Wisconsin Union launched the sale of unsold food on the app Goodie Bag April 6 to reduce food waste at Union locations and increase food affordability.
Food including sandwiches and baked goods from the Badger Markets in Union South and Memorial Union are now offered at a 67% discount through Goodie Bag.
Goodie Bag is a food marketplace app co-founded by University of Wisconsin-Madison alum Briana Boehmer that connects customers with unsold food from local dining options. Wisconsin Union spokesperson Shauna Breneman told The Daily Cardinal their team reached out to the Union in 2025 to explore the possibility of bundling and selling leftover food through the app.
Boehmer told The Cardinal the 67% discount is intentional, while oddly specific.
“Our goal with pricing is to strike the right balance between two things: making the food meaningfully more affordable for customers, and still allowing our partners to recover real value on items that would have otherwise gone to waste,” she said.
Breneman said the partnership serves two goals: reducing food waste and increasing the availability of food from the Union.
According to an April 2026 survey conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, students reported experiencing a higher rate of food insecurity at 27% in the past 30 days than the national average of 20.9% for undergraduate students.
The survey also found that students with food insecurity are more likely to miss class, fall asleep during class, have lower GPAs and develop health problems.
“The discount on Wisconsin Union food offered through the Goodie Bag app reflects our commitment to sustainability and accessibility,” Breneman told The Cardinal.
Wisconsin Union depicts on their website their commitment to balancing environmental oversight, social responsibility and long-term resilience with efforts at sustainable dining, waste reduction and water conservation among other environmentally-impacted areas.
The Wisconsin Union Sustainability Advisory Board and dining and hospitality team began discussions with Goodie Bag last year in preparation for the April 2026 launch.
“We want as many people as possible to have access to high-quality Wisconsin Union food, and we want to operate with environmental stewardship in mind,” Breneman said.
Breneman said customers’ purchases through Goodie Bag and Union dining locations support Wisconsin Union student leadership, community spaces and free events and the initiative is part of the Union’s more wide-reaching sustainability goals.
“This partnership with the UW Union is hopefully a springboard into a campus-wide initiative,” Boehmer said. “We need students to really embrace this, and if they do, the sky is the limit.”
Breneman said Wisconsin Union continuously looks for ways to operate sustainably. “Initiatives like Goodie Bag build on our ongoing efforts to care for our campus and the environment,” she said.
Customers can use code WISCO after downloading the Goodie Bag app to receive their first bag for free.
