Food Rescue Hero

Food Rescue Hero was launched as a direct response to a national food crisis: 40% of food is wasted while 1:9 people are food insecure. If we recovered this food we could feed everyone who is hungry three times over.  

Our technology platform and innovative logistics model mobilizes a volunteer transport network to rescue and redirect fresh, healthy food to the millions of people experiencing food insecurity. Since 2015 we have engaged over 12,000 volunteers to rescue 15M pounds of perfectly good food, the equivalent of over 12M meals. Based on a 2018 survey, 90% of our food donation recipients reported an increase in food security, 92% agreed that food rescue helped to make ends meet and 86% reported increased access to healthier food. 

Piloted in Pittsburgh as 412 Food Rescue, Food Rescue Hero is now available in six US cities with a goal to serve 100 cities by 2030. 

11% of US households are food insecure, including the 4.3% (5.6M) experiencing very low food security. Yet we have more than enough perfectly good food to feed everyone who is hungry at least three times over. But this food is not going to people, it’s going to landfills. 40% of all our food is wasted, 45% is produce and similar fresh food - food that is expensive and hardest to access, but provides the most benefits to individuals overall health and well-being.  

Traditional hunger interventions have been unable to tackle this disconnect. Only 15% of the food provided through food pantries is fresh food and produce. Additionally, these interventions rely on people's ability to have the availability and reliable transportation to travel to a pantry or meal program - often during business hours - to obtain emergency food. However, many people affected by hunger and poverty live in food deserts and often lack adequate transportation and time to access traditional food pantries.

Traditional truck-food-banking model has been unable to capture and redirect fresh, healthy food to emergency food sites. Retail food waste is highly-distributed and unpredictable, but generates an enormous amount of produce and perishable food waste.

We are turning the challenge of food waste into a viable solution to food insecurity. Our solution is an innovative combination of logistics, technology & civic engagement that has created a new, highly-distributed, on-demand transport network to successfully recover and redirect fresh, healthy food in real-time to communities who need it most. And we have a 99% success rate - missing only 1% of available food rescues (some commercial food delivery services’ reliability rates are 95%).

Our app mobilizes volunteers at the touch of a screen, allowing food to be recovered on-demand within sensitive time frames. We have over 1,000 community partners as food distribution sites. The real innovation is in our partnerships with non-traditional food access points (housing authorities, supportive housing providers, community health clinics, etc.) creating far greater access for those living in food and transportation deserts. Bringing food directly to places people access in their daily lives.   

We believe that at scale, Food Rescue Hero has the potential to be one of the most impactful innovations in hunger intervention. Ultimately providing fresh, nutritious food to the millions experiencing food insecurity.

We are focused on serving people experiencing food insecurity by meeting them where they are and mitigating barriers to access like access to reliable transportation and time. 

Our approach understands commonalities between poverty, food deserts and transit deserts. Throughout the US, the percentage of households without a vehicle/access to transit aligns with poverty concentrations - limiting peoples’ ability to access food. Yet, current food access interventions discount mobility (and time) challenges. We upend conventional models of food distribution through cross-sector partnerships that create new networks that respond to real-life barriers in food access--ensuring that recovered food reaches people who need it most. 

We turn the biggest challenge of food surplus into its biggest asset - allowing us to effectively scale food recovery and distribute food more widely - to over 1,000 distribution sites in six cities. Reaching people directly where they live, work and learn.  

We address the urgent global disconnect between hunger, food waste and environmental sustainability. We are in line with two of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to (i) end hunger and ensure access by all people to safe, nutritious and sufficient food year round; and (ii) halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels - we aim to be in 100 cities by 2030. We estimate that scaling our solution would result in almost 100M pounds of food diverted from landfills resulting in 83.3M meals to those who otherwise lack access to fresh and healthy food.

