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Too Good To Go, a mobile app dedicated to reducing food waste, has launched a modular end-to-end surplus food management solution, enabling grocery retailers – from hypermarkets to convenience stores – to unlock value from excess inventory. The artificial intelligence (AI) solution, which serves grocery retailers of all sizes in Europe and North America, monitors and supports the redistribution of surplus food. The company says it is the sole system of its kind, due to its integration with the "world's largest" consumer marketplace for surplus food, which has over 85 million registered users. Mette Lykke, CEO of Too Good To Go, said: "At Too Good To Go, we partner with some of the world's biggest names in grocery retail, such as Carrefour, Auchan, Spar, Aldi, Coop and many more". She continued: "Every day, we drive many thousands of users into retail stores, helping our partners generate revenue and footfall from surplus food. With the introduction of the Too Good To Go platform, we can now also support their in-store inventory management, helping them make a significant difference to both their bottom line and the reduction of food waste”. The platform incorporates five modules into one interface, providing partners with a customisable modular solution for shaping their surplus food management strategy. These modules encompass expiry date management, recommendations, intelligent discounting, marketplace and donations. Sophie Trueman, managing director for Too Good To Go UK, added: “Processes for expiry date checks and in-store discounting can be laborious, resource-intensive and error-prone; especially at scale. Too Good To Go Platform’s modular approach places in-store operations at the centre, enabling easy customisation and leveraging technology and AI to bring efficiency to daily routines." The platform's algorithms can produce and display a list of near-expiry products on handheld devices used by store staff. This list is organised based on shelf location and can be presented daily or weekly, depending on the product's shelf life. The system also provides recommendations on how to handle each product, using pre-established and customisable rules and preferences determined by the retailer. For instance, it might propose printing a discount sticker at an optimised rate for in-store sale, inclusion in a Surprise Bag for sale on the Too Good To Go marketplace or donation through the app. Rules and recommendations could easily be set at a headquarters or store level, either by category or SKU. Trueman explained: “The platform’s AI processes large sets of data to optimise discount levels and apply granular discount rates, at an SKU level, systematically improving revenue driven by close-to-expiry discounted products”. Store employees can efficiently assign surplus food items to the Too Good To Go Surprise Bags directly from their personal digital assistants (PDAs) and upload them to the marketplace, where local users are prepared to buy and collect. Additionally, store managers have the convenience of downloading readily analysable CSV files containing the list of donated products, or they can set up a connection via an application programming interface to integrate with their third-party donation application or enterprise resource planning system. Available globally, the Too Good To Go Platform supports plug-and-play implementation and also offers integration options, allowing retailers to seamlessly connect it to their systems. The Too Good To Go platform is compatible with multiple PDAs, including Zebra. Tim Stoddard, general manager and SVP EMEA of Zebra Technologies, commented: “Independent software vendor partners, like Too Good To Go, play an important role in how Zebra solves problems for retail and hospitality businesses. Together, we’re enabling customers to optimise their inventory, elevate the customer experience and fight food waste with hardware and software solutions that make a positive difference”. “Too Good To Go platform enables data-driven decision-making on food waste reduction. It is a win-win-win: for the planet, for people and for profit,” Lykke concluded.