Development and Description of a For-Profit Digital Marketplace for Surplus Food Management and Food Waste Reduction

Abstract

Dimitrios Nentas , Fotini Koulieraki, Areti-Maria Kalyvioti and Klimis Ntalianis

Food waste is a major economic, environmental, and social challenge, especially in food retail, hospitality, catering, and food-service activities. This paper presents the conceptual design of Food Save Profit, a proposed for-profit digital platform for the management and commercialization of surplus food in Greece. The platform operates as a two-sided marketplace, connecting food businesses that hold near-expiry, surplus, or aesthetically imperfect products with consumers willing to purchase them at reduced prices. The proposed system combines merchant interfaces, a consumer mobile app, inventory and ERP connectivity, geolocation services, digital payments, QR-based pickup validation, administrator oversight, dynamic pricing, and ESG-oriented reporting. The paper discusses how such a model may help businesses recover value from surplus stock, offer consumers access to affordable food, and support food waste reduction. As the platform remains at the conceptual stage, future research should focus on pilot testing, empirical validation, food-safety governance, and the evaluation of the dynamic pricing mechanism under real market conditions.

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