Starbucks joins non-profit food waste initiative
Starbucks Coffee Company has become the second quick service restaurant retailer to become a member of the U.S. Food Waste Pact.
The U.S. Food Waste Pact is a national voluntary agreement that works with waste-generating food businesses to collect and analyze data about food waste in their operations, share best practices through working groups, and pilot and scale solutions through intervention projects.
The pact is an initiative between nonprofits ReFED and the World Wildlife Fund. Starbucks' participation follows other waste-reduction efforts the retailer has undertaken such as its FoodShare initiative. Since 2016, Starbucks says the FoodShare program has diverted more than 75 million pounds of food from waste streams and donated more than 63 million meals.
FoodShare is available in 100% company-owned stores in the U.S. and Canada, and food rescue programs operate in more than 30 global markets. Starbucks has a goal to reduce food waste in US operations by 50% by 2030.
[READ MORE: Starbucks to donate all unsold food]
"For the past 50 years, Starbucks has focused on giving back to the communities we serve," said Kelly Goodejohn, Starbucks' chief social impact officer. "By participating in the U.S. Food Waste Pact, we work with others in the industry to improve food waste reduction, both within Starbucks and across the sector."
In addition to Starbucks, current U.S. Food Waste Pact signatories across the food system include Ahold Delhaize USA, Aldi US, Amazon Fresh, Aramark, Bob’s Red Mill, Chick-fil-A, Compass Group USA, Del Monte Fresh Produce Company, Health Care Without Harm, ISS Guckenheimer, Lamb Weston, Inc, R&DE Stanford Food Institute, Raley’s, Sodexo USA, Walmart Inc. and Whole Foods Market.
"Having Starbucks as a signatory of the U.S. Food Waste Pact is a big step forward for the QSR subsector," said Jackie Suggitt, VP of business initiatives & community engagement at ReFED. "Starbucks is an industry leader, especially when it comes to food donation and the example that their FoodShare program is setting. Food waste happens across the supply chain, and targeting the QSR subsector broadens our impact and action in reducing food waste systemwide."
Other recent Starbucks sustainability efforts include following up on Hacienda Alsacia, its first company-operated coffee farm which serves as its global agronomy headquarters for sustainability and innovation research and development located in Costa Rica, with new farms located in Guatemala and Costa Rica.
Founded in 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company operates more than 40,000 stores worldwide.
