At 11pm, the kitchen throws away dinner for forty.

"I cook to feed people, then bag perfectly good food for the dumpster."

— Chef Mara Liu, Olea Bistro

$162B

of edible food is wasted by US restaurants each year

While 34 million Americans face food insecurity and restaurants operate on razor-thin margins.

Why it persists

What restaurants tried

→ Discount apps (Too Good To Go)
→ Food bank donations
→ Staff meals & compost programs

Why each failed

→ Kills full-price margin
→ Liability & pickup logistics
→ Doesn't scale or monetize

Surplus isn't a charity problem; it's a 90-minute marketplace problem.

Foragehouse

Diners claim same-night surplus boxes at 60% off in a tap. Restaurants recover revenue from food that would otherwise be waste. Every box feeds someone and funds the kitchen.

How it works

Kitchen lists at close

9–11pm, surplus goes live in the app

Diners claim nearby

Browse, claim, pay — 60% off retail

Pickup in 30 minutes

Show QR code, collect box, done

Early proof

Weekly boxes sold, 20-week pilot

146

Partner kitchens

4.8★

Average rating

The market

Total US restaurants 749K

Reclaimable surplus value/year $9.2B

Near-term serviceable (top 50 metros) $640M

Unit economics

Average box price	$14.00
Platform take rate	22%
Revenue per box	$3.08
Payment processing	−$0.51
Support & ops (allocated)	−$0.39
Contribution margin	$2.18

Contribution margin %

71% after direct costs

Why us

Theo Marsh

Co-founder & CEO

8 years managing multi-unit restaurant ops for a James Beard–winning group. Lived the nightly waste problem, saw the margin pressure firsthand.

Priya Okonkwo

Co-founder & COO

Ex-logistics lead at DoorDash, built hyperlocal fulfillment systems. Knows how to move perishables in tight pickup windows at scale.

$1.8M

Pre-seed round

Three cities in twelve months — prove the playbook, then scale to the top 50 metros.

Theo Marsh, Co-founder & CEO

theo@foragehouse.co