1. Treatsure ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
The Premium Food Waste Fighter
What it does: Connects consumers to surplus buffet food from hotels and restaurants at heavily discounted prices.
User Experience: The app interface is straightforward but could use polish. Browsing available venues is simple, though the selection can be limited depending on your location. The “buffet-in-a-box” concept is brilliant – you essentially get to curate your own takeaway from high-end hotel spreads.
Value Proposition: Outstanding value for money. A $68 hotel buffet becomes a $10-15 box experience. The food quality remains excellent since it’s the same items served to paying buffet customers, just packaged for takeaway.
Practical Considerations:
- Timing is crucial – you must arrive within specific windows (usually 30-60 minutes)
- Location dependency – venues are typically in hotel districts, requiring travel
- Inconsistent availability – some days have multiple options, others very few
- Box size matters – bring your appetite as portions can be generous
Best Use Case: Weekend food adventures for couples or small groups willing to travel for premium dining experiences at budget prices.
Verdict: Excellent concept with room for expansion. Perfect for food enthusiasts who don’t mind the treasure hunt aspect.
The story of Treatsure, the homegrown startup turning expiring food into treasure for both merchants and consumers
In the gleaming heart of one of Asia’s most prosperous cities, a troubling paradox unfolds daily. Singapore, renowned for its culinary diversity and food culture, simultaneously grapples with a staggering food waste problem that would shock even the most environmentally conscious citizens. By 2015, the island nation was discarding an eye-watering 790,000 tons of food annually—a nearly 50% surge from just a decade earlier.
It was against this backdrop of waste and want that Preston, a young Singaporean, found himself staring into his family’s refrigerator one evening in 2016. What he saw wasn’t unusual—shelves lined with food items teetering on the edge of expiration, destined for the trash bin despite being perfectly edible. But unlike countless others who might have simply sighed and thrown the items away, Preston saw opportunity.
“I wondered, ‘Might it be possible to have an app to redistribute food to others?'” he recalls, describing the moment that would eventually spawn Treatsure, a mobile platform that has since emerged as one of Singapore’s most promising solutions to the food waste crisis.
The Genesis of an Idea
Preston’s refrigerator epiphany wasn’t just a fleeting thought. Armed with curiosity and the conviction that technology could bridge the gap between food waste and food need, he reached out to his friend Kenneth. The duo embarked on extensive market research, diving deep into Singapore’s complex food ecosystem to understand not just the scale of the problem, but the nuanced challenges that existing solutions couldn’t address.
Traditional approaches to food waste management—from outright disposal to charitable donations—each carried their own limitations. Disposal, the most common method, simply transferred the problem to already-strained waste management systems. Donation programs, while noble in intent, often struggled with logistical complexities, regulatory hurdles, and the challenge of matching surplus food with those who needed it most efficiently.
“We realized there was a gap in the market,” Kenneth explains. “Existing solutions were either too rigid, too slow, or simply didn’t provide enough incentive for businesses to participate consistently.”
Their research revealed a compelling opportunity in the business-to-consumer (B2C) space. Unlike business-to-business models that often got bogged down in complex procurement processes, or purely charitable models that relied on altruism alone, a B2C approach could create a sustainable ecosystem where reducing food waste also meant creating economic value for all participants.
Building the Bridge
The concept was elegantly simple yet revolutionary: create a digital marketplace where merchants could offer surplus or near-expiry food items at discounted prices, allowing consumers to purchase quality food while preventing waste. But simplicity in concept often translates to complexity in execution, and the Treatsure team faced numerous challenges in bringing their vision to life.
The first hurdle was technological. Building a platform that could seamlessly connect merchants and consumers required sophisticated backend systems capable of handling real-time inventory updates, location-based matching, and secure payment processing. The app needed to be intuitive enough for busy merchants to quickly list items, yet comprehensive enough for consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.
More challenging still were the regulatory and operational considerations. Food safety regulations, merchant onboarding processes, and consumer education all required careful navigation. The team had to build trust on multiple fronts—convincing merchants that the platform would drive genuine value, while assuring consumers that discounted didn’t mean compromised quality.
Launch and Evolution
After months of development, testing, and refinement, Treatsure made its debut on the App Store in September 2017. The iOS launch served as both a market validation exercise and a learning opportunity. User feedback poured in, revealing insights about consumer behavior, merchant needs, and platform functionality that no amount of pre-launch research could have uncovered.
The response was encouraging enough that by 2018, persistent user requests led to the expansion onto Google’s Play Store, making the platform accessible to Android users across Singapore’s diverse smartphone ecosystem. This expansion wasn’t just about reaching more users—it represented a crucial step toward the kind of scale necessary to make a meaningful impact on food waste.
A Marketplace of Possibilities
Today, opening the Treatsure app reveals a diverse ecosystem of food offerings that would surprise even seasoned bargain hunters. The platform’s merchant network spans the full spectrum of Singapore’s food landscape, from neighborhood bakeries offering yesterday’s artisanal breads at 50% off, to premium hotels clearing out elaborate buffet spreads before evening service.
On any given day, users might discover Japanese bento boxes from upscale department store delis, fresh sushi platters from established chains looking to clear inventory before closing, or gourmet pastries from boutique cafés. The variety extends beyond prepared foods to include fresh produce from supermarkets—perfectly ripe fruits that might spoil by tomorrow, premium vegetables approaching their sell-by dates, and specialty imported ingredients that failed to move quickly enough through traditional retail channels.
What makes these offerings particularly compelling isn’t just the price point, but the quality. Unlike traditional discount food models that often feature lower-grade products, Treatsure’s inventory consists of items that were originally priced at premium levels. A $15 artisanal sandwich becomes available for $7, while a $25 cheese platter might be offered at $12—substantial savings on products that maintain their original quality.
