New Local App Helps Businesses Reduce Food Waste While You Save Big
Save a Bite partners with local bakeries, pizza shops and other eateries to sell mystery boxes of discounted excess food.
Mad Pie, Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery, Onda Pasta, Purvé Donut Stop—these are some of the local businesses offering discounted mystery boxes of food on Save a Bite, a new local app that launched June 4. Food businesses make fresh but unsold surplus offerings available on the app throughout the day, and users select mystery boxes at steep discounts.
It’s basically a win-win:
- You save big: small boxes cost $6.99 and contain $21 worth of food, medium boxes are $9.99 for $30 worth, large boxes are $12.99 for $45 worth
- You support a local business
- The business cuts down on waste and makes some money back
- Save a Bite donates a portion of its profits to local nonprofits
“Our mission is to keep good food on the table, help keep businesses in business, and to keep Hawai‘i local,” Oak and Elton Gjonaj, the husband-and-wife team who created the app, message us. “We want to expand across O‘ahu and all of the Hawaiian Islands.”
The concept may not be new, but Save a Bite has the distinction of being locally owned and run. That’s why John Higa of Oide Kitchen says he decided to partner with the app. The Downtown bento shop is where I picked up my first mystery box last week.
Photo: Andrea Lee
For $6.99, my small mystery box included a garlic shrimp bento and a side of fried gyoza, not small at all. My coworkers and I frequent Oide, which is two blocks from our office, so I know many bentos run between $13 and $17. I saved the combo for dinner, and after a long day at the office, they really hit. The shrimp was plump, the gyoza retained some crispness even after a zap in the microwave, and there was tons of garlic to flavor everything. I even had enough leftover for another meal. Talk about value!
Photo: Andrea Lee
I love deals and hate wasting food, so I’ll definitely be using this app more. The mystery aspect is fun if you like trying new foods. And in this economy where eating out can seem like a luxury, this is another way we can support local restaurants.
How Save a Bite Works for a Food Business
I asked Higa how it works from the business’s side. Businesses decide how many boxes to make available each day and can change that number if orders are slow and they anticipate more leftovers. The value of the food that goes in a box has to meet the assigned value. Since what’s unsold varies daily, you could get something different on every visit.
Signing up is free. Save a Bite keeps $1.99 from each order no matter the size.
Who’s signed on so far? By Wednesday, we counted 19 businesses: Local Joe West, Georgi’s Goodies, Matsumoto’s Okazuya, Mad Pie, Pizza Mamo, Kusina Asian Market, Oide Kitchen, Oceanside Bakery, Purvé Donut Stop, Honolulu Rose Cake Shop, Pu‘uwai Aloha Bakery, Café VNTG, Petite Sweets, Island Brew Coffeehouse, Badass Coffee, Mrs. Field’s Cookies, Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery, Sugar Mama Sweetery and Onda Pasta.
Photo: Andrea Lee
How to Use Save a Bite
Download the app at saveabite.us and create an account. You’ll see participating businesses within your search radius. Along with restaurants, there are cafés, bakeries, dessert shops and grocery stores, with more coming online as the app grows.
Check the app first thing in the morning for the best selection. Add a box to your cart, check out and pay through the app. Pay attention to the pickup time frame, which differs from business to business. Oide’s pickup slot, for example, is 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., right after the shop closes.
Show your order on the app to the staff. If you have food allergies or dietary restrictions, you can ask about substitutions at pickup, but since choices at the end of the day will vary, it may not be possible to accommodate them.
“Food prices rose 8.5% in 2024 and salaries only rose 4.3%, so if we can help bridge that gap and help everyone, it’s a win-win-win,” the Gjonajes message. “Businesses make money on lost revenue, consumers get to try tons of cool local places at a great rate, and it helps save the planet.”
Andrea Lee is the digital editor of HONOLULU Magazine.
