On August 20, Project Green Fork hosted a Food Donation Training for Businesses at Café Eclectic, bringing together ten participants from seven local businesses and organizations. The one-hour session equipped attendees with tools, knowledge, and real-life examples of how food donation can be simple, safe, and impactful for both businesses and the community.
Businesses represented included Corinne’s Very Special Catering, Memphis Botanic Garden, Chef Phillip Dewayne Catering, the in-house caterer for Dixon Gallery and Gardens, RK Bluff City, Fratelli’s Fine Catering, Collage Dance Studio, and Overton Park Shell.
Why this training matters
Caterers and event spaces often face the challenge of managing food that moves in and out constantly. When surplus arises, staff may not know the easiest or safest way to redirect it. Too often, this food ends up in the trash, even when it’s perfectly good to eat. Project Green Fork recognized an opportunity to help businesses remove these barriers to donation and ensure surplus food reaches people, not landfills.
Food donation is a win-win: businesses save money on hauling costs, reduce waste, and give back to the community. At the same time, local nonprofits receive the high-quality food they need to serve Memphians experiencing hunger.
Success stories in action
The training opened with Cathy Bouldin of Café Eclectic, who shared her restaurant’s journey. Before adopting Careit, the donation-tracking software that Project Green Fork sponsors for Mid-South businesses, Café Eclectic often struggled with logistics. Staff turnover at recipient organizations, last-minute phone calls, and inconsistent pickups made donation stressful.
Switching to Careit nearly two years ago changed everything.
With a recurring donation schedule and seamless pickup coordination, Café Eclectic has since donated more than 5,600 pounds of biscuits, all without the headaches of the past.
Next, Barb Boucher of Recover Food Feed Hope highlighted the receiving side of the donation process. Her organization uses church and community volunteers to transform donated food into individually packaged meals, distributed to after-school programs, community centers, and groups serving people experiencing homelessness.
Connected to a network of donors through Careit, Recover Food Feed Hope expects to distribute more than 30,000 meals in 2025 – all with rescued food that might have otherwise gone to waste.
What we covered
Through trivia questions, stories, and hands-on software demos, participants walked through the “why, what, and how” of food donation:
Why donate? Food in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is about 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in its first 20 years. In Memphis, about 40% of materials sent to landfills are food-related. Meanwhile, one in seven Shelby County residents experiences food insecurity. Safe, surplus food can instead be part of the solution. Federal and state laws, including the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, protect donors from liability when food safety standards are met.
What to donate? Unserved back-of-house food, unopened ingredients, and packaged items that are past printed dates, but still wholesome, are all eligible. Foods already served to consumers, like buffet trays, cannot be donated.
How to donate? The group received a step-by-step tutorial on Careit. Attendees even practiced by posting a demo donation on their own devices, so they left with practical experience and confidence.
Building a culture of food rescue
Project Green Fork believes that surplus food offers an opportunity to connect Memphians around something that we already do well – cook and share good food.
By offering expertise, training, and access to Careit at no cost, PGF helps donors and nonprofits alike make food rescue simple and sustainable.
And yes – true to the spirit of the session – we didn’t let the cookies and snack bars from the event go to waste. They were rescued, too.