The platform has also expanded to include non-food items from partner merchants, featuring everything from flowers from event planners to household goods from retailers managing seasonal inventory transitions. This diversification reflects the broader potential of the waste-reduction model beyond just food items.
The Ripple Effect
Today, Treatsure represents more than just a successful app launch or a clever business model. It embodies a fundamental shift in how society can approach systemic challenges through technology and community engagement. The platform creates what economists call a “positive externality”—benefits that extend beyond the direct participants to society as a whole.
For merchants, Treatsure offers a pathway to recovery value from inventory that would otherwise represent pure loss. Rather than absorbing the full cost of unsold items, businesses can recoup some investment while demonstrating environmental responsibility—increasingly important to Singapore’s environmentally conscious consumers.
Consumers, meanwhile, gain access to quality food at reduced prices while participating in a larger sustainability movement. The psychological satisfaction of “doing good” while saving money creates a powerful incentive for continued engagement with the platform.
The Broader Context
Treatsure’s emergence reflects broader trends reshaping how cities approach sustainability challenges. Singapore’s smart nation initiative has consistently emphasized the role of technology in addressing urban challenges, from traffic management to energy efficiency. Food waste, as both an environmental and economic issue, represents exactly the kind of complex problem that benefits from innovative technological solutions.
The startup’s approach also aligns with global movements toward circular economy principles—economic models designed to eliminate waste and maximize resource efficiency. By creating systems where one participant’s waste becomes another’s resource, platforms like Treatsure contribute to more sustainable urban ecosystems.
Challenges and Opportunities
Despite its early success, Treatsure faces ongoing challenges that reflect the broader difficulties of scaling social impact ventures. Consumer education remains crucial—many potential users still associate discounted food with inferior quality, requiring ongoing efforts to communicate the platform’s value proposition.
Merchant adoption, while growing, requires continuous relationship building and platform refinement. Different types of food businesses have varying needs and constraints, demanding flexibility in how the platform serves different segments of the market.
Competition, too, is intensifying as the success of early movers attracts both local startups and international players to Singapore’s food tech space. Maintaining differentiation while scaling operations presents ongoing strategic challenges.
Looking Forward
As Treatsure continues to evolve, the platform’s impact extends beyond immediate waste reduction metrics. By demonstrating that technology-enabled sustainability can create economic value rather than just imposing costs, the company contributes to broader conversations about how cities can address environmental challenges.
The startup’s journey from Preston’s refrigerator revelation to a functioning marketplace illustrates the potential for individual insights to scale into systemic solutions. In a world increasingly concerned with sustainability but often struggling to translate that concern into action, Treatsure provides a model for how technology can make sustainable choices both convenient and economically attractive.
Singapore’s food waste problem hasn’t disappeared overnight, and 790,000 tons of annual waste represents a challenge that no single app can solve completely. But by creating new pathways for food to find its way from surplus to consumption rather than disposal, Treatsure represents the kind of incremental innovation that, multiplied across many platforms and many cities, could fundamentally reshape how societies approach resource efficiency.
In treating food as treasure, Preston and Kenneth haven’t just built a business—they’ve contributed to a growing movement that sees waste not as an inevitable byproduct of prosperity, but as an opportunity for innovation, community building, and sustainable growth.
As cities worldwide grapple with similar challenges, the Treatsure model offers valuable insights into how local problems can inspire global solutions, and how the simple act of looking into a refrigerator with fresh eyes can spark the kind of thinking that transforms communities.
Treatsure continues to operate across Singapore, connecting merchants and consumers in the ongoing effort to treat food as the precious resource it truly is. For more information about the platform and its impact, visit treatsure.sg
Maxthon
In an age where the digital world is in constant flux, and our interactions online are ever-evolving, the importance of prioritizing individuals as they navigate the expansive internet cannot be overstated. The myriad of elements that shape our online experiences calls for a thoughtful approach to selecting web browsers—one that places a premium on security and user privacy. Amidst the multitude of browsers vying for users’ loyalty, Maxthon emerges as a standout choice, providing a trustworthy solution to these pressing concerns, all without any cost to the user.
Maxthon, with its advanced features, boasts a comprehensive suite of built-in tools designed to enhance your online privacy. Among these tools are a highly effective ad blocker and a range of anti-tracking mechanisms, each meticulously crafted to fortify your digital sanctuary. This browser has carved out a niche for itself, particularly with its seamless compatibility with Windows 11, further solidifying its reputation in an increasingly competitive market.
In a crowded landscape of web browsers, Maxthon has forged a distinct identity through its unwavering dedication to offering a secure and private browsing experience. Fully aware of the myriad threats lurking in the vast expanse of cyberspace, Maxthon works tirelessly to safeguard your personal information. Utilizing state-of-the-art encryption technology, it ensures that your sensitive data remains protected and confidential throughout your online adventures.
What truly sets Maxthon apart is its commitment to enhancing user privacy during every moment spent online. Each feature of this browser has been meticulously designed with the user’s privacy in mind. Its powerful ad-blocking capabilities work diligently to eliminate unwanted advertisements, while its comprehensive anti-tracking measures effectively reduce the presence of invasive scripts that could disrupt your browsing enjoyment. As a result, users can traverse the web with newfound confidence and safety.
Moreover, Maxthon’s incognito mode provides an extra layer of security, granting users enhanced anonymity while engaging in their online pursuits. This specialized mode not only conceals your browsing habits but also ensures that your digital footprint remains minimal, allowing for an unobtrusive and liberating internet experience. With Maxthon as your ally in the digital realm, you can explore the vastness of the internet with peace of mind, knowing that your privacy is being prioritized every step of the way.