Starbucks To Donate All Its Unsold Food To Charity
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Starbucks recently announced a five-year plan to donate 100% of its unsold food to charity.
Shops in California and Arizona are already giving back.
During the four years Jordan Jellison worked at Starbucks in Southern California, he often cringed while watching unsold sandwiches, parfaits, and food boxes go into the garbage every evening.
"We are affected at a human level when we see something that's perfectly good that could feed needy families going to waste," said Jellison.
He wasn't alone. After many Starbucks employees voiced similar concern, the company decided to take action.
After a year of research and food safety testing, Starbucks recently rolled out a food donation pilot program in California and Arizona. Jellison manages one of the 30 Starbucks locations now donating all of their perishable foods every day.
"For us it's real simple -- we just take that food, put it in a bag. Zip tie it up -- put a date on it, put it in the fridge," he said.
Thanks to a partnership with Feeding America and Food Donation Connection, within hours the food is delivered to food banks and agencies. There the yogurt parfait may go into lunch bags for children or be served immediately along with Starbucks breakfast sandwiches on the food line.
Starbucks plans to donate 5 million meals to individuals and families in need this year and hopes to extend the program to all of its 7600 company-operated stores in the U.S. over the next 12 months.
