South African Startup – Still Good – Gives Surplus Food a Second Chance

Not everything on a supermarket shelf gets sold before its expiry date. That’s the gap Still Good is trying to fill. The South African startup works with retailers including Pick n Pay, Spar and Food Lovers Market to connect shoppers with surplus groceries at reduced prices. Instead of marking products down in-store and hoping someone buys them, retailers can list the stock online and sell it directly to customers before closing time.

The idea came after founders Steffen Burrows, Lorenzo Parisi and Nabeel Gool looked at similar businesses overseas and saw room for the concept in South Africa, where rising food costs have left many households looking for ways to cut their grocery bills. When a participating store has surplus stock, a manager uploads it to Still Good’s platform. Users receive a notification, reserve a grocery bag and pay online before collecting it from the store. The company deliberately avoids offering deliveries for these orders. “If you’re trying to sell food at a significant discount, delivery costs can quickly wipe out the savings,” Gool said. Collection keeps the model simple and helps keep prices low for shoppers. Still Good says some grocery bags are sold for up to 65% less than their normal retail value.

Built for the phones people already use

One of the company’s early decisions was to skip the traditional mobile app route. Instead, Still Good runs as a web app that users can add to their phone’s home screen directly from a browser. There is no need to visit an app store or download a large application. For Gool, the decision reflected how many South Africans access digital services. A large share of the platform’s users rely on affordable Android devices, where storage space is limited and people are selective about which apps they install. The web app approach removes some of those barriers while still allowing shoppers to receive notifications when new stock becomes available. Behind the scenes, the platform temporarily reserves items during checkout to prevent multiple shoppers from purchasing the same product.

Expanding its reach

Still Good says it now operates in more than 174 Pick n Pay, Spar and Food Lovers Market stores, as well as several independent retailers. The company is active in every province except Limpopo. According to the startup, shoppers saved nearly R4 million during its first six months of operation. The company has also started looking beyond groceries. Its newer service, The Goods Marketplace, focuses on surplus non food items such as batteries, cleaning products and electronics. Unlike grocery purchases, these products can be delivered through the Pudo locker network. For retailers, the appeal is straightforward: move stock that might otherwise sit unsold. For shoppers, it is another opportunity to buy everyday products at lower prices. As consumers pay closer attention to every rand spent on groceries, businesses built around surplus stock are finding a growing audience.