ober, 2 340 Refreshi Surprise Bags were collected through shared links, with 38% going to someone in a different province from the buyer. This World Kindness Day, Refreshi is encouraging South Africans to send a bag to someone they care about, who can collect it locally without downloading the app.
Cape Town, South Africa – South Africans are helping put food on their families’ tables from more than 1,400km away by saving a meal through the app and sending their loved ones a collection link on WhatsApp. Since July, 2400+ grocery bag collection links were shared through Refreshi, South Africa’s leading food-rescue app that connects shoppers with Surprise Bags of quality surplus food from bakeries, cafés, delis and supermarkets at a fraction of the retail price.
The process is simple and exponentially rewarding: someone buys a Surprise Bag through the Refreshi app from a participating store near their family member or friend, then sends them the collection link on WhatsApp. The recipient opens the link, visits the store and simply swipes on a pop-up screen to verify collection. They do not need to download the app, create an account or pay anything to secure their bag of food and take it home.
The average Refreshi Surprise Bag costs R67.70 and contains food with an average retail value of R145.15, giving customers an average saving of R77.45 per bag. Bags contain good food from participating bakeries, cafés and supermarkets that might otherwise go unsold.
Ahead of World Kindness Day on Friday, 13 November, Refreshi is encouraging South Africans to spend R70 to send a bag to someone who could use the support: a parent, a grandparent, a neighbour or a friend who would never ask. The company aims to have 1,000 bags shared in a single day, ensuring 1,000 South Africans are surprised with a grocery bag on World Kindness Day.
“When you want to help a parent, grandparent or someone you care about with food, the technology should make that easier,” says Jakob Holbak, CEO and Founder of Refreshi. “The person receiving the meal should not have to download another app or learn a new process. If one simple link is enough to get the food into their hands, we are already winning.”
Use of Refreshi’s collection link has more than doubled in four months, rising from 332 bags in July to 712 in October. The latest data shows that more than a third of shared bags, equalling 38%, were bought by someone in a different province from the person collecting. The average distance between buyer and recipient was 318km, while 64% of collectors had never used Refreshi before.
The busiest route for this support runs from Cape Town to Gauteng, where adult children working in the Western Cape buy food for parents and grandparents in Soweto, Tembisa and Mamelodi. Most grocery bag links are also sent on the Friday before payday, when most local household budgets are at their tightest.
For Lerato Dlamini, 34, a nurse in Cape Town, the collection link has become part of a weekly routine. Most Fridays, she sends a Surprise Bag to her grandmother, Gogo Lara Dlamini, 81, who lives alone in Soweto: “My grandmother has a phone for WhatsApp and her church group, and that is it. I tried to get her onto an app once and she handed the phone to my cousin,” says Dlamini. “Now I send the link, she walks to the shop with her neighbour, and she sends me a voice note telling me what was inside. That voice note is the best part of my week.”
Gogo Lara keeps it simpler: “I don’t know how it works. I only know my grandchild has fed me.”
“For someone unfamiliar with apps, another download, password or registration process can make receiving support unnecessarily difficult. Refreshi keeps the purchase in the sender’s app and gives the recipient access through a simple collection link. It is currently the only surplus-food app in South Africa that allows someone to save a meal for another person to collect without the recipient needing an account,” says Holbak.
To send a Surprise Bag on 13 November:
- Save a meal: Download or open the Refreshi app and buy a Surprise Bag from a participating store near your recipient.
- Send the link: Share the collection link with them on WhatsApp.
- They collect: Your recipient opens the link and swipes to verify collection in store. No app download or account is needed on their side.
Since launching in March 2025, Refreshi has seen 260,878 meals saved, saving customers R34 million against retail value. This World Kindness Day, Refresh is asking South Africans to help put food on someone’s table, even if they cannot be there themselves.
