Jennifer Widjaja combines Singaporeans’ love for food and discounts to tackle the food waste crisis through her eco-conscious platform, Just Dabao.
Singaporeans love food, but the local food scene contributes significantly to food waste, with 665,000 tonnes of waste in 2020 alone. Jennifer Widjaja, the co-founder of Just Dabao, is working to tackle this issue by selling surplus food from over 400 merchants at discounts averaging 50%. Since 2020, her platform has helped save 7,500 meals, preventing 12.5 tonnes of carbon emissions. Her business concept was inspired by the struggles of food merchants during the pandemic and her personal commitment to reducing waste.
Widjaja’s journey began when her friend, a pastry chef, had to throw away unsold food after shutting her business due to pandemic restrictions. Seeing the scale of the problem, she researched and discovered that food waste was prevalent even beyond business closures, often due to unpredictable demand, cosmetic defects, and canceled events.
Motivated by her passion for food and sustainable practices learned from her mother, she quit her job as a financial analyst to launch Just Dabao in 2020. The platform allows F&B merchants to sell surplus food at 30-40% of the original price, recovering some costs while offering consumers great savings.