We are turning the challenge of food waste into a viable solution to food insecurity. Our solution is an innovative combination of logistics, technology & civic engagement that has created a new, highly-distributed, on-demand transport network to successfully recover and redirect fresh, healthy food in real-time to communities who need it most. And we have a 99% success rate - missing only 1% of available food rescues (some commercial food delivery services’ reliability rates are 95%).

Our app mobilizes volunteers at the touch of a screen, allowing food to be recovered on-demand within sensitive time frames (six minutes is the average time from push notification to claimed rescue). 

Traditional hunger interventions have remained stagnant for over 50 years. Additionally, these interventions rely on people's ability to have the availability and reliable transportation to travel to a pantry - often during business hours - to obtain emergency food. However, many people affected by hunger and poverty live in food deserts and often lack adequate transportation and enough hours in the day to access traditional food pantries.

We have over 1,000 community partners as food distribution sites. While we partner with traditional food distribution organizations, the real innovation is in our partnerships with non-traditional food access points (housing authorities, supportive housing providers, community health clinics, etc) creating far greater access for those living in food and transportation deserts. Bringing food directly to places people access in their day-to-day lives.   

Our innovative Logistics Model and Technology Platform, also known as “Food Rescue Hero,” are designed to maximize the potential for healthy food to be rescued and redistributed to communities experiencing food insecurity. Our Food Rescue Hero App is a real-world solution (based on our experience and operations in Pittsburgh) that responds to the traditional donation challenges of food retailers and the food access barriers (time, transportation, etc.) of those experiencing hunger.

Our platform, with a reliability rate of 99%, gives food retailers a low-friction, reliable food recovery process that maximizes food donations across regional grocery and retail food chains. On the distribution side, our partnerships with nonprofits - especially non-traditional food access sites such as public housing authorities, senior centers and subsidized daycares - has expanded the food distribution network to more effectively bridge the “last mile” and distribute fresh and highly perishable food to those most in need. Geospatial analysis shows that our expanded food distribution network puts 13,300 more people in poverty within walking distance of food access (beyond traditional food access sites).

And the best part is that all of this is powered by people. Through intensive and continuous Civic Engagement we mobilize a critical mass of local volunteers to serve as a transportation network, physically transporting donated food to community distribution sites. This unique volunteer opportunity engages citizens directly and immediately in their community while also raising awareness around the impact and opportunity of food waste.

In five years of operations in Pittsburgh we are seeing sustained, scalable and measurable impact. Thanks to our 3,600+ food retail donors, 1,000+ community distribution partners and 12,000 volunteer drivers, our network has completed over 107,000 rescues, totaling over 15M pounds of food rescued - equivalent to more than 12.7M meals.  

We are also one of the few hunger organizations that has measured impact beyond “pounds of food distributed.” A series of surveys using the USDA Food Security Index and conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work found that 90% of our food donation recipients report an increase in food security, 92% agreed that food rescue helped to make ends meet and 86% reported increased access to healthier food.

Building on our work and impact in Pittsburgh we are expanding our technology and partnership model nationally. Recognizing food recovery and hunger are best addressed locally, our expansion strategy is to bring our technology, best practices and partnerships to established local food rescue or hunger relief non-profits looking to launch or scale food recovery in their region. 

In addition to Pittsburgh, we are currently scaling in Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Northern Virginia, Los Angeles and soon Vancouver, with other cities in the pipeline. We are gaining valuable insights from our pilot cities that we’ll apply as we move toward the goal of expanding to 100 cities by 2030. 

Food Rescue Hero was founded as a direct response to the disconnect between the almost 40% of food that is wasted and the 1 in 9 US households that are food insecure. Food waste is also the single largest component in municipal landfills and one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions. 

Launched with 412 Food Rescue in Pittsburgh, we recognized this problem as both an imminent threat to the health and wellbeing of our communities and environment, but also as an opportunity that could be solved with innovative logistics, technology and civic engagement.  

