Deliciously Reducing Food Waste (and Saving You Money)
At the Wisconsin Union, we’re always looking for ways to be more sustainable and meet our community’s needs.
So you can imagine our excitement when we found an opportunity to prevent food waste and make our food even more affordable.
New sustainability, affordability initiative
You can now buy unsold food from our dining options through the Goodie Bag app.
Here’s how it works: Our team gathers food that didn’t sell. (Think sandwiches, baked goods and other favorites from our markets.) We bundle it and offer it through the app at about a 67% discount.
A simple solution that helps people and the planet. (And, of course, as always, your purchases help us, as a nonprofit, provide community spaces and student leadership opportunities.)
Committed to sustainability
We serve more than 10,000 guests each day across campus. With that comes some responsibilities that we take seriously, including: finding ways to prevent waste and keep improving how we serve our community.
As Wisconsin Union Deputy Director Susan Dibbell put it, this new effort is a win-win.
This initiative is just one part of a much bigger commitment we’ve been building over time. Across the Wisconsin Union, we’re always asking how we can operate more sustainably, from sourcing local ingredients to using eco-friendly materials, offering reusable options and investing in energy and water-saving practices.
Whether it’s diverting food from landfills, encouraging reusable habits or finding new ways to minimize our environmental footprint, efforts like Goodie Bag are a natural extension of our work to care for our campus and our planet.
Student leadership
One of our favorite parts of this project is how it came together.
Our Sustainability Committee, made up of both students and staff, helped explore and move this idea forward. They worked alongside our dining and hospitality team to bring it to life, continuing a long tradition of student and staff collaboration and student leadership at the Union.
An alum connection
There’s another layer that makes this extra special.
Goodie Bag’s co-founder and COO, Briana Boehmer, is a University of Wisconsin–Madison alum.
For Briana Boehmer, bringing this initiative to campus feels especially meaningful. She shared that UW–Madison is where she first learned to believe in what’s possible. Now, she’s excited to partner with her alma mater, a place she says has demonstrated a real commitment to innovation and reducing food waste.
Want to try it?
Here’s how to get started:
- Download the Goodie Bag app.
- Browse available bags from our locations.
You can get your first bag free by using the code WISCO.
Small change, big impact
We believe small changes can add up to something big. This is one more step toward reducing waste, supporting our community and making everyday moments, like grabbing a bite to eat, even more difference-making.
And honestly, who doesn’t love a good deal?
👉 Learn more about dining with us at union.wisc.edu/dine, and learn more about our sustainability efforts at union.wisc.edu/sustainability.
