Amid various controversies and a recent class-action lawsuit, Starbucks aims to help other people — especially those in need. The renowned coffee company announced its new initiative to minimize waste and at the same time help provide food for the hungry.
Soon, people who are in need in the United States could have access to free and ready-to-eat food from Starbucks. The company pledges to donate 100 percent of its leftover food, which were not bought by customers until closing time, through the program dubbed FoodShare.
"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," he added.
The company's initiative, if successful, could provide nearly 5 million meals to people and their families in need just in its first year. Starbucks plans to improve and expand the program in the next five years and collect 100 percent of its food for donation from participating stores. By 2021, nearly 50 million meals for Americans in need will be donated.
Working With Partners
Together with non-profit organization, Feeding America; and food collection group, Food Donation Connection (FDC), the company can donate perishable food from its 7,600 stores to food banks across the United States.
FDC is an organization that collects food that can no longer be sold to clients. In the past six years, Starbucks have donated pastries through the support of the organization and now plans to create a safe process to include perishable food to the pick-up.
Recently, Feeding America came into the picture. This group is the largest domestic hunger-relief and food-rescue non-profit organization in the country. It will collect perishable food from Starbucks stores through a refrigerated van and deliver it to the Feeding America network to be distributed to homeless people and those who are in need.
According to Feeding America, about 46.7 million people were in poverty in 2014. In the same year, an estimated 48.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households, where food access is not always available. This includes 32.8 million adults and 15.3 million children.
"Like many of our social impact initiatives, the innovation and inspiration comes from our partners who are volunteering in and contributing to their communities," John Kelly, Starbucks Global Responsibility, Community and Public Policy senior vice president, said.
"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," he added.
