If you've ever ordered a beverage and pastry from Starbucks, you might notice the employees may not always grab a baked good from the front of the display case. According to food and drink site Tasting Table, the brand has a controversial practice of using real food for display without always serving or donating those items.
What's happening?
Starbucks workers have at times taken to Reddit and TikTok to highlight the coffee chain's food waste problem. Some have alleged that, rather than showcase images or 3D-printed or artificial treats, Starbucks displays actual pastries that baristas "rarely" serve and frequently toss out at the end of the day, according to a report by Tasting Table.
Tasting Table made the case that the move goes against the company's FoodShare mission to avoid throwing out food unnecessarily. Staff in the social media posts that the outlet collected also spoke up about pastry cases with flies in them as well as the time it takes to arrange the displays each morning and clean them out each night.
In a statement to The Cool Down, Starbucks said it does set standards for its company-owned locations to donate food.
"Since 2016, our partners have championed the Starbucks FoodShare program, which now operates in 100% of our company-owned stores in the U.S. and Canada," the spokesperson said. "Through this program, we donate unsold food — including fresh, perishable items like sandwiches and salads — to hunger relief organizations like Feeding America and Second Harvest Canada. To date, we've donated more than 67 million meals and diverted over 81 million pounds of food from waste streams."
The spokesperson explained that this policy extends to all items that are safe to consume but said that there are items at the end of the day that may not be safe for donation under its guidelines.
"Starbucks uses Retail Public Health and Food Safety standards to determine what qualifies as 'approved to donate food,'" the statement said. "These standards are in place to ensure we are safely donating nourishing, ready-to-eat meals. In instances where food is no longer safe per these regulations, it is our responsibility to remove it from the floor. That is not food waste — it is a public health commitment."
Why is Starbucks' food waste concerning?
The United States wastes 30-40% of the food supply, of which 31% occurs at the retail and consumer levels. All that food could feed those experiencing hunger.
Restaurants are a significant source of food waste, throwing away 10% of their stocks before customers can enjoy it. This is often due to poor inventory management and overproduction.
Excess waste also has tremendous impacts on the planet. In a study of 20% of the 1,200 open landfills in the United States, researchers found over half produce immense methane gas plumes that linger for months. Methane's warming effect is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide's.
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Not enough time ⏳ What's being done about it?
Beyond Starbucks' FoodShare donation program, Starbucks' sustainability efforts include a mixture of ups and downs, with some environmentally friendly initiatives and some practices that are harder to defend.
For instance, though the company implemented a free refill program with ceramic cups for dine-in patrons to reduce waste that has been widely praised, a study on its recycling initiative showed that 32 out of 36 recyclable plastic cups from Starbucks ended up in landfills. Additionally, each 2,000-mile round trip CEO Brian Niccol takes to its headquarters in Seattle reportedly emits almost 9 tons of carbon dioxide.
Starbucks has addressed its display case food waste issue before, with a spokesperson placing responsibility on store partners to maintain baked goods' quality standards throughout the day and utilize the FoodShare donation model.
At that time, the company was responding to a video from Starbucks staff who had posted a video about having to deny customers food they were throwing away after it had been on display all day. Tasting Table made the point that this practice is still seen at many locations even if corporate policies outline better procedures, so individual store practices may often come down to each location's own management.
Starbucks' overarching point is that it asks its staff to ensure standards for any food that is to be sold or donated and that it has to be careful that any food is still safe to eat. That line is always going to be open to some debate, and individual managers and staff members at locations could in many cases err on the side of food safety when in doubt. If there are imperfections, feedback from baristas and customers can be an important way to help the chain calibrate on these matters or consider other strategies for items at high risk of spoilage.
Over time, this feedback can lead to new initiatives. For example, since June 2023, stores nationwide are supposed to stop displaying wraps and breakfast sandwiches in the case and sell what they can of the bakery contents at the end of the day, donating the rest.
Editor's note: This article was updated to add context and commentary gathered from a statement about food waste reduction and donation practices issued by Starbucks.
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