Rescuing Meals, Rewriting Waste: Yindii Closes 2025 With Over Half a Million Meals Saved
- Written by Telegraph Magazine
Regional food-surplus app turns unsold food into affordable meals, offsets over 1,375 tonnes of CO₂ and pays back more than USD 2.5 million to partners in Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong
SINGAPORE - Media OutReach Newswire - 23 December 2025 - As Southeast Asia grapples with growing food waste and rising living costs, Yindii, Asia’s number 1 food‑surplus marketplace, celebrates a year of remarkable growth and impact. Co-founded in 2020 by Louis‑Alban Batard‑Dupré and Mahima Rajangam Natarajan, Yindii connects restaurants, bakeries, grocers and hotels with diners who collect “Surprise Bags” of unsold food at 50-80% off the usual price. By turning what would otherwise become waste into affordable meals, Yindii offers a simple, scalable solution that benefits consumers, businesses and the environment.
One meal rescued every minute. In 2025, the Yindii community saved over half a million meals, helped Singapore users save SGD$3 million, and kept surplus food out of landfills.
In 2025 alone, the Yindii community across the region saved over half a million meals from going to waste. That is roughly one meal rescued every single minute, equivalent to offsetting over 1,375 tonnes of CO₂. To put this into perspective, that saving is comparable to driving an average petrol-powered car for about 11 million kilometers, or around 277 trips around the world. It is also on par with the emissions from burning around 580,000 liters of petrol, or roughly 575 one-way passenger flights from Paris to New York.
Elaborating on the ethos that drives Yindii’s growth, Co‑Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Mahima Rajangam Natarajan, shared, “Every meal rescued is a step toward making high-quality food accessible and affordable for everyone. We’re proving that sustainability and affordability can go hand in hand with social equity. What excites us most is seeing families, students and office workers discover new neighbourhood favourites while knowing they are doing something tangible to help the planet. We are also watching our partners turn what used to be an end-of-day loss into a new source of loyalty, revenue and pride for their teams. Thousands of F&B brands are now transforming surplus into a meaningful new revenue stream, with more than USD 2.5 million (SGD$3.23 million) flowing back into their businesses instead of into the bin.”
Across the region, the numbers tell an even richer story at the market level. In Hong Kong, diners using Yindii rescued over 250,000 meals in 2025. Flagship partners such as Saint Honore Cake Shop, Circle K and Pret A Manger have turned surplus into real value, with Saint Honore alone saving over 75,000 meals or 187 tonnes of CO₂. Other partners, including Rosewood Hong Kong, Little Mermaid, NOC Coffee Co and Pacific Coffee, all managed to clear an impressive 85-95% of their surplus on the app. In Hong Kong, Yindii has more than tripled in size since last year and reached profitability, strengthening partner confidence in a model especially popular with women, who make up around two-thirds of users.
In Singapore, diners using Yindii rescued over 300,000 meals in 2025. Since launching in 2024, the app has helped partners achieve a nationwide saved ratio of around 75%. Popular brands such as Paul, Baker & Cook and SaladStop, alongside hotel buffets and neighbourhood grocers, are using “Surprise Bags” to move premium food at accessible prices while cutting waste. Altogether, Singapore partners have already recovered more than SGD1.5 million in avoided food losses, underscoring Yindii’s role in helping diners stretch their budgets while giving the F&B industry a powerful new way to protect profitability.
“Looking ahead to 2026, we are focused on building on this momentum by bringing Yindii to more cities, including South Korea, and deepening our partnerships where we are already present. Our goal is to make it easier for people to save great food rather than see it go to waste, and for businesses to treat surplus as an opportunity rather than a loss. At the heart of all this, our mission goes far beyond transactions. It is about building a community where strangers become food heroes and where food that once represented loss becomes a source of joy and connection. We have seen that spirit take root in Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore, and we cannot wait to grow new communities of local food heroes in the years ahead,” Mahima concluded.
Throughout the year, Yindii’s success also earned recognition beyond the dining table. In October, it was named a finalist in the Spirit of Hong Kong Awards for its creative approach to tackling food waste. During Impact Week at ONE in Singapore, the company hosted the Yindii Eco‑Brand Awards 2025, celebrating 25 leading brands and media partners. Guest of Honour Poh Li San, Chair of Singapore’s Parliamentary Environment Committee, highlighted that Singapore wastes 800,000 tonnes of food annually and noted that fighting waste is essential not just for the planet but for national food security.
Since launching in 2020, Yindii has registered more than 700,000 food heroes, rescued over 900,000 meals and prevented more than 2,250 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. For more information, visit www.yindii.co or follow Yindii on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
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About Yindii
Yindii is Asia’s #1 sustainable food app, connecting people with surplus meals from restaurants, bakeries, grocers, and hotels at a fraction of the price. Operating in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and South Korea, Yindii empowers communities to rescue food, save money, and fight climate change — one meal at a time.
