An innovative approach to processing orders and preparation is helping Aramark and the Kansas City Chiefs prepare just enough food for followers of the National Football League based on ticket sales, promotions, and tickets scanned.
Aramark and the Chiefs have also partnered with local charity, Pete's Garden, to redirect uneaten and untouched food to organizations throughout the Greater Kansas City area that serve families in need.
Aramark Sports + Entertainment's District Manager, Tim Witkowski, sits on the Food Waste Reduction Project Advisory Committee and works to publicize and deploy food waste reduction strategies to support the Kansas City Regional Food Loss and Waste Reduction Action Plan.
He explains: “Although our goal is always to eliminate food waste before it is generated, there may still be instances when we have excess safe-to-eat food available.
"Our food donation program provides this food to hunger relief agencies, like Pete’s Garden, who distribute meals to organizations that serve families with children.
"We donate thousands of pounds of food each year, which helps feed families in the Kansas City community and keeps surplus prepared food out of landfills.”
Food donations don’t just come from meals that weren’t served inside GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, which plays home to the Chiefs.
Aramark also redirects surplus food from the player training meals.
In 2023 alone, these food donations to Pete’s Garden totaled 5,938 pounds (2693 kg), or 5,000 meals to Kansas City area families.
We donate thousands of pounds of food each year, which helps feed families in the Kansas City community and keeps surplus prepared food out of landfills.
“Aramark and the Chiefs appreciate that we can redirect surplus food from our player training meals to local families facing food insecurity.
These waste reduction efforts support the Chiefs' "Extra Yard for the Environment" program, which encompasses several directives that each aim to make GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and the University of Kansas Health System Training Complex as environmentally efficient and responsible as possible.
Aramark is a USDA Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champion and is committed to reducing food loss and waste in its U.S. operations 50% by 2030 from its 2015 baseline. For fiscal year 2023, pre-consumer food waste in U.S. food operations was 73% lower than the company's 2015 baseline.
We are pleased to support their efforts to get nutritious meals on more family dinner tables,” says Erin Wishon, Senior Executive Chef for Aramark with the Kansas City Chiefs.
These waste reduction efforts support the Chiefs’ "Extra Yard for the Environment" program, which encompasses several directives that each aim to make GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and the University of Kansas Health System Training Complex as environmentally efficient and responsible as possible.
Aramark is a USDA Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champion and is committed to reducing food loss and waste in its U.S. operations 50% by 2030 from its 2015 baseline.
For fiscal year 2023, pre-consumer food waste in U.S. food operations was 73% lower than the company’s 2015 baseline.
The group has also been a member of the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, an industry collaboration focused on reducing waste and finding ways to donate or recycle unavoidable food waste, for nearly a decade.
