'll find this episode fascinating, not only for the story behind this rapidly expanding concept, but also for getting to know Jamie Crummey personally.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a pleasure to welcome Jamie Crummey to Retail Relates today. He is the co-founder of Too Good to Go and a lot of other things on his resume. Jamie, welcome to the podcast today.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2:So we gave a little bit of your bio in the intro and we'll include a full bio in the show notes. What we like to start off with here is a little bit of a different question. If you go back through your career, noting that you are one of the top 30 under 30, so you are in the midst of a career right now what are the three most pivotal moments, either from a career or life perspective, that have brought you to where you are right now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's quite a profound question to look back on, and there are countless interactions, engagements, which have had a huge impact on where I've sort of decided to go in my career and the choices I've made. But I would say that the biggest impact that it's probably had on my, my career would be my, my family, my upbringing. Now, I've always been someone who struggled to refer to themselves as a entrepreneur or even as a social entrepreneur. It wasn't something that, uh, that I eased into quickly. I think that really comes from, you know, my own sort of reflections of what I think on entrepreneurism is, and it's these like Hollywood images of kids who grew up, you know, with a different hustle, with a new business idea every day, every week, or hustling in the school playground, you know, and I wasn't that kind of guy, you know, I wasn't the kid who was, you know, was trying to undercut the school canteen by selling cookies or whatever at a drop price. In fact, I was actually some of my friends.
Speaker 3:But what I have been is someone who's always been motivated by social and environmental impact, and that very much comes from my upbringing. My parents have been advocates of social and environmental justice and so I suppose, through osmosis. You know, these became passions of mine, and so that is something which has framed the path I've taken and the decisions that I've made. In short, that has brought me to a space where I'm driven by impact, and I think there's an interesting question there, which is what impact means to me and for me, impact is around. You know, it's social impact, it's creating environmental impact, but it's also aligning those with other realms of impact, whether that be commercial impact as well and using business as this source of good. So my upbringing would certainly be the first one, and then I would look at my time through academia, through school, and the relationships and friendships I've made there which have helped shape who I've been.
Speaker 3:You know I'm quite a sociable person and maybe we'll get this across the podcast today, but it's those friendships have been hugely important as being soundboard and sparring partners, but also as people who can keep you grounded. You know, at times when, hey, you know you really need people who give you that reality check, and I think that that third biggest lesson has been starting to to get to go itself. You know, that is installing your own business. I think is like a. It's a, it's a fast track of an MBA. You know you learn everything within a few weeks and months feels like years and uh, and slowly my hair has been um, growing backwards. It's it's aged me quite, quite significantly, but it's been a, uh yeah, an amazing experience and an amazing journey which I can take huge amount from experience and an amazing journey which I can take a huge amount from.
Speaker 2:When you were younger, did you have a certain dream or aspiration or you know, there were kids that wanted to be a fireman or an astronaut or was there something that you envisioned for your path other than this?
Speaker 3:Well, actually it's funny. You say that my mother was like clearing out some things in my family home and she came across this end-of-year journal where myself and my other pupils, at the age of 10, we had written down what it was that we wanted to do with our lives. And, bizarrely enough, I think the two things I'd written down was I wanted to be a professional football player or soccer player and I also wanted to be a barrister. Because I wanted to be a barrister so I could help people. And I think you know there is, you know that was actually a path that I was pursuing. So I started my training as a lawyer. I did my master's in human rights law, I studied law, but it was again this connection between impact and wanting to deliver social and environmental impact, and so I like to think, even at the age of 10, I had that foresight and I wanted to become a barrister because I wanted to help people and I wanted to deliver value, which is something nice to reflect on, didn't quite make the football player that.
Speaker 2:Well, if it makes you feel better, I would tell you that, with Paul Agotham and myself, when you said football, all three of us knew you meant soccer. So you answer that question, you know, has there been a failure in your life that you've learned from? Or I'll give you an alternate question. Is there a point in your journey where you hit a crossroads and said you know, I want to go in a little bit of a different direction?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm glad you asked that question and you haven't eased me in. You know you've gone straight over with the hard ones. There's been, you know, countless challenges across um, across my career. You know, I think back to even starting too good to go. I mentioned how I never thought of myself as a entrepreneur. I probably would have viewed myself more as some sort of change agent.