Our innovative Logistics Model and Technology Platform - “Food Rescue Hero,” are designed to maximize the potential for healthy food to be rescued and redistributed to communities experiencing food insecurity. Our Food Rescue Hero App is a real-world solution (based on our experience and operations in Pittsburgh) that responds to the traditional donation challenges of food retailers and the food access barriers (time, transportation, etc) of those experiencing hunger.

In our over three years of operations in Pittsburgh we are seeing sustained, scalable and measurable impact. Thanks to our 900+ food retail donors, 650+ community distribution partners and 12,000 volunteer drivers, our network has completed over 70,000 rescues, totaling over 10.5M pounds of food rescued - the equivalent to nearly 9M million meals.  

We are also one of the few hunger organizations that has measured impact beyond “pounds of food distributed.” A series of surveys using the USDA Food Security Index and conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work found that 90% of our food donation recipients report an increase in food security, 92% agreed that food rescue helped to make ends meet and 86% reported increased access to healthier food.

Building on our work and impact in Pittsburgh we are expanding our technology and partnership model currently operating in 6 other cities.  Recognizing food recovery and hunger are best addressed locally, our expansion strategy is to bring our technology, best practices and partnerships to established local food rescue or hunger relief non-profits looking to launch or scale food recovery. 

Started in Pittsburgh, now operating in six cities nationwide, and soon to launch in Canada - we believe that at scale, Food Rescue Hero has the potential to be one of the most impactful innovations to reduce food waste and hunger.   

Over the next year, we plan to add 10 new city partner sites, reaching 50 over the next five years. 

Within three years of operating in Pittsburgh, this solution enabled 13,300 more people in poverty to be within walking distance of a food access (beyond traditional food access sites). View our storymap at https://412foodrescue.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=708b76eafd4542bb95fd459626fd4b9d&folderid=8992957e76a74542b94f012dc3cf9f22

We are focused on redirecting food at the retail segment of the supply chain - where almost half of waste occurs. Redirecting food at this stage is difficult using existing models because surplus at retail is relatively small in quantity and approaching its usable life. Hence, recovery by truck is cost-ineffective and because it is short-dated, food recovered will not survive conventional warehouse-distribution models.

We are a local solution to the urgent global disconnect between hunger, food waste and environmental sustainability. As such - and in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to end hunger (SDG 2.1) and halve per capita global food waste (SDG 12.3) - we aim to be in 100 cities by 2030 as a community driven solution to this problem.  

We estimate that this growth would result in a network of 1 million volunteers diverting almost 100M pounds of perfectly good food from landfills - the equivalent of providing 83.3M meals to those who otherwise lack access to fresh and healthy food.

Inherent with organizational growth are organizational challenges.  The key lesson we have learned to-date through our pilot cities is that while the program and technology are transferable, every city is different and has varying needs and challenges. We have learned that mitigating those unique challenges requires both a strong non-profit partner and anchor food retail partner. The local non-profit host site must have a strong track of mobilizing volunteers, addressing food insecurity, stable funding sources, ability to fundraise, and strong multi-sector relationships within the local community. Our anchor retail food donor must be committed to reducing food waste and to working closely together to form a strong partnership.  

Over the past year months we have revised our partner cultivation and vetting process to help ensure a potential partner is strong organizations with the internal capacity and resources to successfully launch and scale food rescue. 

This includes an initial application with key organizational documents, a site visit to meet senior leadership and see current operations and an initial MOU to ensure all parties are entering the agreement with the same expectations. All of this helps to ensure their level of commitment to implement the food rescue and distribution model that we have developed, including staffing structure, partnership development and more.

Food Rescue Hero currently operates under the financial status of 412 Food Rescue Inc. a 501c3 organization in Pittsburgh, PA.

Food Rescue Hero includes a core team of eight staff that work on partnership development with city partners, technology development, expansion strategy and data analytics. Most staff are part time, also working to support the management and operations of 412 Food Rescue in Pittsburgh where Food Rescue Hero originated.

