Starbucks US announces new food donation program
The coffee chain launched FoodShare – a program to donate ready-to-eat meals to food banks from its U.S. stores. Initially, the move will be accomplished through an existing collaboration with Food Donation Connection and a new partnership with Feeding America.
According to Starbucks, in the first year Starbucks FoodShare will be able to provide nearly 5 million meals to individuals and families in need of food. Starbucks intends to scale this program over the next five years and rescue 100 percent of its food available for donation from participating company-operated U.S. stores, amounting to almost 50 million meals by 2021.
“Like many of our social impact initiatives, the innovation and inspiration comes from our partners who are volunteering in and contributing to their communities,” said John Kelly, senior vice president, Starbucks Global Responsibility, Community and Public Policy.
“They saw the need for us to do more, and find a way to use our scale to bring more nourishing and ready-to-eat meals to those in need.”
The company’s new program could potentially expand with refrigerated vans making additional stops at other restaurants that join in the effort, increasing the impact exponentially.
“We applaud Starbucks for its leadership and commitment to ending hunger. Their program will have a tremendous impact in communities, and it is also a testament of how we can work together to help more individuals and families achieve food security,” said Diana Aviv, CEO of Feeding America.
In addition to feeding people who struggle with hunger, diverting food surplus from landfills furthers Starbucks goal to minimize the company’s environmental footprint and inspire other companies to do the same. With an estimated 70 billion pounds of food waste in America each year, according to Feeding America, Starbucks hopes to encourage other businesses to put a focus on food rescue.
“Our hope is by taking this first step, other companies will see the possibility for their participation and together we will make great strides in combating hunger,” said Cliff Burrows, group president, Starbucks U.S. and Americas.
“FoodShare will not only make our partners proud, but once again will allow us to live our values.”
