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Executive Summary

Through a STaR analysis of the food and beverage industry, several changes have taken place in the social, technological and resource realms. Socially, more and more people do not have access to healthy yet affordable food. Technologically, the ability to connect people from all over can create an easier way to share resources, such as food. From there, resources are changing in the amount that goes to waste. Our sustainability opportunity, hopes to use these changes to our advantage. Waste to Want, will collect potential food waste and share the resource with those who do not have access to the food they need or cannot afford it.

Social

There are a few major social changes that are impacting the food and beverage industry. One of the large changes is that eating healthier food is a very popular trend that is growing more every day by people around the world. The trend of organic and freshly grown food has also become popular. This is because it is seen as healthier and “cleaner” for those trying to lose weight and be healthy, so eating that type of food would be the best option. This has affected menus at restaurants as well because they have to update their menus and change some of the menu items so it can cater more to those who were following those trends. Those are both positive effects as of late, but there has been negative effects as well. For example, with how difficult it can be to get to these products and the limited accessibility to them, price has gone up. The price of these organic and healthy meals is much higher than “normal” meals so they are not accessible to everyone. A few examples of people who can't regularly afford these meals could include college students and lower income households. Another negative effect would be the idea of “supersizing” everything in America. Food portions are growing larger and larger leading to more and more food waste in homes and especially restaurants. These social changes all have different impacts, and are also key components to focus on while moving more into our company’s goals and tasks.

Technological

One of the main changes in technology that is affecting the food and beverage industry is that it is allowing researchers to make new inferences about nutrition and food safety. This means that researchers are redefining the word “healthy” as it is used on food labels and discovering facts about how the food that has been perceived as healthy for the past 20 years is not as healthy as we thought. For example, in the past “fat free” pudding cups were labeled as healthy choices during the low fat diet craze but now we are seeing those certain fats being healthy. This is making it hard for companies in this industry to stay relevant in this competitive market which is striving for a healthier world, this often leads to more food waste because there is so much competition. A second change in the industry is food availability. Now, people are able to order groceries and other food products online and it can be delivered straight to their houses. This can often lead to over purchasing of food which then leads to food waste. This directly impacts our new venture because Waste to Not is trying to eliminate wasted food and repurpose it to feed the less fortunate. A third major change in technology is that it has never been easier to connect with people across the world and communicate ideas with each other using social media and smartphones. Social media helps people to gain access to recipes to repurpose their leftover food, local food and produce locations, and the ability to track our food waste.

Resources

The food and beverage industry refers to all companies involved in processing raw food materials, packaging, and distributing the food and other productions. The two main resources in the industry are labor resources and raw material resources. The first one is associated with the production department. It is vulnerable to litigation brought on by consumer groups and government agencies based on the production or offering of low-quality food products. Organizations in the food industry offer new employees the promotional training before they enter the production process, including the basic food health knowledge background and the skills of producing food and beverage. The second change of resources will be associated with the industry suppliers. Because of the high attention from consumers towards food safety and health, the quality of raw materials is a primary consideration of organizations in the food and beverage industry. Almost all of companies change to produce the raw materials by themselves. For example, dairy companies have their own farms to raise livestock’s that provide the basic materials of dairy products. By self-sufficiency, the company can guarantee the quality and safety of raw materials, thereby ensuring the character of the finished goods available for sell. We will ensure that the quality of food and health assurance, no matter what kind of food, will ensure the quality of the whole material.

Sustainability Opportunity

Waste to Want, a food pickup and delivery service, will go to restaurants to pick up leftover food that would normally be thrown away and will then donate the meals to people in lower income areas. The restaurants will have scheduled pick up times weekly and meal drop offs will also be scheduled on the same basis. A food truck will be utilized to make picks and drop offs. Meals will also be served in sustainable materials to decrease on waste when the people are done eating.

Our proposed service will seek to touch upon the three main focuses of sustainability: ecological, economical, and social. Ecologically we hope to cut down on overall food waste, landfill contribution and by using eco-friendly packaging. Economically, our service will provide a monetary relief to those who cannot afford food, cost of waste will decrease and restaurants do not have to pay to donate, it is a free service that many should want to take advantage of it. Socially, Waste for Want is providing food for those in need and again, cutting down on waste by prolonging the life of food that would otherwise be thrown away.

Through our STaR analysis above, we believe that the opportunity we are proposing could be beneficial in more ways than one. We have the ability to offer healthy options, based on the restaurants participating, use the technology available to use to provide and take advantage to the abundance of resources leftover at restaurants that can still be used in some way.