Savoring Sustainability: Transforming Surplus into Sustenance
Follow Agung Saputra’s journey as he reframes surplus food, turning it into a solution to reduce waste, improve sustainability and drive positive social change.
Across the buzzing restaurants of Indonesia, where the irresistible aroma of nasi goreng (stir-fried rice with spices, vegetables, and meat) and rendang (beef slow cooked in coconut milk and rich spices) fills the air, an unsettling reality simmers behind kitchen doors. As line cooks and chefs perfect their dishes, significant portions of imperfect yet perfectly edible food overstock go unsold and are left behind. This is not food that has gone bad or spoiled—it’s simply surplus—extra portions from restaurants, bakeries, and cafes that go unsold due to overproduction, missed peak dining times, or not meeting appearance standards.
Agung Saputra, a long-time zero-waste advocate, did not see this surplus as a burden or waste. Instead, he saw an opportunity—an untapped economic potential. His journey began with a simple yet profound question: what if surplus food could fill more stomachs instead of being thrown away? From this idea, Agung founded Surplus Indonesia—a platform that links consumers with surplus food from restaurants, bakeries and cafes, offered at discounted prices.
“It is a win-win vision,” he recalls, “less food wasted and more people accessing affordable, quality meals.” However, while the concept looked appetizing, the path to realizing it was far from a piece of cake.
Stigma brewing behind the scenes
Initially, restaurants, bakeries and cafes hesitated due to concerns about the reputational risk of selling surplus food while consumers were skeptical of the quality, associating it with unwanted leftovers. Many business owners feared that offering unsold meals at a discount could affect their brand perception. What would customers think if they found out the restaurant down the street was selling yesterday’s ayam goreng (fried chicken marinated in traditional Indonesian spices) at half price? Would doing so make them appear desperate? These reputation concerns loomed large.
On the other side of the plate, consumers were equally skeptical. The word ‘surplus’ carried a stigma—many people equated it with low quality. Would they be paying for second-rate baked goods, like bika ambon (a soft, spongy cake made with coconut milk and a honeycomb texture), just because they were offered at a discount? Convincing customers to trust surplus food was another challenge.
Serving solution by reframing surplus
Agung tackled these concerns head-on, flying solo after others lost their appetite and left the vision behind. He reframed surplus as an opportunity for businesses to generate additional income while cutting down on waste.
“I offered business owners a recipe for boosting profits while championing sustainability through meaningful dialogue and education,” he explains. Slowly but surely, the mindset began to shift—restaurants, bakeries and cafes saw they could transform surplus into sales, minimize waste, enhance their brand with green sustainability badges, and stay profitable while promoting a bio-circular-green economy.
On the consumer side, through awareness campaigns, collaborations with influencers, and viral videos, more and more people began to digest the idea that surplus didn’t mean second-rate. It simply meant they were getting a better deal, savoring their favorite sate ayam (chicken skewers grilled and served with peanut sauce), all while making more responsible and sustainable choices.
The recipe for success is never handed out in life—it is something we have to cook up as we go. For Surplus Indonesia, the key ingredients were a clear vision, solid core values, persistence, patience and trust.
In fact, one of Surplus Indonesia’s other initiatives, Juicible, embodies this philosophy perfectly. Juicible is a juice bar that turns ‘imperfect fruits into perfect juice.’ It takes unwanted fruits—melons, papayas, strawberries, bananas, and dragon fruits—that are bruised or misshapen, not fit for supermarket shelves, and transforms them into delicious, refreshing smoothies.
“Juicible was about embracing imperfection,” Agung says. “We wanted to show that a bruised fruit could still make a perfect juice.” Each sip tells a story of creativity, resourcefulness, and the beauty of turning what others might discard into something truly worthwhile.
Savoring a greener future
Surplus Indonesia’s efforts have earned the APEC Bio-Circular-Green or BCG Award in 2024, recognizing its remarkable work in promoting sustainable consumption and waste reduction.
“For me, the real reward is seeing the tangible impact on people’s lives,” he shares. “It’s about farmers who can now sell their surplus produce, cafes that no longer waste the fruits of their labor, families who can afford quality meals, and young people inspired to launch social enterprises and make a real difference in sustainability.”
Surplus Indonesia is more than just a platform—it’s a shift in mindset, urging us to see surplus food as sustenance and embrace it as an opportunity, and certainly never as waste. Small actions, like redistributing extra portions, can spark meaningful change—or as an economist might put it, help eliminate deadweight loss and maximize total economic surplus. In Agung’s words, “in every surplus meal, there’s a chance to ‘save food, save budget and save planet.’” The story of Surplus Indonesia shows how we can all contribute to growing a sustainable future—one meal, one surplus portion, and one bite of our favorite nasi goreng at a time. Ayo makan! (Let’s eat!)