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Eddie Connors (left), Luke Siegert, Brianna Boehmer, Jack Connors. Photo provided by Goodie Bag Food Co.
From breweries to bakeries, Milwaukee’s food scene is known for producing delicious, boundary-pushing dishes. However, it also generates a large amount of food waste.
Goodie Bag Food Co., a sustainability-focused startup, is working to change that.
Since 2022, Goodie Bag has been a bridge between waste-conscious businesses and smart customers, connecting customers who want to buy surplus products at discounted prices.
The Colorado-based company is now eyeing Wisconsin as its next expansion destination, with plans to open in the Milwaukee and Madison areas on October 31st.
More than a dozen local businesses are already participating, and once launched, customers will be able to choose from as many freshly baked cookies, saucy chicken wings, flavorful arepas, and more.
As of mid-October, Goodie Bag’s Milwaukee area partners include Lucy Bakes, Mid-Way Bakery, Dairyland Old-Fashioned Frozen Custard and Hamburgers, Vendetta Coffee Bar, Sweetly Baked, Midwest Sad, Anytime Arepa, Mr. Wings, and Sweet Joy Includes Brotherian. Café, Wild Roots, Cranky Al’s, La Finca, and Great Harvest Bread.
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The company operates through an app, allowing partner businesses to list “mystery bags” filled with surplus items on a public platform. Once your bag is listed, nearby customers will be notified and can pick up their item.
Goodie Bag’s mission to tackle food waste aligns with the company’s goal of promoting affordability. This challenge is one that founders Eddie Connors and Luke Siegert experienced first-hand while attending the University of Colorado.
“We’re learning more about food system issues, mainly food waste and food unavailability, and digging deeper into how it creates a lot of economic waste. ,” Connors said.
In the United States alone, 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food are wasted each year, according to 2010 estimates from the USDA’s Economic Research Service.
For Connors and Siegert, the problem is multifaceted, and their concerns deepened when they attended the university’s 10-week summer startup program after graduation.
“At the same time, we are recent college graduates and could relate to the desire to provide high-quality food at a more affordable price,” Connors said. “It seemed like a great opportunity to address these issues with one marketplace solution.”
The solution turned out to be the Goodie Bag, which launched in January 2023 at Barchetta, a Boulder pizza shop where Siegert previously worked. Since then, the company has doubled in size and added Connors’ younger brother Jack and Brianna Boehmer as full-time employees. It has also expanded beyond Boulder to Fort Collins, Denver, Charlotte and Charleston.
Boehmer, a Colorado native who attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was a major proponent of bringing goodie bags to the dairy state.
“I thought, ‘I have to go to Madison and Milwaukee,'” she said, noting that the company aims to find areas with strong local food cultures. The Midwest fits that bill. “It’s a community-based city surrounded by nature, but also has a great local food community.”
Starting Oct. 24, those who join the Milwaukee Goodie Bag waitlist will receive a $6 credit to use in the app through Oct. 31. This offer is valid until launch only.
Customers can then check the app at any time or sign up for alerts to receive notifications about properties throughout the area. Act soon when the Goodie Bag becomes available. The founders say most sell out within a minute.
There’s one twist. Customers know the bag’s origin, but the exact contents remain a surprise.
“So the customer doesn’t really know what they’re getting, but they know it’s a great price,” Connors says. “They know what store it’s from, but they don’t know the specific items inside.”
Bags can only be picked up and cannot be shipped. They usually sell for at least 50% off, and the average price is between $5 and $8.
As the company continues to gain momentum in Milwaukee, the founders hope to bring more businesses on board, with the ultimate goal of satisfying both customers and entrepreneurs while helping the planet.
“We’re just a homegrown startup that’s trying to transform the food system in a way that helps all communities,” Connors said. “So it’s great to have support from the community that we serve.”
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