Foodtech startup Sifted partners with Copia to eliminate food waste and donate excess food to people in need

Did you know that 40 percent of all food produced goes to waste? In fact, the world wastes millions tons of food every year. The situation is even worse here in the United States where about half of  all US food produce is thrown away. This is due to the “cult of perfection” where the demand for food aesthetics “deepens hunger and poverty, and inflicting a heavy toll on the environment.”

That’s the bad news. However, due to global food waste awareness campaigns, organizations and startup companies are beginning to make big impacts in reducing food waste. One of the companies is Sifted, a foodtech startup which hand-delivers lunches to tech-centric companies who want to offer lunch as a perk to their in demand talent. In addition to delivering food to customers, part of its vision is to eliminate food waste and donate food that will feed thousands of people in need in communities across the country.

To that end, the Atlanta-based lunch service provider started the first ever national partnership with food recovery agency Copia in December of 2018. Since then, they’ve donated almost 43,000 meals and will end the year giving over 100,000 meals. Sifted is the first national caterer to donate 100% of leftovers everyday.

Sifted announced its partnership with Copia earlier this year, making their vision for a scalable food donation program a reality. Copia’s technology streamlines the donation process, allowing Sifted to safely and efficiently deliver 100% of its uneaten food to local nonprofits on a national scale. In Austin, TX alone, Sifted has donated 16,000 meals, saved 84,000 pounds of CO2 emissions, and over 7 million gallons of water.

Founded in 2015 by Jess Legge and Kimberly Lexow, Sifted is the outsourced chef team to the nation’s fastest-growing companies. Harnessing behavioral science and data analytics, Sifted creates high-impact lunch programs that drive employee engagement. With in-house chefs and dedicated account managers, Sifted is the only national end-to-end provider of recurring lunch programs. As a bootstrapped, high traction startup, Sifted has grown to seven cities and served over 1 million lunches to the nation’s biggest brands.

“It’s been exciting to watch this dream become a reality,” says Sifted Co-Founder, Jess Legge. “We do everything possible to operate Sifted in a way that honors the environment, cares for our neighbors, and creates as little waste as possible. That’s been a driving principle since day one, and we’re inspiring others to do the same.”

So far, Sifted has recovered 51,400 pounds of food, saved 226,000 pounds of CO2 emissions, and 18.8 million gallons of water. These practices, plus recovering “ugly” produce, proves that success and corporate responsibility can go hand-in-hand.

“We are thrilled to partner with Sifted,” said Copia Head of Sales, Hayley Seed. “At our core, we’re in the same business of feeding people, and we both agree that quality food is a powerful tool to build community. Regardless of whom we are feeding — people in need or gainfully employed — together we can reach them all.”