Speaker 3:But there was this decision between, you know, myself and my co-founders we started too Good To Go initially as sort of a passion project, and there was this decision that I had to make Did I want to go all in into starting a business that I knew could have and should have huge amounts of scale and potential, or would I carry on doing and following that dream that I had as a 10-year-old and pursuing that career in law? And I'm typically quite a risk-averse person and everything was telling me I should stick with law. These are where my passions lie, et cetera, et cetera. And so this was like a big crossroads, a big junction, and for me, the lesson that I learned here was, you know, it was very much about like trying to follow your passions, and those passions that you can have in life can change, they can evolve.
Speaker 3:But there was always this one constant with me, which is I wanted to follow somewhere where I could have the most amount of impact and starting your own business. When you have this vision for where it can go and that capacity to scale and inspire people and inspire businesses and really sort of change, um, change people's habits and perceptions on something. That was what I well, what I decided to do, and it was so important for me to be able to follow that, that passion, and see it through. And one thing I always sort of reflect upon is how, by following my passion, I've been able to grow further resilience, because by doing something that I'm passionate about, by doing something that I care about, when you hit these inevitable challenges which you're referring to, it's easier to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and keep going, because you're intrinsically motivated by what it is that you do.
Speaker 4:The need for intrinsic motivation is critical when it comes to startups. You talked about Too Good To Go being a passion project. Now I am a consumer of Too Good To Go. I've used it for about two years now For our audience. Can you just talk about what Too Good To Go is, how it evolved as a concept and what inspired you to take on the big challenge of tackling food waste?
Speaker 3:So for those that aren't aware, and I'll do a subtle plug for you to download it but Too Good To Go is a social impact company. We exist essentially to dream of a planet of no food waste, where we connect businesses with technology to create further impact. Now we have several different products, but when we first started, and at the heart of our business, is our marketplace, and this is the Too Good To Go app, which connects individuals with businesses who have surface food for sale. And we've now grown this marketplace to 19 markets across three continents, where we have over 100 million users of our app, over 160,000 participating food businesses who, collectively, this community has rescued over 370 million meals from going to waste. And then, since then, in the last few years, we've introduced further product to help us address food waste the whole way across the food value chain.
Speaker 3:So this includes our 2G2Go platform, whereby we use an AI-powered modular solution to help retailers with their reduce-to-clear process, enabling them to save even more food from going to waste. Then to save even more food from going to waste. And then the too good to go parcels business, which is where we work with manufacturers so businesses further down the supply chain to redistribute and give a a route to market for products in their facilities which would otherwise have gone to waste. So this is a direct to consumer offering where, too good to go, surprise parcels are delivered to our partners, so that is.
Speaker 4:Can I ask you a second, jamie? Is that latter something that's available in the 19 countries, or is that something you just rolled out? I had not heard of? That ends the question.
Speaker 3:The parcels business is currently available in different markets across Europe. We've launched it in Germany and Austria most recently, and we'll be looking at different markets across Europe, such as the UK, to launch this as well, but it's not quite yet available in North America.
Speaker 4:Now you said 19 countries and, if I remember correctly, you've also hit 100 million consumers or registered users. Talk us through the journey. How do you get that? You know, get that customer one. And how do you get adoption amongst both the retailers and you're a two-sided market. You need to have consumers on the platform and you need to have retailers if you will selling their products. How do you achieve that? It's really a daunting task.
Speaker 3:Yes, we certainly set ourselves some high standards, and when we look back and we cast our mind back to 2015 to 2016, when this was still just a novel idea, I often look back and we were typically viewed as disruptors within this space, were and we still are innovators, and so this was, you know, this was, um, you know, difficult to be able to to get that traction within businesses, but also get that traction amongst consumers, because we, as a business, we were yeah, we were um a pretty lean startup. Yeah, we didn't have huge amounts of of to begin with. We were self-funded by myself and by my co-founders. We had some grant funding, but it meant that we had to be resourceful, and so, by being resourceful, this was where we had to wear multiple hats across the business, and that meant waking up in the morning and going out and speaking to businesses. Going out and speaking to businesses pitching an idea where we didn't really have a product yet ready for them, we hadn't sort of finished developing our app itself.
