An hour before lunchtime at My Sister’s House, food service supervisor Carlyn Ashley watched as a load of steaks and potatoes from a restaurant across town were placed in her storage closet. For Ashley, it was time to plan a menu for the women in the program that is connected to the Atlanta Mission.
“They might have some LongHorn for lunch,” she said.
Behind the scenes, a sophisticated logistics network connects some of the country’s biggest restaurant brands — KFC, Pizza Hut, the Cheesecake Factory, Panera Bread, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Darden Restaurants — with nonprofits, charities and other groups that need prepared food. It’s a tougher job than collecting canned goods; prepared food is harder to keep fresh. There are food safety regulations and quick shelf lives to consider. But food retrievers have found allies among chefs and restaurant executives in salvaging food that might otherwise go to waste.
“Our job is to be the coordinating arm,” said Bill Reighard, a former Pizza Hut executive who leads the Food Donation Connection, a for-profit organization. “We are in charge of connecting the very high-speed restaurant industry with the client, the nonprofits. We’re giving them food they didn’t know existed.”
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