UAE: Now, get up to 60% off on food as restaurants sell surplus items on new app

Khaleej Times

12-02-2025

UAE residents can now purchase food, sweets and drinks at more than half the usual price from some of their favourite restaurants and F&B outlets.
Instead of wasting the surplus food, Arabic, Indian, Asian and other restaurants, F&B brands are listing surplus food on Platable app where residents can purchase food at a discount of up to 60 per cent.
It is estimated that around 30 per cent of food goes to waste in the Gulf region, which aims to reduce waste by half by 2030.
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'We built this platform or marketplace that lets F&B outlets list their surplus inventory which would otherwise go to waste and lets consumers buy at a discount. For example, a doughnut firm sees a waste of about 300-400 pieces every day. They list it on the platform and consumers can buy it at half the price from 9pm to 11pm,' said Salmaan Mohammed, co-founder and CEO of Platable.
This allows residents to save on food purchases and helps restaurants to boost their revenues.
'Currently, the only option for F&B outlets was to throw surplus food, so they sell this food and generate more revenue and be sustainable at the same time. Consumers are also able to get access to these amazing brands at a heavily discounted rate. People who were not generally able to afford these brands on a daily or weekly basis, can now access good food at a good price,' said Mohammed.
It currently lists restaurants across Dubai and will later add outlets across the UAE and then the GCC.
The beta version of Platable is available on App Store and PlayStore. Mohammed plans to launch the app officially during Ramadan 2025.
Since the launch of the beta version in November, Platable has onboarded over 50 brands. The app has already got over 3,000 downloads organically.
Platable is receiving seven to 10 orders a day and Mohammed aims to sell 75 to 80 per cent of listed inventory after the launch of the app, which amounts to 1,000 orders a day.
Platable, according to Mohammed, takes a small percentage of commission from vendors and doesn't charge customers.
A similar model is being successfully practised in the West by a company – Too Good to Go.
'Restaurants know that there is surplus, but they don't know how much is surplus. So they create a surprise box or a meal box to sell on the app. For example, an outlet will sell a box of six doughnuts, but may not reveal what type of doughnuts the box contains. If it is a meal from a buffet restaurant, it will say non-veg meal, but will not disclose what items buyers get,' Mohammad told Khaleej Times in an interview on the sidelines of a conference hosted by the UAE Restaurant Group, which operates under the umbrella of Dubai Chamber.
'Consumers can log into the app and see what meal boxes nearby F&B outlets are offering at certain points of time for lunch, dinner or breakfast and they can reserve that box for pickup, or get delivered at a specific timeslot because food is considered surplus only at a specific given time in the day of every restaurant."
"For example, if you want to pick up a box of doughnuts from an outlet and it closes at 11pm, they will give you a discounted rate from 9pm to 11pm and you can reserve the box. The outlet knows that the customer will come and pick it up, so they will keep that box ready," added Mohammad.
The company is backed by angel investors in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. 'We are also raising the first round of funding in order to launch the app and to market it. We are raising $500,000 and we have already closed $400,000. We are in the last stretch of discussion with a couple of more angel investors to close $100,000 funding.'