The company says its platform now serves more than 200,000 registered users across Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Gqeberha, George and Mossel Bay. According to Refreshi's first Grocery Savings Impact Report, consumers have collectively saved R12.5m on groceries over the past year, while participating retailers recovered more than R10m from surplus food sales.
Launched in Stellenbosch in March 2025, the platform enables consumers to buy discounted "Surprise Bags" containing surplus food from grocery stores, bakeries and restaurants through its mobile app. Users purchase the bags online and collect them during scheduled collection windows, allowing retailers to sell quality food that would otherwise be discarded.
Refreshi says the platform has rescued around 200,000 meals from landfill since launch. The company estimates this has prevented approximately 500,000kg of carbon dioxide emissions, conserved 120 million litres of water and saved more than 400,000m² of agricultural land.
The startup attributes its growth to increasing demand from both consumers looking to reduce grocery costs and retailers seeking to reduce food waste while recovering value from surplus stock.
The report cites industry estimates that South Africa discards approximately R61.5bn worth of food annually, with around 10.3 million tonnes of edible food ending up in landfill.
Alongside its consumer marketplace, Refreshi also operates the Refreshi Exchange, a business-to-business platform that enables manufacturers, distributors and retailers to move surplus inventory before it expires.
The company expects to expand its network to more than 2,000 participating stores over the next year.
