Impact in Numbers
- 100,000+ tons of excess food saved
- Prevented economic loss of 2.2 billion rupiah from potentially wasted food
- 3,500 tons of CO2 emissions prevented from being emitted from food waste if it ends up in landfill
- 10% of Surplus users have brought their own containers when picking up orders to get additional discounts
Key Insights
- Be part of the solution, not the problem: Despite the daunting challenge of 23-48 million tonnes of food waste in Indonesia, Surplus believes every contribution, no matter how small, makes a difference.
- The importance of education and awareness: Surplus continuously advocates against food loss and waste through their communities and social media, addressing common misconceptions to help tackle the food waste crisis.
- The importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration: Tackling a problem as significant as food waste requires collaboration. How can the government create regulations that protect and incentivize solutions to this issue?
- Stay committed to the mission: As an entrepreneur, be prepared to commit to your mission to achieve significant growth. Maintain a clear mission and vision to navigate challenges.
- The importance of data: By collecting and analyzing data, Surplus gains a deep understanding of their main merchants and customers and their distribution. This data-driven approach has been key to their 200% growth and guides their expansion plans.
Berdaya Talk is our initiative where we explore the stories of changemakers and the initiatives they have developed to support sustainable development in Indonesia. This time, we are joined by Donny Riantori (Mas Donny), CTO at Surplus Indonesia.
Hi Mas Doni! What is Surplus and what problems are you trying to solve through Surplus?
Surplus is a climate-tech startup focused on food rescue and addressing the issues of food waste and loss prevention. We achieve this through a mobile application-based platform that channels surplus food from MSMEs, hotels, restaurants, and cake shops to consumers. We then sell this surplus food at a 50% discount.
Let's dive into the problem of food loss and food waste in Indonesia - at what stage does this food loss and waste occur?
Ironically, if this amount of food waste were distributed to those in need, it could feed 125 million people.
Apart from economic losses, what are the implications of food waste for Indonesia?
In fact, food waste and loss also have a significant environmental impact.
For example, the greenhouse gas emissions produced from food waste annually in Indonesia amount to approximately 1702.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to 7.29% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
Therefore, the impact of food waste and loss extends beyond economic losses and includes environmental hazards as well.
Was the experience and observation of this problem what inspired you to co-found Surplus?
Surplus was founded out of our concern as co-founders when we observed the significant amount of food wasted daily from hotels, weddings, events, and bakery shops. We realized that much of this food was still fit for consumption.
The initial idea came from Mas Agung, our co-founder and CEO, who has a background in environmental issues. Surplus is our way of contributing to solving this problem.
Let's talk about Surplus. What is the role of technology in the Surplus solution? How does this application help reduce problems related to food loss and waste?
Technology merely serves as a tool to simplify processes— for instance, at Surplus, technology allows us to reach a broader audience. Through our application, users not only learn about the issues at hand but can also take immediate action.
When users receive information about food waste and start questioning, “What can I do about it?” Surplus provides them with a solution to act.
What are examples of misconceptions that people still often have regarding the issue of food loss and food waste in Indonesia?
Education about food waste and loss is still lacking among the Indonesian population, although it has improved since we started. For instance, people are becoming more aware of the difference between food waste and loss – food waste refers to discarded food that has been processed, while loss refers to raw materials that have not been processed (such as harvest losses).
Moreover, many people are still confused about the concept of overstock food. It is important to emphasize that at Surplus, we sell overstock food – food that has not been touched but remains unsold or unconsumed. We do not sell leftover food from people’s plates. Educating the public on this distinction remains one of our ongoing challenges.
Who are the participants in the Surplus ecosystem?
There are merchants across different categories in the Surplus application – we have restaurants, hotels, bakeries and even non-food categories, for example cosmetics. Currently, we have collaborated with 4000+ merchants in the Surplus ecosystem.
At this time, onboarding the 4001st merchant must not be difficult, but what about at the beginning? What were the challenges and strategies for onboarding merchants in the early days of Surplus?
Initially, onboarding was quite challenging because we had to educate MSMEs about the benefits of reducing food waste. Many of them were primarily focused on business survival and sustainability, making it difficult for them to see the potential profitability of joining the Surplus ecosystem.
