How Finland’s ResQ App Turns Surplus Food into Smart Deals

Vol 27, Issue 25, 17^th April 2025

ResQ Club is a Finnish app that ends food wastage by connecting consumers and surplus meals available from restaurants, cafes, and supermarkets. Launching in 2015, the app allows customers to purchase leftover food at discounted prices, typically between 30% and 100% off. Using GPS technology, ResQ Club reveals nearby participating restaurants offering these bargains, where users can pay and order ahead for meals using the app prior to collecting. The initiative has gotten off well in Finland with over 200 restaurants participating countrywide, approximately half of them being based around the Helsinki area. The application is busiest after lunch, at around 3 to 4 pm when restaurants post their unsold food. Not only does it decrease wastage but also offers a new income stream for companies. For example, Hello Darling Eatery in Helsinki has managed to sell over half of its excess soup servings with ResQ Club.

Beyond restaurants, ResQ Club has taken its services to supermarkets. K-Market Lapuankatu in Helsinki is one such retailer that has had approximately 250 food bags sold per month, with approximately €1,500 in additional revenue. These “ResQ Food Bags” contain a variety of products nearing expiration and are priced lower, hence minimizing waste. ​The app’s impact also extends to the environmental sector. By saving food from being wasted, ResQ Club prevents CO₂ emissions caused by food wastage. The company conservatively estimates that it prevents 273 tonnes of CO₂ emissions each month from its operations. ​The popularity of ResQ Club in Finland has expanded its wings of operations to other nations like Sweden, Germany, and Poland. The company still seeks opportunities to launch its model in other markets in an effort to redistribute surplus food on a wider platform and reduce waste on a greater scale.

ResQ Club is a model of how technology could be applied to resolve environmental concerns and showing a real solution to food wastage with economic benefits for consumers and businesses alike.