Rescuing 2,400 pounds of frozen chicken in less than 24 hours
Jay-Ell Meats is a major Boston-based food manufacturer and distributor with sales in excess of $100 million. In accordance with industry practices, they manufacture food in advance of orders so retail customers will never be shorted on an order. Sometimes they make more products than the orders that were anticipated. Then these surplus items have too little marketable shelf life remaining for the requirements of its retail customers but are still completely healthy and safe for consumers. Companies normally call a food bank to arrange a refrigerated truck pick up.
But the process of getting the “free” food to where it can be consumed by people in need can be a complicated one. Let’s consider a recent call from Jay-Ell. The company had 2,400 pounds (240 boxes) of frozen chicken breasts that needed to leave the warehouse within 24 hours. If a recipient couldn’t be found for them quickly, they would end up being destroyed on location.
At 9:00 a.m. the warehouse supervisor at Jay-Ell called the food bank to pick up the product.
The food bank had no freezer space available and so refused the donation.
Next the warehouse supervisor called a regional food rescue agency (Person One) to take the donation but they had no freezer truck available so they refused the donation.
Next the warehouse supervisor called a second agency (Person Two) with the message “Take it--all or none!”
The second regional food agency only had space for 40 cases so they couldn’t take it.
The second food agency started reaching out to a third agency but that contact was in a meeting and could not be reached for hours.
Meanwhile, Person One had sent a few emails to other contacts to see if anyone else that had truck and frozen storage space available at the time could claim the chicken. One person responded and said they couldn’t take 2,400 pounds, but could use 400 pounds but unfortunately had no driver available. Person Two called back Person One, but Person One was busy trying to negotiate a deal to get several bushels of apples from another vendor, so they missed the call.
It’s now 2:00 p.m. and the chicken needs to find a recipient within the next three hours because the warehouse supervisor goes home at 5:00 p.m. and the chicken will be disposed of that night.
One promising potential recipient had to decline because Jay-Ell required a lift gate on site for delivery and the agency didn’t have any loading docks or enough cold storage to hold and redistribute.
Fortunately, Person One and Person Two finally connect with Person Three.
Person Three could transport frozen meat but had no warehouse freezer space. Because of their local neighborhood knowledge, Person Three knew of a pop-up pantry in a nearby community that has a long line of recipients waiting for food.
Person Three is able to pick up the chicken at 4:50 p.m. and bring it directly to the pop up pantry where it is given out to people in need within two hours.
Eight hours later- Food Rescued - people received nutritious product. SUCCESS!
If you found reading this confusing, welcome to the world of food rescue!
The path between available food and the consumer is not a straightforward one. Multiply these phone calls and emails in the Jay Ell case alone by the dozens of different food items that organizations handle each day in their mission to feed people in need and you will see why we need a better way.