‘Up for the challenge’: NZ firm Delivereasy launches food waste app ahead of global rival

Friday, 10 October 2025

Homegrown food delivery service Delivereasy is adding to its portfolio with a food-rescue app at the same time as an international rival, but its founder welcomes the global competition.

Gone Good goes live in Auckland on Friday and lets customers buy discounted “mystery bags” of unsold food from cafés, bakeries, and eateries, the same concept as Denmark-based Too Good To Go which is also launching in Auckland this month.

The Post spoke to the Danish firm last week about its plans.

Delivereasy and Gone Good founder Tim Robinson told The Post the business wasn’t fazed by the European competition. The food delivery business launched in 2016, before global giant Uber Eats started in Aotearoa the following year.

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“We compete with Uber every day in deliveries, and we’re up for this challenge too,” Robinson said. “The key for us is that Gone Good has that local flavour – it’s built around how Kiwis actually live, eat, and run their businesses.

“Competition’s not new to us, it’s good for customers and good for the market,” he said.

The bags were about a third of the retail price, the same margin as its competitor Too Good To Go, and there were three price options so far: $4.99, $7.49 and $9.99.

It would launch across more than 100 Auckland eateries, including Pastrami & Rye, Fankery Kitchen, Jesters Pies, &Sushi and Indian Bites. On top of that, up to 10 small-medium sized convenience stores and supermarkets had also signed up.

“What might’ve covered the cost of two pies could instead get you six pies – it’s an effective way of feeding more people for less,” Robinson said.

Gone Good would take a 20% commission on each transaction and “the rest goes straight to the venue”, Robinson told The Post.

He said the timing of the launch was purely coincidental as the team had modelled the service on other successful ventures like its Danish competitor to help local hospo venues during the economic crunch.

“Hospo’s having a tough time. We talk to 2500 restaurants and cafés across the country, and you hear it every day – food costs and food waste costs are a big pressure,” Robinson said. “We thought it made sense to use what we already have, our network of half a million customers and 25,000 venues, to help solve that.

“It made sense to use that base to build something that helps with food waste.”

He said Delivereasy had given the team a taste of how the local hospitality industry really worked.

“Customers are always hunting for the best deals, and small businesses are constantly juggling ways to reduce waste while staying profitable.”

He declined to disclose investment figures but said the project’s build cost was “sizable”.

Despite intense competition from global competitors like DoorDash and Uber Eats, Robinson said Delivereasy was profitable.

“We don’t have deep-pocketed global funding, that’s made us disciplined,” he said.

Even though the economy was tough for hospitality, which was seeing mass closures and liquidations, there were signs of improvement with cautious optimism about Wednesday’s official cash rate cut.

“Interest rates are finally coming down, which hopefully gives everyone some breathing room,” Robinson said. “Our job is to help restaurants bring more customers in and make sure good food doesn’t go to waste.”

Gone Good would expand to other parts of the country after the Auckland rollout was established.