Back in 2014, Chef Jagger Gordon began his mission of creating the Feed it Forward program and Soup Bar after witnessing the huge amount of food going to waste at his catering gig. This drove him to find a way that makes food distribution and consumption much more efficient. He began with a pop-up kitchen, serving meals for free with food that would have gone right to the landfill. This grew to become much more and the Soup Bar was born, serving as Toronto's very first pay-what-you-can restaurant.
Farmers, bakeries, and restaurateurs would donate food to the matter, and with any monetary donation going right towards buying luncheon meat to make sandwiches and exotic soups.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Reducing Food Waste
- Opportunity to develop innovative solutions that minimize food waste and promote sustainability in the food industry.
- Pay-what-you-can Model
- Opportunity to implement a pay-what-you-can pricing strategy to make products or services accessible to a wider range of customers.
- Collaborative Food Distribution
- Opportunity to create a collaborative network between farmers, bakeries, and restaurateurs to efficiently distribute surplus food and reduce food waste.
Where This Applies
- Food Service Industry
- Opportunity for restaurants and food service businesses to adopt a pay-what-you-can model and contribute to reducing food waste.
- Food Distribution Industry
- Opportunity for food distributors to develop efficient systems for redistributing surplus food and connecting food donors with organizations in need.
- Sustainable Agriculture Industry
- Opportunity for farmers and agricultural businesses to collaborate with food service providers to minimize food waste and promote sustainable practices.