Speaker 3:But then it also meant that during that day, you know, we were having to, you know, engage with customers and get feedback on the product itself, and I think this goes back, then, to one of those themes I sort of spoke about earlier, which is about being passionate and that because we were such a passionate bunch around where we knew we could take two to go, where this idea essentially, where we were trying to bring this to this level of passionate enthusiasm was infectious, and so we were able to bring businesses on this journey with us. And then, once it came to launching the app, again it was being created, being resourceful. I can remember walking the streets of London and other cities across the UK, talking to whoever I sat beside on a bus, on a train, encouraging them to download the Tugetogo app and leaving a flyer or something like that with them. So it was very much in those early days about being resourceful and about ensuring that that passion came across, so that people wanted to find out more and people wanted to come on that journey with us.
Speaker 4:So I'm going to double click on two points that you just said. First, you said resourceful. You talked about leaving flyers and talking to consumers. So if you think about the evolution of a startup when budgets are constrained, did you use a lot of marketing it sounds like more of the PR approach to build and did you use social media to kind of get yourself into the eyes of the public?
Speaker 3:PR became a fantastic tool for us to utilize. In the early days, as I mentioned, you know, we were often viewed as disruptors. We are innovators. We were creating a solution to a problem of food waste which, you know, back in 2015, back in 2016, wasn't necessarily part of everyday public discourse, it wasn't something on top of people's minds, and what we were able to do is to utilize PR as a tool to get this organic coverage.
Speaker 3:We were wearing these multiple hats. As I say, we were writing our own press releases and sending these out, and I can recall one press release that we must have sent out at sort of the start of 2016. And we ended up getting in touch with a journalist who wanted to test, to go out. They wanted us to cover their train fare, which, begrudgingly, we agreed to do so, but they wrote an article which ended up being shared thousands of times across social media and, as a result of this, you know, we had, you know, different journalists reaching out to us and, as a result, you know our marketplace.
Speaker 3:You know it grew in supply, but it also grew in demand as well, so we had lots of businesses who were learning about us, which, you know, we couldn't have reached at that scale had it not been for the PR. And similarly, we reached consumers across sort of different markets and vast geographies, which we wouldn't have been able to do given our budget constraints, but it wasn't all smooth sailing for sure. If I look back to those early days, we had this influx of demand on our marketplace, but, like many marketplaces, we were supply constrained and so we perhaps didn't have food businesses, retailers and so on and so forth in areas where people were downloading our app and wanting to use the marketplace. So there was this challenge, which was really leaning into the available PR but at the same time, trying to be focused on where this PR was being rolled out, given that we didn't have an infinite amount of supply on the app itself.
Speaker 4:Now talking about that. I didn't realize you were in business from 2016. So it's almost a decade that you've been around. So congratulations. I mean that's amazing. And 19 countries now. What have you seen from both the consumer side and the retailer side, on the desire for sustainability right and the heterogeneity that comes across different countries? 19 countries, three continents I heard you say what's that been like and I feel sustainability ebbs and flows. It might be a primary focus sometimes, maybe not so much later on. How have you seen it both from a consumer side and a retailer side?
Speaker 3:yeah, really good question.
Speaker 3:The short answer is, and pardon the pun, the appetite for fighting food waste has dramatically increased over the past 10 years and there's, you know, of course, a whole host of like contributing to this, whether it be the very notion that we're experiencing climate change right now.
Speaker 3:It's no longer an existential threat, but something that we see and are experiencing every day, be it in parts of the US where we're having bins and road signs melting before our very eyes, through to the increase of extreme weather patterns leading to floods and forest fires, and so on and so forth.
Speaker 3:So there is this heightened awareness that we are experiencing these events, and I also think there is a much greater desire from businesses to play an active role in being part of the solutions for this. And certainly what we see with many businesses is this increased appetite to work with solution providers like ourselves, because we are able to help them create a tangible impact but, at the same time, do so in a way which makes commercial sense for them. So to go back and talk about Too Good To Go when businesses used Too Good To Go, they were able to recover some cost on food that would otherwise have been wasted. So not only does it make environmental sense, it makes commercial sense for these businesses too sustainable business practices from this awareness that doing something that is sustainable isn't a cost sink, but it can be something which benefits society, which benefits your consumers, but also benefits your bottom line as a business too.
Speaker 4:So what you said right now triggered a question for me, which is that there are multiple ways to reduce food waste, right? So companies donate food, and then there's the option of commercialization so that it doesn't go to waste. In the US at least, we have, I think, about 35 million-odd people who are food insecure. Who is the audience? Who do you expect to get these surprise packages, which can be big, large? Are they the people who are food insecure or are they existing customers? Does it matter to you?
