As cost of living pressures take hold, one business is doing what it can to lend a helping hand while also reducing food waste destined for landfill.

Too Good To Go, an app that was launched in Denmark in 2016, went live in Sydney earlier this week. Businesses such as Bakers Delight and Harris Farm Markets are already on board.

Too Good To Go country director of Australia Joost Rietveld said the Australian launch had already exceeded their expectations.

“The receptiveness of stores about the concept of what it can do for them has been really positive,” he said to 7 News.

“That’s also a lot more than we expected, which is great because it means people want to do something.

“It means people have this topic in their mind, and that’s exactly the recipe we need.

“People want to engage, whether they’re owning a store or whether they are a consumer willing to pick up, and it’s an important enough topic to make that step and get that first surprise back. It’s very encouraging. We’re very excited about what’s going to come in the next couple of months.”

The Too Good To Go concept is simple. The app, which is free to download, allows businesses to set their own prices for the “surprise bags” of food that they may have left at the end of the day. The only rule is that each bag must be worth at least three times what the customer pays for it. The customers then go and pick up the bag from in-store.

Joost said there was certainty for customers in that although the price may vary from bag to bag, the value behind it remains the same. While for stores it provides an alternative for food destined for the rubbish bin.

“For the consumers, they have to actually make an effort… they have to get out of the house, go to the location, pick it up, and they don’t know what they’re getting,” he said.

“But in the end it helps them to actually contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle, which we know from research, a lot of our users – that’s actually the reason they want to do it.

“[For businesses] they have costs for buying or producing or cooking the food… and normally they would have just discarded it and said, ‘well too bad, you know, we’re not selling it today’. And instead they’re giving it to people who have paid for it.”

Too Good To Go is currently operational in 19 countries, and plans are in place to expand across Australia in 2025, with a focus on popular items like bakery and sushi.