STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — With grocery bills climbing and dining tabs creeping higher, Staten Islanders who love restaurants are finding new ways to stretch their dining dollars—sometimes by tapping into meals that might otherwise go to waste.
Among the tools gaining traction is the Too Good To Go app, a global platform launched in 2016 that connects customers with restaurants and delis selling surplus food at steep discounts. Founded in Copenhagen in 2015, the service has spent roughly the past decade growing into a wide-reaching network aimed at cutting food waste while helping diners save money.
On Staten Island, that translates to “surprise bags” filled with unsold items offered at reduced prices. The concept works like this: Businesses package what hasn’t sold at the end of the day, and customers purchase it at a fraction of the cost. A limited number of bags are released through the app, often selling out quickly—sometimes claimed by the same regular users…