A Chipotle employee shared their frustration about food waste at their workplace on Reddit, igniting an important conversation about restaurant policies and waste reduction.
The post in the r/Chipotle community gained traction as the worker described asking their general manager if they could take home food that was going to be thrown away at closing time.
"While closing our store, I asked my GM if I could make a bowl or two to take home since the food was getting thrown away," the employee wrote. "I kid you not, this dude tells me no, then proceeds to dump 3lbs of rice and 3lbs of steak and other s*** into the TRASH."
When the worker suggested that employees bringing food home would reduce waste, the manager responded: "It [doesn't] matter if we throw it away, we can't [take] food home."
"To any Upper management, is there any 'logical' reason why we can't take food besides our employee meals?" the employee asked the Reddit community.
On the corporate level, Chipotle has policies to reduce food waste, including programs such as the "Mindful Prep" initiative, which the company says "trains restaurant staff to minimize food waste during the preparation process, along with targeted initiatives to reduce packaging." Chipotle says this has "lowered the amount of total waste upfront." The company also participates in "right sizing" to adjust its supply at each restaurant.
Most notably, the company said in 2018 that it sought to have "80 percent of its restaurants … participate in the Harvest Program, which donates leftover food to local community organizations." In the company's 2023 Sustainability Report Update, it said 100% of new stores are participating in the program.
Still, as the employee noted, food waste happens, and not all individual locations may follow the best laid plans espoused in a set of corporate sustainability goals. As one commenter said, "a lot of stores participate in Harvest, where the food is donated after being made safe again (I've worked at three separate stores, only one ACTUALLY did this)."
This kind of food waste hurts both businesses and the environment. When restaurants discard good food, they miss opportunities to reduce hunger in their communities while adding unnecessary waste to landfills.
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Not enough time ⏳ Food that breaks down in landfills produces methane, a potent heat-trapping gas, without providing any societal benefit. Solutions include donating safe, unused food to shelters or food banks, giving it to employees, or composting it.
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The Reddit post attracted many comments about why businesses might have such policies.
One commenter explained: "There's actually laws protecting people who donate from being sued.
"The reasons are profits. Who transports the food to be donated? Not the company. They won't spend money on that.
"Then there's the problem of reduced demand. A homeless guy could save $10 from panhandling to get a burrito or he could get one from a shelter. They'd prefer the $10."
Some shared more hopeful experiences: "In my region (Los Angeles), grocery stores do donate food from their deli or food that is under the store brand. I'm part of a local group that picks up deli food from Ralph's, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Vons/Albertsons and hands them out.
"More broadly, companies such as Too Good To Go and Flashfood exist to address these problems by contracting with businesses like restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores to help them sell soon-to-be-expiring food for a discount.
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