We often perceive wasted food as the cost of doing business in independent restaurants. But today, with supply chain disruptions, the growing cost of food, and staffing challenges, those costs are becoming increasingly burdensome, creating an opening to reframe food waste reduction as the critical opportunity it is – to drive operational efficiency, deliver unique customer experiences, improve profit margins, and/or create a competitive advantage.
That's why our current open call for the Catalytic Grant Fund is focused on accelerating the adoption of food waste solutions for restaurants. We're looking for proven or pilot-ready solutions that are simple, affordable, and convenient to implement and/or have a strong business case for small to medium-sized independent restaurants – including increased cost savings, improved staff retention, higher customer acquisition, and more.
And to bolster the catalytic nature of this open call, we're excited to announce that a subset of the selected grantees will get a unique opportunity to pilot their solution with restaurants.
ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP
This open call is made possible by the generous support of our anchor funder, Toast.org, which is dedicated to enriching the food experience for all and creating a healthier, more sustainable, and equitable world. Toast.org is the social impact arm of Toast, the cloud-based, all-in-one technology platform that helps restaurants streamline operations, increase revenue, and deliver amazing guest experiences.
We hosted an informational webinar for prospective applicants about the Catalytic Grant Fund’s newest open call targeting restaurant food waste on Wednesday, November 1, 2023. Watch the recording to learn more about what makes a strong application and participate in a live Q&A session with the Catalytic Grant Fund Team.
The ReFED Catalytic Grant Fund aims to accelerate the development and implementation of food waste solutions across the full food system by providing non-recoverable and recoverable grants and post-grant support to initiatives with high impact potential as measured by food waste reduced and GHG emissions reduced. The Catalytic Grant Fund...
We are deeply grateful to our anchor funder for the current open call – Toast.org – and all other donors who share our mission and vision for a more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive food system. If you would like to learn more about the Catalytic Grant Fund and discuss a contribution, please email Alexandria Coari at [email protected] or enter your information in the form below.
Consumers are the largest total generators of food waste, but it's not always easy for them to change wasteful behaviors. This first Open Call is focused on solutions and innovations in need of funding that can enable consumers to actively reduce their food waste at home – as well as in restaurant and foodservice settings – by making it obvious, affordable, and convenient. To bolster these solutions, the Catalytic Grant Fund seeks to support initiatives at a local, regional, and/or national level.
The ReFED Catalytic Grant Fund provides recoverable and non-recoverable grants to nonprofit and for-profit organizations to help de-risk and scale high-impact solutions to food waste. We're proud to support the following grantees:
Transparent Path is working toward providing inventory traceability across the food supply chain through its existing platform and aims to develop a mobile app that builds consumer capacity to reduce food waste by giving them real-time information on freshness based on data and by reminding them to use purchased food before it spoils.
Blue Earth Compost is bringing share tables paired with composting initiatives to Connecticut public schools combined with a food waste reduction classroom curriculum and toolkit to help others replicate the model elsewhere.
Food Cycle Science Corporation (FCS) provides an at-home food waste recycling solution through its state-of-the-art countertop units, giving consumers a convenient, mess- and odor-free option for diverting their food waste from landfill and avoiding greenhouse gas emissions. FCS is seeking to expand its municipality partnership model into the US, through which FCS helps communities save on waste management costs and reduce food waste and harmful emissions, while creating a nutrient-rich byproduct that can be incorporated into compost and soil.
Food Shift is developing The Food Shift Kitchen Guide with the aim of maximizing food use for household budgets and shifting consumer mindsets and behaviors to reduce wasted food in homes, schools, restaurants, and grocery stores.
Food Recovery Network is a nonprofit growing their proven model of donation coordination and matching with a DEIJ lens.
Growing Places Garden Project is developing a Fresh Chef Kit program and composting initiative to provide locally sourced and lightly processed produce to SNAP households in North Central Massachusetts by making the kits eligible for the local Healthy Incentive Program.
Hidden Gems is a for-profit business which offers a solution to recycle the 800M pounds per year of nutrient-rich avocado pits that currently go into landfill.
University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources is conducting research to better understand the current level of household food waste reduction knowledge, incentives, and practices of consumers who participate in federally funded nutrition education programs in CA and develop and implement appropriate educational strategies to be shared through the National Extension Foundation with all land-grant universities in the U.S.
Upcycled Food Association is a nonprofit focused on convening, connecting, and growing awareness of the power of upcycling to fight food waste.
The Wisely system is a patent-pending smart food storage container that uses hardware, software, and sensors to track the time and conditions with which perishable foods are stored. The smart-enabled system is completed by an accompanying consumer smartphone app.
We'll be sharing out regular updates on upcoming information sessions and open calls for grantees via email. To receive updates, please complete the form below. For media inquiries or general questions, please email us at [email protected]. Interested in contributing to the Catalytic Grant Fund? Please email Caroline Vance at [email protected].
ReFED is a national nonprofit working to end food loss and waste across the food system by advancing data-driven solutions to the problem.