Speaker 3:One of the beautiful things I think about Too Good To Go is the means to get access to food at a convenient time for them as they're leaving the office, or whether it's a family who is using Too Good To Go because it allows them to do something which is positive for the environment, but at a price point which is more accessible to them. Or perhaps it's being used by pensioners, who again are using Too Good To Go because it is a way for them to feel more connected to businesses within their local area whilst at the same time saving some money. So I think the really beautiful thing about Too Good To Go is this vast demographic, that we're able to increase access to food but, importantly, allow people to do something which they can feel good about and also save some money at the same time, which, in a competitive living crisis becomes and the climate crisis becomes a very like pertinent issue.
Speaker 4:I love that answer. I asked this question for the reason that, as I was hearing you speak, I was wondering right like so the smaller retailers? The commercialization aspect is critically important. For them, you get new customers into the doorstep. For the larger retailers, I think it might be more the PR that comes from. It might be more beneficial, and hence part of the reason why I questioned you who is your retail customers of the smaller guys? Do you have some big retailers on board, particularly in the US or the smaller guys.
Speaker 3:Do you have some big retailers on board, particularly in the US? Well, we've actually recently started rolling out with Whole Foods across the US, which has been a fantastic partnership to date and where again, we have like real tangible impact in the amount of food that we are saving together. Outside of the US, we work with retailers like um, like aldi, um and car four, uh, other british retailers like um, morrisons as well. So it really is a a breadth of businesses from, or retailers from, hypermarket through to high-end organizations like whole foods, as well as within the the convenience sector, so the likes of the 7-Elevens and businesses like this. So it really is the breadth of the retail spectrum and this lends itself to the flexibility and adaptability of 2-2-Go depending on the retailer's store operation.
Speaker 4:Congratulations on the Whole Foods. That's awesome.
Speaker 3:They haven't made it to Orlando, I guess yes we're still in the rollout process, but as soon as it gets to Orlando, I encourage you to rescue the surprise bags from Whole.
Speaker 2:Foods. Well, they have made it to Virginia Beach and actually I had discovered Too Good to Go through social media. I tried it a few weeks ago and was rather pleased. So it's amazing how it comes together Without putting you on the spot with comparing the global consumer versus the US consumer. Have you found the US consumer in a different place, and what do you think that US businesses and consumers can learn from what is going on globally?
Speaker 3:First and foremost, when we look at the US, it is materially different to any of the other markets in which we're currently operating because of the sheer size and scale, so the potential to have impact in the US is astronomical.
Speaker 3:When we look at the levels of food waste happening within the retail sector in the US, in contrast to Europe, for example, there is far more food being wasted in US food service and hospitality as well as retail, and so the capacity for us to have an impact is absolutely huge.
Speaker 3:When we look at it from a consumer adoption piece, there are some clear parallels and common red threads. When we look at consumers in all our other markets, it is this notion of being able to do something which is not only positive for your wallet, but this feeling of doing something good for the environment and good for society as well. And this has been the great thing which we've been able to tap into into consumer and business mindsets, which is this notion of what we call the triple win, and it's a triple win whereby consumers are able to discover new foods, discover new flavors at price points which are more affordable for them. It's an opportunity for businesses to attract new customers, reduce their waste disposal costs and recover some costs on food waste, attracting new customers all the same time, or, ultimately, doing something which is positive for the environment as well and this has been super important for us as we've entered the US, but also in any market in which we enter is communicating this triple win.
Speaker 2:It's interesting you say that because it does create value for the retailer and for the consumer. It's really a frictionless value proposition because the notion that I can pay $7 to get $18 worth of value from, in this case, whole Foods, while doing something good and maybe trying something at Whole Foods that I wouldn't have otherwise tried, is a win-win-win. Do you see this having and I don't want you to give away any trade secrets so we can take this out, but do you see this having an application as you shop in more traditional retail, of being able to create this triple concept of a, of a triple win into other sectors?
Speaker 3:into other industries, which is essentially saying that you know we can do things which are positive for the environment and a way that everybody can win. You know there shouldn't be, or there doesn't need to be, losers in this um, in this scenario, but we can all do things which have a good commercial return whilst at the same time delivering environmental and social impact too.
