No Wasted Food, No Wasted Dollars

Minimizing F&B waste also means redirecting food to those who need it.

In March, Convene published stories about addressing food waste at events, drawing on the longtime expertise of Aurora Dawn Benton, founder of Astrapto, a sustainability and social impact consulting firm. In “Addressing ‘Prolifically Problematic’ Food Waste at Meetings,” Benton recommended that planners could begin to develop food-waste prevention practices by starting with the most commonly wasted foods: bread, pastries, and fruit.

“What can we do when we’re below our F&B minimum?” Barbra Josephson, director of meetings at the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology, asked in response to the story on the PCMA Catalyst community forum. “I’ve asked hotels if they can offer newly cooked food to a food bank, etc.?” she wrote. “This way I’m meeting my F&B minimum, but the food isn’t going to waste.”

We sent the question to Benton, who said it was something that she has suggested to venues in the past: “It doesn’t mean the venues will do it, but that is definitely a great idea,” Benton wrote. “It helps if the planner, especially if working with hotels where donation programs are more rare, can look up and contact a local organization the hotel can partner with for the donation. That helps remove some of the resistance and barriers.”

Barbara Palmer is deputy editor at Convene.