Smart PR

Food waste is a problem in the US.  Billions of pounds of edible products are buried in landfills annually because they had reached their “sale-by” dates although they remain nutritious.  That is why this announcement by Starbucks is important and smart PR.  The company will use refrigerated trucks to pick up unsold food from its stores and redistribute it to the needy.  It is a major commitment to fighting hunger and will provide 50 million meals annually when the program is fully implemented by 2021.  This came about through suggestions by employees who saw a way for good food from being thrown out.  If more corporations did the same thing, hunger in America might be an affliction of the past and landfills would have more space for garbage.  There are other services that pick up food from restaurants such as City Harvest, but the Starbucks commitment is an important step for a retail chain.