Food Rescue in Action: Feeding San Diego Works with Local Starbucks Stores to Rescue Unsold Food as Part of Starbucks’ FoodShare Program
Do you ever wonder what happens to all the unsold food at the end of the day at Starbucks stores across the country? We’re happy to report that in San Diego County, and across the country, it goes to feed those facing hunger. Through an innovative partnership with Feeding America®, hunger relief organizations like Feeding San Diego and partner agencies receive food available to donate from U.S. company-operated Starbucks stores. Feeding San Diego benefits from this program, receiving food donations that often include breakfast sandwiches, paninis, Protein Boxes, and more. This is perfectly good surplus food that, if not for this program, would simply be tossed into a landfill. According to ReFed, 35% of all food produced went unsold or uneaten in the U.S. in 2019 and then became food waste.
Call for Change
Seeing a need and knowing Starbucks could provide a solution, Starbucks partners (its employees) advocated for a program allowing stores to donate unsold food and distribute it to people facing hunger in communities across the U.S. In response to this call for action, working with Feeding America®, Starbucks invested in research and quality assurance testing to develop the FoodShare program to safely donate nourishing, ready-to-eat meals to people who face hunger. This program helps the Feeding America network gain access to the wholesome, unsold product within the food service channel that would otherwise go to landfills. In FY20 (July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020), over 92% of the food Feeding San Diego distributed was rescued, despite interruptions to the supply chain caused by the pandemic.
Feeding the Community
Each Starbucks store is part of a community, and Feeding San Diego works with more than 200 local stores to rescue food and redistribute it to those in need by working with our 320 distribution partners. This strengthens the community, providing much-needed food assistance to those facing hunger. The Starbucks FoodShare program is one way that Starbucks supports its local communities. This program helps Starbucks live up to its mission to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time. Feeding San Diego’s mission is to connect every person facing hunger with nutritious meals by maximizing food rescue. By working together with Starbucks to divert food from the landfill, we are helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and get healthy food out into the community.
Since Feeding San Diego became involved in the FoodShare program in 2016, we have rescued 2,463,943 pounds of food from local Starbucks stores and distributed it to children and families facing hunger in our community.
To learn more about the FoodShare program, click here.