Speaker 4:Jamie, I've been hearing you speak and it's been a fascinating conversation. I've been trying to think about what's next. You started as a marketplace to deal with surplus. Now you've gone into parcels, which implies you are building out supply chain networks. I'm curious what's next? Are you going to be a retailer? I mean you've built the supply chain network. You have a hundred million registered users, you can be the largest retailer in some ways and you can deal with impossible foods of some sort, right dealing with waste and going direct to consumer from the source. Is that the future that you think for too good to go?
Speaker 3:you're being very kind to us with um, with your visions of the impact we can create, but for us, where we're laser focused on is creating impact around food waste, and so this is having a holistic view across our food value chain and seeing where we can start delivering impact, and we'll always explore whether this can be done through product innovations. So you're right, we started in a marketplace. The marketplace itself looked on um on how we could engage with with food service, hospitality and retail. We now have our to do to go platform, which looks at those, those two um two segments as well, and now we have the the parcels business, which is looking at manufacturing and processing. So for us, that, uh, that vision for us is very much looking at how we can start extracting further value through product innovations across that food value chain to ensure that no good food has to go to waste.
Speaker 2:So, both as a startup entrepreneur and as a consumer and as a human, where do you see consumer behavior evolving over the next decade or two?
Speaker 3:It really is quite a fascinating question that, because we have seen a huge rise in more consumer conscious brands.
Speaker 3:If we take food waste itself as an example within this, back in 2015, 2016, when we were starting up, there was nowhere near as much innovation within this food waste space as there is now.
Speaker 3:Whereas I can go to a local supermarket here in the UK and I can buy beers which are made from surplus bread, I can buy condiments which are made from surplus vegetables, there are marketplaces like 2G2Go, which exists, there's progressive legislation which is happening to ensure food waste is reported and reduced at a country level.
Speaker 3:Yet, at the same time, we're seeing growth of other marketplaces which I mean for lack of a better way to describe them are not sustainable. They're getting built on convenience, it's built on cheap labor, it's built on cheap products which aren't typically good for the environment nor sustainable in the way in terms of the air miles that they are traveling. So we see these two sort of conflicts, but what I do hope is going to happen is more sustainable practices are going to prevail. I hope, through further regulation, I hope through the introduction of new policies, that we will see businesses which are operating through a ESG lens will prevail, because what we must have is business being used as this force for good, particularly when we look at how consumerism is growing and developing over the next years to come.
Speaker 3:I am hopeful that you are correct, but I would certainly be one of these people who is eternally optimistic. I think far too often we can look at what's happening through the doom and gloom. If we look at the climate crisis itself right now, it's so easy for us to be overwhelmed and riddled with climate anxiety. I think it is important for us to champion some of those success stories and even if progress may not be happening at the rate in which we want it to, at least we're hopefully moving in the right direction.
Speaker 2:If Paula was on right now, she'd be making fun of me, because I would say that's something I'm going to write down and take back to my team. You probably said that to me on just the right day. Where progress isn't happening as fast as you want, at least progress is being made and you have to recognize it, which is one of the reasons that we do like having these conversations, especially with students, but also those who are within the industry. I want to pivot now to advice, and this is not just for college students, budding entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, it can be for anybody. What is the best piece of advice that you've ever received that has added value? Or you can answer it a different way what's the best piece of advice that you were given that you decided to ignore?
Speaker 3:The best advice that I think I received as an entrepreneur was around staying focused.
Speaker 3:I think this applies not just to entrepreneurship, but it applies to so many different walks of life, particularly in professional environments, and it was to stay laser focused on what it is that your vision was and what it is that you're trying to deliver.
Speaker 3:Because what I found is it's so easy to get distracted by the next new shiny thing and, you know, if we look at it from a too good to go point of view, what was so important for us in those early days was to stay super focused on, you know, growing the supply and growing the consumer base within our marketplace. Yet there were always other like new opportunities which would arise and you would tell yourself, there were ways in which we can deliver impact. I mentioned how we benefited a huge amount from PR at Two Year To Go. In those early days, there were opportunities. I had to do interviews with journalists in markets that we had no connection to whatsoever, but it became something interesting, it became something different, and that in itself became a bit of a distraction, and so, for me, what became incredibly important was, after experiencing this, to stay super focused on what the task at hand was rather than trying to get deviated or sidetracked by those next new exciting projects.
