Save a Meal, created and led by Chingun Tsogt-Erdene ’26, is a student startup focused on helping Wesleyan students combat food waste and receive discounted meals on Main Street. Through the program, restaurants can post flash sales on menu items and discounts on meals that would otherwise go to waste. The deals are then shared on the startup’s Instagram account, and students can claim them on a first come, first served basis.
Tsogt-Erdene created the program this September, explaining that it was inspired partly by his semester abroad.
“In Denmark, I really loved using the app called ‘Too Good To Go’ and I was always wondering if this could apply to the U.S.,” Tsogt-Erdene said. “‘Too Good To Go’ is present in major cities, but it’s not in small-town communities or college towns…. I know that at Wesleyan, there are students who get a lot of 10% or 5% discount deals on meals. But I was just wondering, is that really enough for students to walk all the way down to Main Street and purchase food? Why can’t we create something where students can reduce waste and also have a way to taste meals at all these restaurants?”
On Oct. 12, Save a Meal partnered with Asian Restaurant, marking the group’s fourth partnership with Middletown restaurants.
In addition to Asian Restaurant, Save a Meal has partnered with Fujiya Ramen, M Town Wing, and Typhoon Restaurant. The discounts associated with these restaurants vary. At M Town Wing, University students can get a 10 piece wings combo for 30% off. At Fujiya Ramen, four of the ramen bowls are 22% off, while the rest of the dishes are discounted by 12%.
Tsogt-Erdene received a $700 grant from the Patricelli Center for Entrepreneurship for his startup and recruited two students, Ray Yao ’29 and Leslie Salazar Jimenez ’28, to assist with marketing the startup through social media. Two other students, Duy Huynh ’28 and Diamond Braddy ’26, helped with developing a website and app for Save a Meal.
“These four people have dedicated so much time to helping the project, and they’ve kept this idea alive,” Tsogt-Erdene said. “Without them, I wouldn’t be able to partner with the restaurants I currently work with.”
On Monday, Oct. 20, the University of Connecticut Transactional Law Clinic, a program where law students provide pro bono legal services to small businesses and community development organizations, accepted Save a Meal as one of its clients.
“This is a huge win for the startup,” Tsogt-Erdene said.
Yao said that Instagram, on which the program has accumulated over three hundred followers, has proved to be an effective marketing tool to spread word on campus. He said that Reels, the app’s short-form video function, has been particularly useful; on Wednesday, Oct. 15, the program published a Reel featuring interviews with students who used Save a Meal that amassed over a thousand views.
“In the future, we’re definitely going to be more Reels-oriented, because that’s kind of what our demographic responds to,” Yao said.
Tsogt-Erdene also discussed the startup’s future goals.
“I’m really hoping that the website can be ready within the next six weeks,” Tsogt-Erdene said. “Then I want the app to be ready somewhere around the beginning of the Spring semester. We also hope to apply for grants or participate in Wesleyan’s ‘Shark Tank’ events. Lastly, after Wesleyan, we are thinking about applying our startup to other college towns and small communities.”
Brendan Kelso can be reached at bkelso@wesleyan.edu.
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