The Washington, D.C.-based José Andrés Group (JAG) restaurants have long worked to reduce food waste. Now the 45-unit group is rolling out a technology solution that makes that effort easier and scalable.
JAG is among a growing number of restaurant chains tapping Copia, a technology platform that helps restaurant operators redirect their surplus food and ingredients to food banks and other nonprofits that feed those in need.
Food waste is a huge problem in the battle against climate change. Almost 40% of the food produced in this country is estimated to go uneaten. When that waste rots in landfills, it creates super-polluting methane that contributes to global warming.
Meanwhile, an estimated 47.4 million Americans live in food-insecure households, according to Copia, including nearly 14 million children.
And, of course, restaurants often have surplus food they cannot sell.
An obvious answer to those three problems is for restaurants to donate surplus food to those in need, which prevents waste from ending up in landfills.
But the donation process is surprisingly complicated for restaurant operators to manage, particularly restaurant chains working in different markets, said Sam Bakhshandehpour, CEO of JAG restaurants.
“It’s market by market—even food bank by food bank— the rules can differ on what they accept,” he said. “This business is hard enough to open the doors and close the doors, and to operate in between. To layer this on as another responsibility for the team, it’s complicated.”
That’s where Copia comes in.
Copia CEO Kimberly Smith said the platform is the first with national reach to automate and streamline the donation process, allowing restaurants to “feed people, not landfills.”
The goal is to make food donation as frictionless as possible, said Smith, but also to make doing the right thing easy, and profitable.
“Hunger is not a scarcity issue. It’s a logistics issue,” said Smith.
In markets across the country, restaurant operators that have surplus food can open the Copia app (or connect to Copia through an API within their back-of-the-house system) to be matched with a nonprofit looking for donations.
That might be a food bank, after-school program or shelter for abused women, for example. Smith said Copia is agnostic, and there are all manner of organizations in need.
Through the app, the restaurant can schedule a pickup when it’s convenient. That allows them to avoid the lunch rush, for example, or after an event when the team can have the donation ready.
Copia can dispatch a third-party driver to deliver the food to the appointed nonprofit. The system generates automatic receipts for tax purposes.
Smith notes that the Internal Revenue Service also allows businesses to factor in labor, utility and packaging costs into the value of the donation. So operators not only can feel better about reducing waste from a climate change perspective, but they can also reduce their own food costs while they help feed their communities.
“It turns this unavoidable cost into a measurable asset,” she said.
Bakhshandehpour noted that operators also receive data that can be useful in managing food production. By seeing what ends up as surplus, operators can then reduce waste by not creating it from the start.
“When you start measuring what’s being donated, you might see excess in a certain ingredient or dish,” he said. “Then you can modify it to bring the cost down.”
There is a cost for the service, which varies, and is designed largely to cover the food delivery. For some, it might be based on donation, while other operators can pay on a subscription basis, Smith said.
JAG is using Copia at three locations currently: the Ritz-Carlton South Beach in Florida, the Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad and Mercado Little Spain in New York City.
Bakhshandehpour said the next step is to connect JAG restaurants in Washington, D.C., with the Copia platform, and then, eventually, all 45 domestic restaurants within the group.
To date, JAG estimates it has redirected about 4,000 pounds of food to nonprofits, including 3,407 meals. Those donations are estimated to have prevented about 12,591 pounds of carbon emissions and saved 932,000 gallons of water.
Smith could not say how many restaurants are working with the Copia platform, which is available in 43 states, Canada and Puerto Rico. But other chains include The Cheesecake Factory, and True Food Kitchen, for example, as well as a number of hotel brands.
Smith said the platform is a fit for companies like JAG, which has a mission of changing the world through the power of food.
“It’s leadership in action,” she said. “This team is really showing how hospitality can extend beyond their own dining rooms.”
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