• Every day, Toulouse's central kitchen produces 35,000 meals for school canteens.

    But ends up with a surplus.

  • As a priority, these remaining dishes are given to charities, but without everything being sold.

  • Since May 3, these dishes have been sold at low prices on the Too Good to Go application, and from Monday will be given to people in difficulty via the HopHopFood solidarity application.

That day, Simon was not sure what he was going to come across.

"But a sautéed veal and potatoes, it suits me very well, it will be our meal tonight", explains this Toulouse.

He came to pick up his basket between noon and 2 p.m. at the central kitchen of the Pink City after having reserved it in the morning on the Too Good to Go application.

Since May 3, the surplus produced by the central canteen can be purchased at low prices on the application which fights against food waste.

And that's what motivates Simon.

“I have been using the app for two years, I book wherever I go.

I am convinced that we must prevent this from going in the trash, ”explains this young father who had paid that day three euros for the equivalent of five dishes and who came for the third time.

Avoiding waste is also what motivates Sandra Estrade, the director of the Central Kitchen, who prepares 35,000 meals for Toulouse canteens every day.

Since the start of the school year, more than 15,000 kg of food has been wasted, or nearly 58,000 euros lost.

“We have more products every day, because of meal cancellations or currently class closures due to Covid-19.

As a priority, we give them to associations such as the Food Bank or the Restos du Cœur, but it happens that they cannot come and take them, but these dishes have an expiration date of the day ”, explains this manager.

HopHopFood from Monday

So to prevent tens of kilos of food from ending up in the dumpster, she had the idea to call on Too Good to Go. And since then, she has met families, students, but also low-income elderly people. came to get their basket of five dishes at 3 euros. “We have been working for some time with the actors of collective catering, but this is the first time with a central kitchen and we have developed it within the framework of the anti-waste cities program. Since May 3, 200 baskets have already been saved, that makes 600 meals, we realize that there is a real demand. People who use the application are attracted both for the low prices and because they have a culture of fighting food waste, ”says Camille Colbus, deputy director of Too Good to Go, which has 67 people.000 users in the Pink City, who, since its launch, have been able to save 410,000 baskets.

And from this Monday, the central kitchen will further strengthen its system by partnering with HopHopFood, an application of an association, a chain of food solidarity between individuals.

“This time the food surpluses will be given free of charge to people in difficulty or students with small means.

Our goal is really to reduce waste, and even by reselling baskets, we are not in a business, the money collected is reinvested in local products ”, underlines Jean-Jacques Bolzan, the elected official in charge of the kitchen. central.

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  • Food

  • Waste

  • Food waste

  • Canteen

  • Toulouse

  • Society