New app fights food waste around L.A.

In mid-2021, Garwing Lai, a first-year master’s student studying entrepreneurship and innovation, was running in his hometown of Arcadia when he bumped into an old high school friend named Andrew Yeh. As they caught up, their conversation evolved into a brainstorm. They wanted to create a business with the potential to serve as many people as possible — eventually coming up with NextPlate. 

NextPlate, a start-up company which allows college students and others to buy surplus food at significant discounts from restaurants and bakeries around Los Angeles, aims to reduce food waste and inspire the public to take a stance against the issue. NextPlate also seeks to provide affordable meals for students, especially those struggling with food insecurity. The app, launched in April 2022, currently serves more than 1000 individuals and 20 restaurants in and around the USC area.

Both Yeh, who graduated from the University of Washington in 2015 with a degree in communication, and Lai were interested in starting a company with a social impact, drawn to tackling the problem of food waste. They noticed that the issue is widely prevalent, yet one that often goes unrecognized.  

“There’s a lot of things that you don’t really think about, like bakeries who have failed products,” Yeh said. “A lot of times they just throw it away. Restaurants who cook a lot of rice every day — at the end of the day, if the rice doesn’t get sold, it gets thrown away. But as consumers we don’t really think about that … So what we’re trying to do is make people more aware that there is a lot of this food waste out there and that there are solutions.”

84% of unsold food in American restaurants is thrown out, according to a 2014 study by Food Waste Reduction Alliance. American restaurants produce 25,000 to 75,000 pounds of food waste each year; globally, restaurants contribute 40% to the 1.3 billion tons of food waste annually.

When talking with their restaurant partners, NextPlate discovered some common reasons why food is thrown out, including the expiration of ingredients with short shelf-lives, mistakes while cooking or preparing orders, canceled deliveries and extras. Some of these items are then sold by restaurants at marked-down prices on NextPlate. 

In 2020, 29% of four-year college students surveyed by the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice reported experiencing low or very low levels of food security. 

“This is a really good platform to help students since a lot of these restaurants with surplus are willing to sell it for a very cheap [price], giving an additional option for students for affordable meals,” Lai said. 

On the app, users can scroll through deals posted by different restaurants, and “favorite” restaurants to receive notifications when new deals become available. After purchasing, they are able to pick up their meal at the store. 

Users can also find information about each restaurant on the app, including the number of meals that have been “rescued” by other consumers. Movita Juice Bar, which neighbors Fertitta Hall, has been partnered with NextPlate for 5 months and has saved more than 445 meals at the time of publication, according to the app. Subway near University Gateway has saved more than 105 meals in the 5 months it has been on NextPlate. 

One of the biggest challenges Lai and Yeh faced as they developed the business was managing the double-sided nature of the platform. 

“It’s kind of a chicken and the egg situation,” Lai said. “How do we get the students if there’s not enough restaurants or how do we get the restaurants if we don’t have any students? And so trying to match those up in the beginning was one of the toughest things.”

Especially as NextPlate grows, Lai and Yeh said maintaining balance continues to be a big consideration.  

Junior communication major Katherine Han, now part of the NextPlate team, originally learned about the platform through a friend. At the time, NextPlate was providing promo codes for one free meal, so Han decided to try the app out. Her first order was a rice bowl at Ramen Kenjo, which she had never tried before. 

“I was really pleasantly surprised,” Han said. “I was like, ‘this is kind of a cool concept because it made me try something new and it was actually really good.’”

Han continued using the app and eventually became a NextPlate ambassador. She said she appreciates how NextPlate helps students incorporate more sustainable practices into their lives while also lowering their dining costs. 

“We all want to help our environment, obviously with climate change and everything that has been going on with our world,” Han said. “I think any small way that we can try to help is great … It’s not like this is an unnecessary product. It’s not adding anything to your day. We all have to eat eventually.”

Jeffrey Lee, a junior majoring in communications, was also introduced to NextPlate by a friend, becoming an early adopter of the app and eventually part of the team. Growing up, the main source of Lee’s family’s income came from his dad’s Ph.D. stipend. They had to be conscious about their expenses, including food. In high school speech and debate, Lee centered his original advocacy speech on food waste, and as an Eagle Scout, organized a basic needs drive. 

“It’s always been an issue that’s been personal to me and been at the back of my mind,” Lee said. “So once I first learned about NextPlate, I kind of jumped on the opportunity to continue my work to try and fight food insecurity.”

Since the company’s launch, NextPlate has increased its partnerships with restaurants around L.A. and continues to promote the app through different strategies, including passing out donuts to students on campus and looking to partner with campus organizations such as the Food Recovery Network of USC and FoodEase USC to reach those in need. 

Going forward, NextPlate plans to add more restaurants to the platform. Getting businesses on board was initially difficult, but Lai and Yeh worked closely with their first restaurants to develop the business-facing side of the NextPlate platform. Currently, they are in discussion with USC Hospitality about possible partnerships with USC dining halls. 

“Our immediate goal is to really make this a very USC-centered app,” Lai said. “We want to showcase that this platform came out of USC … Whenever students miss a meal because they can’t afford it or are stressed out about going out to eat, or just need a quick bite — there’s options around campus to be able to purchase something at [a] discount.”