Speaker 2:So I have another follow-up to that. Is there a particular mentor that comes to mind that has left a lasting impact on you?
Speaker 3:I mean, I've been hugely fortunate to engage with a huge array of different mentors. One mentor of mine is a friend. Actually he was a friend I met, but he's been a very successful entrepreneur in his own right as well, is a gentleman called Brendan Ward. Right as well is a, a gentleman called brendan ward, and he has always been a? Um, a strong advocate of what I've um, what I've been set out to do, but also being able to challenge at those right times as well, and I think that is what's, you know, super important with a, with a mentor. It's someone that you can trust and, as a result, you know they, they can challenge you and you can have that, that healthy conflict, jeremy I.
Speaker 4:I loved your when you chose to focus on greater focus as the attribute. It resonated a lot with me. I often say that you need to have a greater focus, a sharp focus on the end goal, the consumers, the partners, the value that you add, but should show flexibility on how you get there. I think there are two traits that are critical for a successful entrepreneur. Let's just talk a little bit more about what makes a successful entrepreneur. What's the undervalued trait? I heard you say resilience before. What is the undervalued trait? I heard you say resilience before. What is the undervalued trait that, in your opinion, is critical today to stand out as an entrepreneur, as an individual in general?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yes, I mean, there's a huge array of characteristics, not all which I see in myself, but I see in some of my co-founders. And yes, building a business around. I think that is integral to be passionate, because that is where that intrinsic desire, that care, comes from and, ultimately, people invest in people. It's a huge tool to be able to bring people on that journey with you. If you're able to convey that passion, if you're able to convey that vision, that why and with that passion, as I say, like grows, resilience and starting a business, starting any type of venture, there are going to be huge amounts of ups and, sadly, quite a few downs as well, and so it really is important to celebrate those milestones.
Speaker 3:But by being passionate about that cause that why that vision I find it is so much easier to pull yourself out of bed when the going is getting tough because you genuinely care about this, this, this greater purpose. In addition to that, there is this, um, this, I'm not sure the entire way to describe it, but it's about not being a perfectionist, about being able to operate at speed, and I've spoken to countless of entrepreneurs who have tried to make their MVP the most perfect thing that they can. But what is so important is about just getting your skin in the game, getting that immediate feedback from your clients, from your partners, from your customers, because being a perfectionist is slowing you down. So I think there is this sweet spot, this nexus between being a perfectionist and wanting to operate at speed, and if you can find that sweet spot in the middle, you can really start executing your solution at scale.
Speaker 4:What's the saying? Don't be the perfect the enemy of good, or something to that effect. Right, jamie, off script again, but what you said triggered something right? So passion drives the will to overcome difficult times and it's critical for an entrepreneur, but it's also sometimes can be a hurdle when it comes to knowing when to packet it right, like when to actually call it a day, and sometimes you invest a lot more. I'm curious what is your perspective? I'm a researcher who tries to study these human aspects of things. So what's the line? Where do you how any guidance on when you tell an A? You know Now's the time to stop this project. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Speaker 3:Well, when I talk about being passionate, I'm talking about being passionate for your cause, for your just cause, for your vision, vision for what that? Why is so? It's not necessary being passionate about a certain product or commodity, but it is. It's being passionate about what that that just causes, and so, for me, that would be passionate about delivering impact through fighting food waste for others, that that that might be something else, and so I don't think there is a line when it comes to that. If you're passionate about it and you have this greater cause, then you will intuitively try and find solutions in which to address it.
Speaker 4:That's fair. Very good point, very astute point. All right, so now we come to the fun part of things, the rapid fire section. No, you're not allowed to think on the song, you just go there and so what comes off your the cuff and I'll start things off. I'm a big foodie, so I'm going to start off by asking you the food question no pun intended there either. Which is, what is your favorite comfort food? Don't say fish and chips. It is my mom's favorite comfort food Pizza, right.
Speaker 3:No, it would have to be margarita pizza Simple but delicious.
Speaker 2:Okay, I have to ask this Is there one place that, actually, I'm going to go for two? Is there a margarita pizza in particular, anywhere in the world, any specific restaurant that you would absolutely crave at any given moment?
Speaker 3:I've had the fortune of going to some amazing places. I've traveled around italy and even around sicily, so there was a specific pizza I enjoyed in palermo and sicily once, so I'm gonna have to go with whatever random uh street, uh street. This was, but it was fantastic.
