Sustainable Food Startup Goodie Bag Expands To Milwaukee
Company helps food businesses sell surplus items in discount 'goodie bags.'
Eddy Connors (left), Luke Siegert, Briana Boehmer and Jack Connors. Photo courtesy of Goodie Bag Food Co.
From breweries to bakeries, the Milwaukee food scene is renowned for creating delicious and boundary-pushing dishes. But it also generates a significant 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-wary businesses and savvy customers, connecting surplus goods with those eager to purchase them at a discounted price.
The Colorado-based company is now eyeing Wisconsin for its next expansion, with plans to launch in the Milwaukee and Madison areas on Oct. 31.
With more than a dozen local businesses already on board, customers will be able to take their pick of freshly baked cookies, saucy chicken wings, savory arepas and more following the launch.
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, Sweet Joy Brazilian Cafe, Wild Roots, Cranky Al’s, La Finca and Great Harvest Bread.
The company operates through an app, allowing partnered businesses to list “mystery bags” of surplus goods on a public platform. Once a bag is listed, nearby customers are notified and can claim the items for pickup.
Goodie Bag’s mission to tackle food waste aligns with its goal of promoting affordability — a challenge founders Eddy Connors and Luke Siegert experienced firsthand while studying at the University of Colorado.
“We became much more familiar with the issues in the food system, primarily food waste and food unaffordability, and dove deeper into how that was creating a lot of economic waste,” Connors said.
In the United States alone, 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food is wasted in a single year, according to 2010 estimates from the USDA’s Economic Research Service.
For Connors and Siegert, the problem was multifaceted, and their concern only deepened after graduation when they participated in the university’s 10-week Summer Startup program.
“At the same time, we were recent college grads and could relate to wanting more affordable options on quality food,” Connors said. “It seemed like a great opportunity to address those issues with one marketplace solution.”
That solution turned out to be Goodie Bag, which launched in January 2023 at Barchetta, a Boulder pizza shop where Siegert formerly worked. Since then, the company has doubled in size, bringing on Connors’ brother, Jack, and Briana Boehmer as full-time employees. It has also expanded beyond Boulder and into Fort Collins, Denver, Charlotte and Charleston.
Boehmer, a Colorado native who attended UW-Madison, was a major proponent of bringing Goodie Bag to the dairy state.
“I was like, ‘we have to go to Madison and Milwaukee,'” she said, noting that the company aims to seek out areas with strong local food scenes. The Midwest fit that bill. “It’s community-based, just in nature, but also has a really good local food community.”
Effective Oct. 24, those who join the waitlist for Goodie Bag in Milwaukee will receive $6 in credits to use in the app come Oct. 31. The offer is only good up until the launch.
After that, customers can check the app anytime, or sign up for alerts to be notified about listings throughout the area. Once a Goodie Bag becomes available, act quick! Most sell out in under a minute, according to the founders.
There’s one twist: while customers know the source of the bag, the exact contents remain a surprise.
“So, the customer doesn’t really know what they’re getting, but they know it’s at a great price,” Connors said. “They know which shop it’s from, but not the specific items inside.”
Bags are available for pickup only—no delivery—and typically sell for at least 50% off, with prices averaging between $5 and $8.
As the company continues to gain momentum in Milwaukee, the founders hope to bring additional businesses on board, with the ultimate goal of satisfying both customers and entrepreneurs — while also helping the planet.
“We’re very much just a domestic startup trying to shake up the food system in a way that helps all communities,” Connors said. “So it’s been cool to have the support of the communities we serve.”
Photos
Existing members must be signed in to see the interactive map. Sign in.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
Good to hear this is coming to Milwaukee. Sounds very similar to the Karma app out of Sweden and to Too Good to Go, which started in 2016 and has been here in Chicago for a while.
I’ve been on TGTG for almost a year and like it! Restaurants, stores and bakeries seem to be added regularly, and it’s kind of fun going to pick up a bag not quite knowing what will be inside. Time of day matters: most restaurants with dinner service will post bags available for pickup a bit later in the evening, or as late as early AM. Stores, bakeries, and cafes typically have bags ready for pickup much earlier, or throughout the day.
My tip: While deals can be had all around, I find the best bargains and, frankly, a little better quality, from bakeries and restaurants that are takeout based. (Little to no dining room, no wait staff, etc.) Reason being that the discounted cost of a bag is based on the original cost, and places that were going to serve that food in full service restaurants simply have higher overhead. Not a deal breaker by any means, but I get the greatest value and product at bakeries.
And, there’s the feeling of knowing you have paid for and eaten food that otherwise would have been thrown out—to little to be donated to a food bank or pantry, or for someone to arrange for delivery elsewhere.