Food Rescue US and Centerplate Recover Over 7,000 Pounds of Food from College Football National Championship
January 25, 2021
Meals rescued from the game were provided to food insecure individuals throughout greater Miami area
Miami, FL, January 22, 2021 – National food recovery leader Food Rescue US and Centerplate, the exclusive food and beverage partner at Hard Rock Stadium, recovered over 7,000 lbs. of excess food from this year’s College Football Playoff National Championship, hosted at Hard Rock Stadium. Food recovered from the game was provided to community-based social service agencies supporting food insecure individuals throughout Miami.
“This year, more than ever, it is important for us to give back to the local communities in which we serve,” said Centerplate / Sodexo Sports & Leisure Chief Executive Officer Steve Pangburn. “We are thrilled to work with Food Rescue US to safely preserve and deliver unused trays of food for the betterment of the local community.”
Food Rescue US, Centerplate and Executive Chef Dayanny de la Cruz have partnered together on food recovery initiatives at Hard Rock Stadium since September 2019, including recovering over 40,000 pounds of excess food from the 2020 Super Bowl in partnership with NFL Green.
Over the past year, Food Rescue US – Miami has provided over 323,000 meals and kept 387,000 pounds of food from landfill under the leadership of site director Ellen Bowen, including 55,000 individual meals through their Community Kitchen program. The Community Kitchen Program supports employment for restaurant staff while providing chef-prepared meals free of charge to food insecure individuals and families, including furloughed and unemployed workers in many of the city’s most underserved areas.
“Miami, including the hospitality and entertainment industries, has been hit hard by COVID-19,” said Carol Shattuck, CEO of Food Rescue US. “Through our strong partnership with Centerplate and Hard Rock Stadium, we have continued to find ways to source excess food and have made sure it is getting to those who desperately need it right now.”
Started in 2011, Food Rescue US is currently rescuing in 39 locations throughout the U.S., including Miami and Broward counties. Using its proprietary software, food donors are connected with local social service agencies that feed the food insecure and volunteer food rescuers who directly transfer healthy, excess food from the food donor to social service agencies.
About Food Rescue US
Food Rescue US, a national nonprofit organization, is a leader in reducing both hunger and food waste in America by connecting the vast amount of healthy, fresh surplus food with the critical hunger demand. Through the use of its proprietary software, Food Rescue US provides the platform for volunteer food rescuers to directly transfer excess food from businesses to local social service agencies that feed the food insecure. By providing food that would otherwise be wasted and delivering it to the food insecure, Food Rescue US is keeping this wasted food from ending up in landfill where it decomposes, creating methane gas that warms the planet. Since 2011, Food Rescue US has helped launch food recovery communities in 39 locations across the country, providing 56 million meals and keeping 75 million pounds of food out of landfills. For more information, visit our website, find us on Facebook @FoodRescueUS or follow us on Twitter @foodrescueUS.
About Centerplate
Centerplate is a leader in live event hospitality, "Making It Better To Be There®" for more than 115 million guests each year at more than 200 prominent entertainment, sports and convention venues. From hosting VIPs at the Super Bowl to superheroes at Comic Con, the company provides hospitality services to North America's premier events. A Sodexo company, Centerplate creates unique, locally-inspired menus, best-in-class guest service, and one-of-a-kind experiences backed by world-class design and insights teams. Visit the company online, connect via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
