Food Recovery

During this time, food recovery is important as ever to ensure that good food goes into the hands who need it. In Compass Group’s 2019 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, we highlighted some of our favorite food recovery stories of the prior year. Check it out for yourself below.

An estimated 1 in 9 Americans are food insecure, equating to over 37 million individuals. In the instance that overproduction does occur, Compass Group is proud to have partners in many cities across the country to ensure that good food gets into the hands that need it. We have educated our operators on the Good Samaritan Law and have streamlined the process for them to connect with our partners to properly recover food in their area.

We believe that donating is the right thing to do and can positively impact the health of our communities. We are proud to have rescued over 1.5 million pounds of nutritious and delicious food, which is equivalent to over 1.2 million meals, in 2019.

Meals on Wings

With the help of the University of North Florida’s (UNF) Ospreys, Bartram Lakes, a Morrison Living client, is reducing their waste while providing for those in need of a hot meal in their local Jacksonville, Florida community.

Already a partner with two other Compass sectors, UNF reached out to the senior living community after a dietitian spoke to a UNF nutrition class about working at their account to involve them in their Meals on Wings program, a food recovery meal program designed to improve the nutritional health and well-being of seniors.

The partnership is a well-oiled machine: Bartram Lakes collects all leftover, unused food and stores it until UNF students pick it up twice a week. The coolers are brought to the food lab at the university and made into packaged meals and delivered to seniors on the Meals on Wheels wait list, the Northeast Florida AIDS Mission, and the Mission House for homeless adults.

With over 635 meals donated through this partnership and Bartram Lakes looks forward to continuing to work alongside UNF and feeding those in need in the coming year.

Chefs to End Hunger

In 2019, Compass Group and Chefs to End Hunger donated nearly 300,000 pounds of leftover food, which equates to about 237,000 meals, to those in need. Partnering with Chefs to End Hunger, more than 1,000 culinary and support staff from Wolfgang Puck Catering (WPC), packed and labeled many pounds of leftover food from the Oscars®, the Governor’s Ball and other high-profile events to eliminate potential waste and give back to the local communities.

Chefs to End Hunger, created in 2012, serves as the food recovery arm under LA+SF Specialty, which is one of the largest gourmet food distributors in California, Nevada, and Arizona. The non-profit facilitates the redistribution of chef-prepared food from foodservice companies to charity organizations.

To read more of Compass Group’s achievements from 2019, please visit: https://issuu.com/becompass/docs/2019compasscsr?fr=sOTAwNDcyMTcwMw

Related:

U.S. Food Loss & Waste 2030 Champions // Celebrating 10 Years of a Unique Partnership // Q&A with Judge Laura Safer Espinoza from the Fair Food Standards Council