The food-surplus app returned more than HKD 20 million to partner businesses while making meals more affordable for consumers Southeast Asia grapples with growing food waste and rising living costs.…

The food-surplus app returned more than HKD 20 million to partner businesses while making meals more affordable for consumers

Southeast Asia grapples with growing food waste and rising living costs. Yindii, Asia’s number 1 food‑surplus marketplace, celebrates a year of remarkable growth and impact. Co-founded in 2020 by Louis‑Alban Batard‑Dupré and Mahima Rajangam Natarajan, Yindii connects restaurants, bakeries, grocers and hotels with diners who collect “Surprise Bags” of unsold food at 50-80 per cent off the usual price. By turning what would otherwise become waste into affordable meals, Yindii offers a simple, scalable solution that benefits consumers, businesses and the environment.

In 2025 alone, the Yindii community across the region saved over half a million meals from going to waste. That is roughly one meal rescued every single minute, equivalent to offsetting over 1,375 tonnes of CO₂. To put this into perspective, that saving is comparable to driving an average petrol-powered car for about 6.9 million miles, or around 277 trips around the world. It is also on par with the emissions from burning around 154,000 gallons of petrol, or roughly 575 one-way passenger flights from Paris to New York.

Elaborating on the ethos that drives Yindii’s growth, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Mahima Rajangam Natarajan, shared, “Every meal rescued is a step toward making high-quality food accessible and affordable for everyone. We’re proving that sustainability and affordability can go hand in hand with social equity. What excites us most is seeing families, students and office workers discover new neighbourhood favourites while knowing they are doing something tangible to help the planet. We are also watching our partners turn what used to be an end-of-day loss into a new source of loyalty, revenue and pride for their teams. Thousands of F&B brands are now transforming surplus into a meaningful new revenue stream, with more than $2.5 million (HKD 19.45 million) flowing back into their businesses instead of into the bin.”

Across the region, the numbers tell an even richer story at the market level. In Hong Kong, diners using Yindii rescued over 250,000 meals in 2025. Flagship partners such as Saint Honore Cake Shop, Circle K and Pret A Manger have turned surplus into real value, with Saint Honore alone saving over 75,000 meals or 187 tonnes of CO₂. Other partners, including Rosewood Hong Kong, Little Mermaid, NOC Coffee Co and Pacific Coffee, all managed to clear an impressive 85-95 per cent of their surplus on the app. In Hong Kong, Yindii has more than tripled in size since last year and reached profitability, strengthening partner confidence in a model especially popular with women, who make up around two-thirds of users.