Starbucks Hopes To Give 50 Million Meals To The Poor By 2021

To say that Starbucks has changed the habits of millions of coffee drinkers the world over would be an understatement.
Now, instead of throwing away otherwise good food that isn’t bought, the Seattle-based coffee giant wants to help feed the poor.

An estimated 15 million children live in households where adequate, nutritious food is limited. They’re among the nearly 50 million Americans who are struggling to avoid hunger today, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture….

Today, Starbucks is announcing FoodShare – a program to donate ready-to-eat meals to food banks from its 7,600 company-operated stores in the U.S. Initially, this will be accomplished through an existing collaboration with Food Donation Connection and a new partnership with Feeding America.

In the first year alone, Starbucks® FoodShare will be able to provide nearly 5 million meals to individuals and families in need of nourishing 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. That amounts 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.”

“When we thought about our vast store footprint across the U.S. and the impact we could make, it put a fire under us to figure out how to donate this food instead of throwing it away,” said Jane Maly, brand manager, Starbucks Food team. “The challenge was finding a way to preserve the food’s quality during delivery. We focused on maintaining the temperature, texture and flavor of the surplus food, so when it reached a person in need, they could safely enjoy it.”

Starbucks recently established a partnership with Feeding America – the largest domestic hunger-relief and food-rescue nonprofit in the U.S. – to redistribute unsold food. Through this process, a refrigerated van will pick up food from Starbucks stores each day and deliver it to the Feeding America network.

 “This food is going to make a difference, whether it’s a child not going hungry for the night or a family that’s able to enjoy a protein plate that they would not have otherwise been able to afford at Starbucks,” said Kienan McFadden, a Starbucks store manager. “Rescuing food in this way from being thrown away will change lives. It makes me proud to know partners are the heroes in this.”

If more food-serving companies follow Starbucks lead, this could be away to substantially reduce hunger in the U.S. (and elsewhere).
Images credit: Starbucks