Did you know that 119 billion pounds of food, that’s billion with a “B”, is wasted each year in the U.S. alone? Meanwhile, 10 percent of our population – that’s nearly 34 million people - live with food insecurity daily.
One company is doing something to help keep food out of landfills and put it into the hands of people who might otherwise go hungry.
Joining us this morning is Brent Fielder, Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for Chick-fil-A, and Chef Lorris Gibson from St. Vinny's Bistro, a San Antonio-based nonprofit. For more information visit extrahelpings.com
One company is doing something to help keep food out of landfills and put it into the hands of people who might otherwise go hungry.
Joining us this morning is Brent Fielder, Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for Chick-fil-A, and Chef Lorris Gibson from St. Vinny's Bistro, a San Antonio-based nonprofit. For more information visit extrahelpings.com
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Did you know that 119 billion pounds of food, that's a billion with a B, is wasted each
00:06 year in the U.S. alone?
00:08 Meanwhile 10% of our population, that's nearly 34 million people, live with food insecurity
00:14 daily.
00:15 Well last week I talked with Brett Felder of Chick-fil-A and Chef Gibson from St. Vinny's
00:19 Bistro, a San Antonio-based non-profit, about how they are teaming up to help those in food
00:25 need.
00:26 Good morning, Brett and Chef Gibson, how are you doing this morning?
00:30 Good morning, doing well, thanks.
00:33 Brett, let's talk here about what your company is doing with your leftover food.
00:39 Yeah, so food insecurity we know is a big issue in the United States and we wanted to
00:44 do something about it.
00:45 Ask ourselves as a restaurant company, what is our responsibility?
00:48 So we developed the Shared Table Program, which is a program that allows our local owner
00:53 operators across the country to be able to take their surplus and excess food and be
00:57 able to donate it to local non-profit partners.
01:00 Those like we'll hear from today, then take that excess food and turn it into amazing
01:05 meals to be able to serve those in need.
01:07 Yeah, so important there.
01:09 And Chef Gibson, this is very important of course, these kind of programs for non-profits
01:14 like yours, right?
01:18 Absolutely.
01:20 One thing also is really near and dear to me because I was once a client and also experienced
01:26 homelessness and being that I was a chef, I really wanted to put my best foot forward
01:32 and take care of our brothers and sisters in need.
01:35 So partnering with Shared Table and Chick-fil-A has been tremendous.
01:40 It's allowed us to make, or allowed me to create a variety of menu items such as their
01:48 chicken nuggets, using those for wonderful dishes for breakfast, such as chicken and
01:53 waffles, smothered chicken, as well as sweet and sour chicken.
01:59 And we just been really grateful for this partnership with Shared Table and Chick-fil-A.
02:05 So thank you.
02:06 Yeah, you know, Chef and Brent, this is so important because it's actually giving those
02:11 who are hungry a great meal, not just something that is brought out of a, I hate to say, a
02:18 cardboard box, but this is something that's nutritious, helping them and stuff, which
02:21 is so important.
02:22 It makes them feel more important that someone cares about them.
02:26 And Brent, talking about caring, let's talk about also how you guys are being sustainable
02:30 with food.
02:32 Yeah, so we, again, this food donation program is a great way for us to be able to help us
02:37 divert food from the landfill.
02:40 And so that's just a really great place for us to be able to ask as a restaurant company,
02:44 not only are we diverting food waste, but we're actually being able to help other people.
02:48 And even to celebrate this and to be able to shine a light on it, we have launched our
02:52 very first cookbook.
02:53 This cookbook is called Extra Helpings, and this cookbook is inspired by our Shared Table
02:59 program.
03:00 So as you go through that cookbook, you're going to find recipes from a lot of our nonprofit
03:04 partners from across the country.
03:05 You're also going to see stories of their impact that they're having in their local
03:09 communities.
03:10 We've dropped a few little hidden nuggets in there as well with some of our classic
03:13 Chick-fil-A recipes that you might not be able to find at the restaurant anymore.
03:16 But we hope with this cookbook that, one, it raises awareness about food insecurity
03:21 in our country, but we also hope that it will inspire at-home chefs, people like you and
03:26 me, to think about what do we do with surplus food that we have in our own homes, and how
03:30 can we repurpose that food to help collectively minimize food waste in the country.
03:36 Wow, this is a great cookbook.
03:37 I love it.
03:38 And Chef, tell me some of your favorite recipes out of this book.
03:41 Well, one of our favorite recipes is our St. Vinny's Bistro Sweet and Sour Chicken.
03:48 As you can see here, beautiful dish, very tasty, has a sweet and savory flavor going
03:57 on.
03:58 But it has simple items that you can grab out of your cupboard and use them.
04:05 Granulated sugar, brown sugar, soy sauce, and it's just tremendous as a dish.
04:13 Yeah, I like this.
04:14 I'll tell you, this is definitely going to come handy for a lot of different reasons.
04:18 And we love that Chick-fil-A is about the community, about giving back.
04:22 And I think it shows from when you order to when you get your food.
04:26 And now it's going to even go more with the way that you're taking food to those in need,
04:31 Brent.
04:32 And it's so important.
04:33 So where can we find more about the cookbook and, of course, about what you guys are doing
04:36 out in the community?
04:37 Yeah, absolutely.
04:38 So genuinely, we hope that you do feel cared for when you come by our restaurants and see
04:43 the ways that we're also impacting our community.
04:45 So we encourage you to go to extrahelpings.com.
04:48 There you'll be able to access this free digital cookbook.
04:51 And also go to chickfila.com/sharedtable.
04:54 That's going to tell you more about this amazing program that our operators are helping facilitate
04:59 all over the country to help those in need.
05:01 Wow, this is amazing.
05:02 And I thank both of you for joining us this morning.
05:05 Great.
05:06 Thank you for having us.
05:07 Thank you for having us.
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