Compass Group’s Stop Food Waste Day goes virtual

Compass Group is planning a virtual event for its annual Stop Food Waste Day in collaboration with Food Tank, a nonprofit aimed at finding sustainable solutions to alleviate hunger, obesity and poverty.

Held on the last Wednesday of April, Stop Food Waste Day was created by Compass USA in 2017 to raise consumer awareness about reducing food waste in their personal lives. 

Traditionally, Compass chefs celebrate the day through in-person events at the company's cafes throughout the country. While this year's event will be virtual due to COVID-19, Compass and Food Tank hope to reach even more people with the new format.

“A virtual event allows it to be much more inclusive and reach, in some ways, a much wider audience of people who couldn't attend in person in the past,” says Food Tank President Danielle Nirenberg. 

Attendees will hear from chefs as well as civic and business leaders, including Emily Ma, head of Food for Good at Google, and Dana Gunders, executive director of ReFED, a food waste nonprofit, about how they can take steps in their daily lives to reduce food waste. 

“Our whole hope is for everyone to just to do one thing different and then to share what they're doing to get their friends to do one thing different,” says Amy Keister, senior vice president of sustainability and culinary for Compass Group USA and a founder of Stop Food Waste Day.

Related:What’s the state of sustainability amid COVID-19?