Smallcakes Cupcakery, a local cupcake shop in Williamsburg, is keeping food out of the trash can by selling unsold sweets for a discount.
After two years in business, Dylan Smith wears a lot of hats.
He is the owner/operator of Smallcakes, head decorator and welcomer of new ideas.
“It's just a daily grind to make sure that we succeed and that we're branching out into new directions [and] trying new things,” he says.
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Smith is open to trying new things like recipes and the Too Good To Go app.
“We've gotten great feedback from it, and, you know, everybody seems to really enjoy the program,” Smith says.
Too Good To Go is a way for people to buy food not sold that day for a discount.
“It's kind of a bit of a mystery bag when you get it,” Smith says.
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At Smallcakes, for example, you can buy a small or large box.
“You can come over here, and we'll see on our iPad that somebody has ordered one of our Too Good To Go bags, and we'll go ahead and box it up,” says Smith.
It was me! I submitted an order through the app to see how the process works.
First, I had to select my store and reserve the bag I wanted. After that, I entered my payment information into the app and paid. I was given a promo code, which I showed to Smith. When he saw the code matched his records, I was approved to take the box home.
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On the day I was there, I got a large order with eight cupcakes. It cost me under $11 when a normal six-pack costs $25.50.
"Everything on the app is sold for around 1/3 off the retail cost,” says Sarah Soteroff, a spokesperson for Too Good To Go.
She says the goal is to cut down on food waste while businesses make a little extra money and customers save.
Soteroff tells me, “It really does reflect the unpredictability of food waste. So, when [businesses] have surplus food, [they] can sell it. When [they] don't have it, [they] don't need to.”
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Businesses can join for free anytime, and customers can log in in any city. To date, Soteroff says the app has launched in 27 states and 33 cities.
In the four years since it has been active, Too Good To Go has saved more than 17 million meals from waste, she adds.
The family-owned shop in Williamsburg is a piece of that puzzle to cut down on waste, especially heading into the holidays.
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"Our motto is, 'Maybe a cupcake will help.’ So, we hope this holiday season, we can help people with a delicious cupcake,” Smith says with a smile.
A reminder that it is first-come, first-served, so if you want your mystery bag, make sure you reserve it early in the day. Smallcakes has been doing pick up for the small/large boxes between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Locally, here are the current businesses that participate:
- Krispy Kreme (several locations across Hampton, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Newport News, and Portsmouth)
- Einstein Bros. Bagels in North Suffolk
- IKEA in Norfolk
- Whole Foods in Virginia Beach
- The Pink Box in North Suffolk
