Tiffin Loop The service of renting tableware for take-out food as an alternative to plastic

Tiffin Loop GmbH, Berlin, Germany

On July 3, 2021, a law banning the use of disposable plastic came into force in Germany. According to this law, restaurants are not allowed to provide take-out food in plastic containers. The law was aimed at reducing the amount of plastic waste.

At Tiffin Loop, a company specializing in producing reusable containers primarily for the HoReCa sector, the idea emerged to create an app that would allow users to rent and purchase metal reusable containers for use within the network of partner restaurants. It was intended to help Germans to buy take-out meals from restaurants without violating the law.

On a global scale, this project addressed the environmental aspect and aimed to reduce the use of plastic and its disposal into the environment.

The restaurants involved in the project are interconnected within a single network ("loop").

A customer can obtain a container from one restaurant and return it to any other. To rent containers, users need to link their PayPal account. In case the containers are not returned on time, the system charges them a fee, and the containers become the property of the customers.

Capabilities of the "Client"

• Interacts with a Google map displaying all partner restaurants. The map shows their addresses and operating hours.
• Links their PayPal account, enabling them to rent containers from that moment onwards.
• Receives containers at the restaurant by presenting their unique QR code, which the restaurant scans to rent out the containers.

Capabilities of the "Restaurant"

• In the website's administrative panel, the restaurant can fill in information about the restaurant, operating hours, location, and add employees.
• In the mobile application, the restaurant tracks inventory reconciliation for containers provided and returned, receives and issues containers by scanning the QR code of the customer, modifies restaurant details and operating hours.
• Restaurants can expand their customer base by joining the program and purchasing Tiffin containers for distribution.

Capabilities of the Admin Panel

• Track all transactions, restaurants, and customers.
• Monitor all containers in the system (rented, purchased, etc.).
• Edit data for all users when interacting with them for support.

The Tiffin Loop Company generates profit through the sale of containers.

The gamification of the application interface reflects the user's progress by the number of "saved" plastic containers, encouraging them to be environmentally conscious and continue using the service

German ERP system integration

One of the key stages of the project was the successful integration of the German ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) financial accounting system Xentral, which provided a new experience for our team.

Compliance with German legislation

During the project implementation, we encountered the particularities of German legislation, such as the requirement to retain user data in the application for 10 years after the last financial transaction. This legal condition, necessary by law, affected the logic of user account deletion. We successfully accommodated these requirements, although not without challenges, which provided us with valuable experience in compliance with international regulations (GDPR).

The project was successfully implemented despite temporary difficulties due to the energy crisis in Germany in 2022.

During the project implementation, enhancements were made, including account deletion functionality, improving transaction handling, and refunding for containers.

The Tiffin Loop has integrated restaurant POS systems into the application for convenience. This provided restaurant owners with an alternative option to connect to the server directly instead of downloading the application and use their own POS systems as a user interface.

We continue to provide support for the application and optimize it, including integration with the client's ERP system, the ability to extend rentals, and transferring containers from the map to the application.

The project can be successfully implemented in other business models as a rental service aggregator.