Feeding San Diego Has Rescued More Than Three Million Pounds of Food From Local Starbucks Stores Since 2016

The Starbucks FoodShare program helps keep surplus food from the landfill and feeds people facing hunger in San Diego County   

This Earth Month, and during Starbucks Global Month of Good, Feeding San Diego is sharing the impact of its local partnership with Starbucks stores as part of the Starbucks FoodShare program, a national partnership between Starbucks and Feeding America to make sure food doesn’t go to waste.

Since 2016, 3,098,942 pounds of food have been rescued from local Starbucks stores, including popular items from the chain like sandwiches, wraps, protein boxes, and pastries. Feeding San Diego, the only Feeding America partner food bank in the region, was the first to join the FoodShare program back in 2016. The non-profit works with its agency partners to distribute the food directly to the community. Partners include other non-profits like Jewish Family Services and Third Avenue Charitable Association. Across San Diego County, over 200 Starbucks stores donate to Feeding San Diego.

“It’s incredible to see what we’ve accomplished by working together,” said Megan McDonald, neighborhood partnerships manager at Feeding San Diego. “To see a program of this scale implemented to help both people and the planet demonstrates how the problem of food waste can be solved on a local and national level. There are so many people who need access to food, it’s up to companies and non-profits to make sure it reaches them.”

The program has managed to crack the logistical puzzle of connecting the fresh food with Feeding San Diego thanks to a partnership with Penske, a transportation services company that picks up the food donations daily and gets them to Feeding San Diego’s distribution center in Sorrento Valley, where partners can either pick it up or it can be delivered by a Feeding San Diego driver.

Nearly 200 smaller, local agencies work with Feeding San Diego to get food free of charge for their own programs, whether it’s a client choice food pantry or a hot meals program. Eleven of those agencies are able to benefit from the Starbucks FoodShare program.

“If it wasn’t for Feeding San Diego there would be a lot of hungry people that would spend the day hungry until our meals become available in the evening. The Starbucks food donations allow us to provide what we call brunch. People are in line at 7 a.m. for a 10 a.m. brunch,” said Susan Fleming, executive director of the Third Avenue Charitable Organization. “We have come to rely on the Starbucks food, and the people we serve depend on it.”

April is Feeding San Diego’s Feed People, Not Landfills awareness campaign, which aims to educate San Diegans about the work the organization is doing to help rescue surplus food and get it to people in need. According to Feeding America, there are more than 330,000 people in San Diego County, including children, who are at risk of experiencing food insecurity.

“Starbucks is leading a national effort to provide nourishing, ready-to-eat meals to people in need. In collaboration with our store partners (employees), as a call to action to address food waste, our innovative partnership with Feeding America allows us to divert food from landfills, provide meals to people who face hunger and increase awareness of this issue,” said Michael Kobori, vice president of social impact and chief sustainability officer at Starbucks. “Since the launch of the FoodShare program in 2016, Starbucks has helped provide more than 63M meals to communities facing hunger. Each Starbucks store is part of a community, and we’re committed to strengthening neighborhoods wherever we do business.”