No one gets into the world of selling food products hoping to waste food, but surplus food is an inevitable part of operating a food business. At Leftovers Foundation, we help businesses plan for the contingency of food waste. Food Rescue is all about coordinating the just-in-time logistics for surplus food – food that will go to waste if not redistributed.
When a vendor partners with Leftovers, we make available their unsellable (but still edible) surplus food on our Rescue Food app for volunteers to pick up and deliver straight to organizations assisting members of our communities who are struggling to make ends meet.
Sometimes our food donor partners won’t have any food to donate. Often, our volunteers express sadness for our agencies, that they won’t be receiving any food products that day. While it’s true that the whole point of what we do is getting good food to good orgs, having a “no donation” route isn’t necessarily a bad thing!
Why is no Donation actually a good thing?
Leftovers Foundation doesn’t actually want donated food. The Rescue Food program exists to ensure that, when surplus edible food is available, it’s getting directly to organizations that can use it, and not ending up in the landfill. When there’s no food to donate, it just means that there was no edible surplus food that would have been thrown out.
Food waste happens at a retail level for so many reasons. Fruits and vegetables may not meet quality or size standards, maybe there was an error in product orders, or there was packaging damage during transportation. No matter the type of food, we have a large network of service agencies who can put it to good use.
When a food donor has nothing to donate, this simply means that their operations are running smoothly, there have been no errors or rejected products and thus, there is no loss of revenue for their business!
What about the agencies that rely on donated foods for their programs?
It is an unfortunate reality that our food system is broken. Not everyone has access to first choice foods or the funds to purchase sufficient, healthy foods for themselves and their loved ones. Thankfully, in Canada we have a network of social service agencies where folks can access assistance – but the nature of food rescue remains unpredictable and inconsistent.
We track the weight of every donation and are able to share that data with any of our donors so they can track their participation along the way and make real-time adjustments to their business operations that will lead to less surplus long term.
Our hope is that all businesses who have surplus edible food can join our program and take advantage of this free service! The more food we can rescue and redistribute, the more consistency we can offer to the agencies that are working hard every day to support those in need.
If you know a food business who is looking for a solution to their edible surplus, get in touch with our team here.
