Surplus food marketplace Too Good To Go launching in Raleigh
Heads up: This isn’t too good to be true (!). Combating the ever-rising issue of food waste and cost of quality food is Too Good To Go, a surplus food marketplace launching in Raleigh and Durham June 5.
Operating on a win-win-win business model (“for people, profit and the planet”), the certified B Corp social impact company connects consumers with food from restaurants that would otherwise be thrown away, in turn helping businesses unlock revenue from their surplus. As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!
According to Too Good To Go Senior PR Manager Sarah Soteroff, upward of 40% of made food goes to waste in America, with the country’s annual food waste contributing to about 10% of carbon emissions. On top of the environmental impacts, it tightens costs for businesses and consumers, wasting about $2,000 a year per person.
The platform’s goal is to mitigate those detrimental-to-the-Earth issues—NTM selling food items at around a third of the retail cost. Since its founding in 2016, Too Good To Go has saved 300+ million meals from going to waste, and that footprint is expanding with its Raleigh/Durham launch.
Consumers receive that surplus in the form of surprise bags, which vary daily but can include dairy, baked goods, produce, prepared meals and packaged goods. “It’s harder for food-selling businesses in tight margins to make money,” says Soteroff, “so if there’s a way for them to regain some revenue by selling this discounted food, it’s a huge bonus. We get that food into the hands of people who want it without it going to waste.”
For her part, partnering with Too Good to Go was an easy choice for Little Barb’s owner Barb Nigro, who says the marketplace’s goals aligned with the bakery’s existing sustainable initiatives—think “low waste eats” bags and baking in small batches to reduce waste.
“We first focus on not having a ton of surplus for bags, but if we do, it’s great to have Too Good To Go’s help,” explains Nigro. Little Barb’s bags aren’t a constant, but they normally feature bready items like scones or cheddar bacon biscuits, and treats not up to the bakery’s normal standards, which again helps recover loss.
Tepuy Donuts owner Alejandro Contreras also says Too Good To Go has been helpful in reducing waste. “People have been very responsive to it, it’s been working,” he says. “It’s been a win-win for everyone.”
Elevating local spaces with sustainable wood creations
These days it seems like the impeccable craftsmanship of Raleigh Reclaimed can be spotted just about anywhere, from the sleek sycamore dining tables at Brewery Bhavana to the chic railway-inspired accents inside The Line Downtown Apartments (a custom oak flipboard cabinet to welcome residents? Genius).
The family-run furniture business has quite literally helped our city rediscover its roots by repurposing local trees into thoughtfully designed creations for a wide range of residential and commercial clients.
What started by reclaiming wood from old structures such as tobacco barns and textile mills has evolved over time to include reclaiming freshly sawn or fallen trees, especially as co-owners Billy Keck and Melody Ray learned more about what was happening to many of the large trees in our area.
“We incorporated this idea of urban salvage back in 2013,” explains the business-savvy Ray, whose background as a business litigation attorney perfectly complements Keck’s engineering experience and heart for craftsmanship. “We invested in a sawmill, as well as kilns, and began diverting trees that were otherwise going to end up in local landfills to our facility, where we would cut them and dry them and take them all the way to finished furniture.”
Today, urban salvage makes up the bulk of Raleigh Reclaimed’s projects and has cemented its reputation as a champion of local sustainable design. But beyond being environmentally friendly, urban salvage lumber also tells a story.
“I think, for us, it really is about helping folks have a tie to their sense of place or to the land,” says Ray. “We have clients who, on the residential side, will have an individual tree that came down in their yard that we’re putting back into their home.” She adds that their team “tracks every tree that comes in and follows it through its process with us,” noting doing so provides clients with a connection to a truly unique piece.
Although Raleigh Reclaimed celebrates the traditions and techniques of the past, the innovative business is very much focused on the future and showcasing the breadth of what can be made using urban salvage. “There’s so much need for it,” says Keck of their bespoke character-rich pieces. “To have a space like this where you have 50 employees building nothing but custom projects every single day… that didn’t really exist before us inside the city limits of Raleigh.”
With projects in the pipeline at North Hills, Raleigh Iron Works, Dix Park and more, it’s clear there’s no shortage of clients interested in collaborating with the design-forward duo and their team.
“Anytime you can partner with skilled, passionate, local craftspeople working with real materials, your project is better for it,” says Kane Realty Corporation Director of Design Josie Reeves, who has worked closely with Keck and Ray on several developments, including the aforementioned The Line in Smoky Hollow and One North Hills. “The contributions of Raleigh Reclaimed across our projects have added soul, story, texture and patina,” which is a critical layer in working in new construction especially, she adds.
“To me, it’s so rewarding and fun and challenging too because each one of our clients has their own vision and our job is to help them execute that,” adds Ray. “And to take this incredibly talented, curated team of people we have and help execute a client’s vision, and have that be unique every time and every space, is what’s so exciting for me.” raleighreclaimed.com
A collection of high-end, net-zero-energy homes has hit the market near the Village District, marking a first for our area and a win for the environment.
A few decades ago, using the term “green” when describing a home would have conjured an image of some crunchy, solar-powered cabin tucked away in the woods. Fast-forward to today and low-impact living has become the epitome of modern luxury, as evidenced by Tower Raleigh, the stunning new collection of sustainable homes situated ITB near Village District and Jaycee Park.
Tower designer Will Alphin, also the founder of sustainably minded local firm REdesign.build, was perfectly suited to tackle this project given his 20+ years of experience designing and building for clients and working in existing neighborhoods.
