This was definitely one of the hardest things to get used to in
the job of food demos. You probably don’t
know this but doing demos requires you to be very wasteful. That really caught me off guard because I was
always taught not to throw away food.
Growing up the way we did, on a farm in a sharecropper's shack, food was
a precious thing not to be wasted for any reason. It about killed me to dump good food into the
trash at the end of the shift. I’m used
to it now, which is probably awful to say, but after a year and a half these
are the rules if you want to work there.
I see new people we hire struggling with this idea now.
The main reason to throw food away is for sanitation reasons. Some food has to be refrigerated and we have
coolers with ice to keep it fresh all day.
Some of this can be returned if it’s not opened, but much has to get tossed and it can’t be returned
and put into the coolers for sale again once we've had it out on the floor for demos. This is so wasteful. But one good thing is we're allowed to give unopened
can products and dry goods to the homeless shelter. At least someone is getting the benefit of
this food and it isn’t ending up in the landfill.
We try to salvage cooked food and give what we can to the guys
on the loading dock when it’s possible. That
way it doesn’t go to waste either and end up in the trash can. But we still have to throw away LOTS of
food. I never realized this about the
food industry. It seems so sad when
there are so many hungry people out there in the world. You would certainly think there was a better
way of doing things with all the other kinds of things we can do these days.
I had a friend who worked at McDonald's in his youth. He said if they made too many hamburger patties in anticipation of a rush and the rush didn't come, after a certain time they all had to be thrown away. (Now maybe they've changed practices since that was a long time ago). Its a delicate balance having what you need for demos, but then having minimal waste. Son worked at a coffee house type of cafe a few years back. They would donate at the end of the day all the leftover bread, muffins, etc., to the homeless shelter, but of course those were items that didn't need to be kept refrigerated, etc.
ReplyDeletebetty
Betty,m
DeleteWe can donate nonperishable items to a homeless shelter if they aren't opened. Anything opened and not used has to get dumped. Sometimes we give this opened stuff to the guys on the loading dock who are there way after we leave. I'd rather do that instead of tossing into the trash. I really try to manage my demos now and change the portions accordingly so I have little waste to throw out. I feel better about that at the end of the day.
Sunni