However, an effective strategy we found was demonstrating how participating in Surplus could generate additional income from unsold food stock. For example, a bakery with 12 loaves of bread daily but only selling 5 would typically discard the remaining 7, losing the cost of those goods. Through Surplus, they can transform this unsold food into revenue instead of wasting it. Our message is clear: we can turn your waste into money.
That's from the merchant side, what about the customer side?
On the buyer side, we continue to invest in educating users about how the Surplus application works and addressing common concerns such as, “Is the food still good? Is the food still safe to eat?”
We conduct ongoing educational campaigns through our online community channels, like Instagram and TikTok. We explain that at Surplus, we have processes in place to minimize the risk of unwanted products.
Although the responsibility for quality control rests with the seller, we ensure business practices are in place to reduce the chances of damaged food reaching consumers.
For instance, we curate our merchants, and those who join the Surplus ecosystem must agree to and sign an agreement outlining their responsibilities.
We also perform random checks; if we find an inappropriate product, we take immediate action. Have we ever encountered unsuitable food? Yes, but 96-97% of the food sent is in good condition.
In the rare instances of issues, we promptly address them by either replacing the product or refunding the money.
Efforts to resolve the food waste issue are not only carried out by the private sector, how is the development of the regulation side related to the food waste issue?
Discussing regulation involves government action, and throughout Surplus’s journey, we’ve have yet to see specific regulations addressing food waste and loss. However, the government has begun to take notice and is collaborating with NGOs and startups like Surplus to initiate discussions and build policies.
At Surplus, we are actively engaged in several initiatives with government bodies, such as the Ministry of Cooperatives, Bappenas, and the Food Security Agency.
For instance, we were invited by IPB to discuss draft policies related to food waste and loss. Some ideas from that session included issuing food safety certifications for overstock food, which would help reassure consumers about the safety of their purchases.
Additionally, discussions focused on facilitating activities to prevent food waste and loss, such as our use of delivery services like Grab and Gojek.
Our goal at Surplus is to see incentives developed to make solutions like ours more accessible and appealing to customers. For example, offering special prices for logistics services would help, as even though Surplus sells food at a 50% discount, high shipping costs can still deter customers.
In addition to the challenges related to the regulation, which is currently in process, what are the challenges for Surplus?
At Surplus, we are currently experiencing high demand from users that our merchant supply has struggled to match. We hope that government regulations can encourage more MSMEs to join and raise awareness about this issue.
For instance, Bali is one of the top five cities where Surplus is used the most, but many customers there have expressed frustration due to the limited number of merchants—”Why aren’t there more in this area?” Expanding our merchant base requires significant resources, both in terms of manpower and capital.
To address this, Surplus is seeking new investment to broaden our market reach. Despite having half a million active users with a high rate of returning visitors, the distribution of merchants remains uneven. In areas with no local merchants, the issue is not a lack of interest but rather the need for more effort to explain our initiative.
We leverage data to map both users and merchants in our ecosystem. Currently, 71.7% of transactions are in the bread and cake sector, followed by snacks (12.5%), heavy meals (8.8%), drinks (5.4%), and raw materials (1.6%). Among our merchants, 44.5% are MSMEs, with the rest being restaurants, hotels, and supermarkets. The highest concentrations of users are in DKI Jakarta, followed by West Java, Yogyakarta, Banten, and Bali (1.6%).
From the journey as an entrepreneur and CTO, what have you learned in the journey of building Surplus? What advice would you like to give to people who are on an entrepreneurship journey?
Every entrepreneur will face unique challenges based on their different experiences, conditions, and locations. However, some fundamental principles remain constant.
First, consistency is crucial. In business, you can’t solely focus on immediate profits; having a clear, guiding mission is essential for maintaining consistency and long-term success. At Surplus, our mission is to create a sustainable impact and eliminate food waste, which keeps us focused and committed.
Second, having a strong mission is vital. A clear mission helps navigate challenges and even when pivots are necessary, having a clear goal helps you navigate through a more desirable outcome. Without a strong mission, maintaining direction and adapting to changes can become difficult.
If people want to learn more about Surplus and support the organization, where can they find you?
Learn more about Surplus by clicking their social links below
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