Speaker 2:Perfect, all right, I'll ask the official second follow-up and then let Gautam take it home. If you could transport yourself anywhere in the world instantaneously you can go for 24 hours instantaneously back where would you go?
Speaker 3:It would be somewhere warm, it would be somewhere in nature and it would be somewhere by the sea. But I think, more importantly than where, it is with who. And for me it would be transporting myself with friends, with family, because for me it is that social connection and those um those relationships which are the most important to me so, as is my style, I'm going to go off of script, jamie, and I'm going to ask you the last question, which is too good to go.
Speaker 4:You get surprise packages. What is a surprise package that you have seen out there that was really unique, and I can tell you I've seen a few really interesting options out there. On the tiktok world yes, well, it's favorite in the sense of unique, right like something that you would not have thought would be in a surprise bag.
Speaker 3:Well, one of my favorite and most unique surprise bags was one of the first ones I ever rescued, so it was from a cafe here in London, in central London, and for me they just embodied everything which Too Good To Go is supposed to be about, which is about being creative. It's about reducing food waste, and this Too Good To Go surprise bag I got. It had a bit of lentil salad in it, it had a croissant, it had a slice of tortilla, it had a focaccia roll with I think it was goat cheese and something in it, but it was a whole melee of different foods. I think there was some tomato salad in there as well, but it had just been the lunch rush.
Speaker 3:The croissants would be going stale, so they couldn't use them the next day. There wasn't enough of the lentil salad or the tomato salad to make up a whole portion, but it was perfect for what to to go. Does so enable them to have empty plates and, luckily for me, I love all of those foods. So it was, uh, it was fantastic, but it yeah, it was unique in the sense that it was this eclectic mix of different food types, but it really was about utilizing everything which was left, so that no good food would go to waste.
Speaker 2:All right. So I'm going to say thank you, but I am going to throw in one last one. If we would have asked you what your walk-on song is, would you have had a song or an artist?
Speaker 3:My walk-on song would have to be Oasis. I mean, ever since the reunion tour has been announced, I could not stop listening to them. I grew up with Oasis and I'm a huge, huge fan.
Speaker 2:I missed my chance to see Liam in Madrid, unfortunately, when he was opening for the Foo Fighters and they had to cancel. Jamie, this was absolutely fantastic. I appreciate you joining us and making the time. I cannot wait to have this edited and get this both to our students and to our general audience, and, on behalf of all of us, we're wishing you the greatest success with Too Good to Go, because it really is a fantastic business model and I'm looking forward to seeing it continue to grow and have an impact.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much for having me Been a pleasure speaking.
Speaker 2:All right, gautam, so I don't think we have that much time to banter today. I don't know how we're going to cut any of that conversation out. It was fascinating. If you have a takeaway or two, what would they be?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think the conversation holds for itself. I have two takeaways. One was the role of PR in getting a company to grow, and it's often unspoken, and so, from a substantive perspective, that's probably my takeaway. And from a more intangible perspective, the biggest takeaway for me was how Jamie talked about championing success, celebrating wins. We often forget to do that in the hubbub of life. We are the focus on the next bigger win, and so there were good takeaways for me to mull over to mull it over.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think for me, I agree with those and I think for me, it really is the focus on the circular economy and whether we're talking about recycled or reclaimed, or reconsidered is a term I've heard as of late it's obvious that, with them launching overseas and the success that they've had in 17 countries I think you mentioned, and obviously just getting it started in the US, but it not being as big here. We've had other guests that have talked about how overseas there's a higher adoption rate and consideration rate and when that'll take place here. So fascinating conversation, when that'll take place here, so fascinating conversation, and I'm really interested to see how this continues to progress over the next several years.
Speaker 4:Yeah, me too, and selfishly. I'm also interested in seeing when the Too Good To Go and Amazon Whole Foods partnership comes to Orlando so that I can start using them.
Speaker 2:I've used it, I've enjoyed it and I do agree with uh. I think he said in there it was a win, win, win. It's not often that in this business you can find a win, win, win, but when you uh, when you can, that's a win. So, all right, Gotham, great to see you. And uh, paula, I know you're going to enjoy listening to this. And for everybody else, thank you for staying tuned to Retail Relates. We appreciate you and look forward to having you join us next time.