“The combination of wanting to do something to push the envelope on sustainability, having a comfort level with understanding what folks want in a home, and also having a reputation as a good design-build team—it felt like those three things we could pull together and do a for-sale project,” he shares. “So that’s where it all started.”
The high-performance community—a partnership between REdesign.build, Chappell [Powered by Compass] and Southern Energy Management—is comprised of four net-zero-energy homes; that is, they can generate as much renewable energy as they consume, if not more. And it stands out as one of the first single-family residential developments of its kind in the Triangle.
“We knew we were going to be doing something like had never been done before, so we built one house first to completion and took an opportunity to learn how we could do things better,” explains Alphin, who loved the concept so much he decided to purchase the home.
Construction is now underway for the other three Tower residences, with expected completion in spring 2024. As of press time, one has already been claimed and two remain on the market, with a starting price tag of $1.95 million.
Each 4,100-square-foot, three-story home boasts eco-friendly materials, triple-pane windows, rooftop solar panels, and tech-savvy features that prioritize energy efficiency and functionality—think a Tesla Powerwall, Loxone home automation system and more. “We have the technology to be comfortable and energy-efficient, so let’s do that,” says Alphin.
But style is certainly not compromised. The modern, dark wood-accented dwellings are thoughtfully curated to be open and free-flowing, with a floating stairwell, swoonworthy chef’s kitchen and light-flooded spaces that truly bring the outdoors in.
Although Tower only recently hit the market, the cutting-edge community has already generated buzz after being awarded the coveted George Matsumoto Prize in 2020 by NCModernist—a recognition that Alphin says is “very validating.” He acknowledges that a development like Tower is a risk, but one that he’s willing to take.
“We’re saying we believe in this; we’re going to put this out there,” the designer shares. “We believe there’s enough like-minded people out there at this time who will buy these homes.”
When asked which design element he’s the most proud of, Alphin pauses to think. “The homes are high-performance, so they’re trying to accomplish more than just being nice homes. They are trying to do a lot: being hyper-energy-efficient and sustainable while also being amazing and wonderful homes to live in,” he muses. “And I think they do that very elegantly. It all has a simplicity to it. I’m proud of the overall design, and I think everything works really well in concert.”
He adds: “It’s like when you get in a really nice car. You know it has all this technology, but you just feel comfortable and safe and it’s really fun to drive. I just get a great feeling living in the house.”towerraleigh.com
Prepare for an e-bike boom this fall as the city sets an incentive program in motion.
Raleigh really wants you to give battery-powered biking a go. This fall, the city will roll out a pilot program dubbed Ral-E-Bike that incentivizes the purchase of electric bicycles (aka e-bikes). The goal? To encourage more residents to adopt this innovative form of transportation in their day-to-day lives.
“There are some other cities that have already done this; I think the most prominent example is Denver,” City Council member Jonathan Melton says of the program, which is funded through a federal grant. “It’s something I’ve been wanting to replicate in Raleigh for a long time.”
It’s no secret electric rides—including e-bikes—have exploded in popularity recently, a trend that’s proving to be a game-changer for urban transit. The Department of Energy estimates e-bikes can replace most car trips, given that 75% of U.S. car trips are less than 10 miles.
“We know e-bikes are better for the environment,” explains Melton. “We know if we can give folks options it’s going to reduce traffic so the people who want to drive cars or need to drive cars have a more enjoyable experience… and it also increases equity and mobility for people who can’t afford a car or don’t want to have a car.”
Through the program, Raleighites 18 and older can apply for $500 vouchers to use toward e-bike purchases from participating retailers; those with lower incomes can qualify for $1,500 vouchers. The initial pilot will allow for 75 income-qualified vouchers and 75 standard vouchers to be made available, and recipients will be asked to participate in regular surveys about their e-bike use.
“I’m hoping this pilot is a great success [and] we can use some of the information we gather to implement a long-term permanent program,” Melton shares. “Overall, I just want to see a mode shift in Raleigh. I think we’re very car-dependent right now, [but] we have a lot of exciting stuff on the horizon.” E-bike to the future? Count us in. raleighnc.gov
Poised to grow some good is Produce Purpose, a new 501(c)(3) planting its roots in Raleigh. The sustainably focused org has entered into contract with William Peace University to carry out its mission of facing myriad social problems simultaneously—from special needs unemployment rates and climate change to arable farmland crises and campus nutrition issues.
“Produce Purpose provides desperately needed meaningful employment to people with special needs through on-campus hydroponic farming,” explains Executive Director Matthew Harvey. “In doing so, it promotes healthy nutrition for on-campus dining, a multitude of immersive learning opportunities for the academic curriculum, and appreciation for the special needs community within the greater campus culture.”
The nonprofit operates through hydroponic farms—essentially growing plants sans soil—which translates to hands-on tasks that lend well to the special needs community, whose work leads to fresh and healthy fare heading to campus dining halls and onto students’ plates. … Everybody wins!
For Harvey, this organization’s MO is personal—his brother Gregory has autism, leaving Harvey to be his eventual sole caregiver. So, Harvey operates the nonprofit with a goal of providing for his brother’s future, along with others in the special needs community.
Looking ahead, Produce Purpose plans to continue partnering with more schools throughout the Triangle. To boot, keep your eyes—and appetite!—out for the org’s first harvest this fall (fingers crossed for September).
“Produce Purpose is a true nonprofit that strives to make a profound impact not only on the lives of those with special needs and their families, but also all members of the William Peace University academic community,” says Harvey. “It is our hope that like-minded people who are committed to such important social issues will support this endeavor.”