Food rescue organizations and technology are launching all over the world as awareness for the disconnect between food waste, hunger and the potential for impact rises. 

Food Rescue Hero though has scaled faster, reached more people and demonstrated a measurable impact on hunger. This is due in large part to the vision of our founder and the ability of our talented and dedicated team to execute on that vision.  

While our model’s foundation is a technology platform, technology is only an enabler. Our team actively engages each stakeholder in the food rescue process - the food donors, the volunteers, non-profit partners and end-user recipients - to create a new logistics model that effectively rescues and redirects fresh, healthy food. Food that traditional hunger intervention models have been unable to capture and utilize.   

And we are seeing results. We have recruited the largest food transport network in a single urban region. By leveraging existing infrastructure, such as public housing, we have changed distribution logistics to effectively expand access and deliver fresh food directly to where people live, work and learn. Based on a 2018 survey, 90% of our food donation recipients reported an increase in food security, 92% agreed that food rescue helped to make ends meet and 86% reported increased access to healthier food. 

Food Rescue Hero currently partners with food recovery organizations in other cities to scale food rescue and directs surplus food to populations experiencing food insecurity. These organizations include founding organization which spun-off our expansion - 412 Food Rescue, as well as city partners - Food Runners (San Francisco), Philly Food Rescue (Philadelphia), Hunger Network (Cleveland), Prince William Food Rescue (Prince William, Virginia), Food Finders (Los Angeles) and Vancouver Food Runners (Vancouver, B.C.)

We are focused on redirecting food at the retail segment of the supply chain—where almost half of waste occurs. Redirecting food at this stage is difficult using existing models because surplus at retail is relatively small in quantity and approaching its usable life. Hence, recovery by truck is cost-ineffective and because it is short-dated, food recovered will not survive conventional warehouse-distribution models.

We take a direct transfer approach - we match food from each retail source to a nonprofit that can distribute the food immediately. Retail stores function as our de facto warehouses and food moves daily.  Food is transported via a network of drivers who use their own vehicles and mobilized by technology - our mobile app.

Our approach understands commonalities between poverty, food deserts and transit deserts. Throughout the US, the percentage of households without a vehicle/access to transit aligns with poverty concentrations - limiting peoples’ ability to access food. Yet, current food access interventions discount mobility (and time) challenges.  We upend conventional models of food distribution through cross-sector partnerships that create new networks that respond to real-life barriers in food access--ensuring that recovered food reaches people who need it most. 

We turn the biggest challenge of food surplus into its biggest asset - allowing us to effectively scale food recovery and distribute food more widely - to over 1,000 distribution sites in six cities. Reaching people directly where they live, work and learn.  

Food Rescue Hero is at an organizational inflection point: we have the technology and experience to expand nationally, but continue to operate on a regional budget (even though we are operating in six additional cities). We have demonstrated impact within those constraints, but by becoming a Solver and joining the MIT-backed network of experts and peers could do so much more. Having the great honor of being selected for this would help us to secure the resources necessary to reach our goal of serving 100 cities by 2030. It would take us from a local start-up non-profit to a sophisticated national organization.  

We project that this investment would provide over 45M meals (approx $0.22/meal) to those experiencing food insecurity - stabilizing people’s lives through direct access to fresh, nutritious food and by extension reducing financial and health related barriers to economic mobility. 

We are in the early stages of building relationships and partnerships with like-minded national funders and to work with our partner cities to fundraise locally. Selection for the Solve Global Challenge would be an absolute game changer – giving us a runway to build out national relationships and a sustainable long-term earned revenue model while allowing us to focus most of our attention on our expansion to partner cities throughout the US. 

Food Rescue Hero has been able to successfully pilot and begin to scale our food recovery and distribution model in 6 cities across the country. Last year, we were able to begin charging clients - city partners - for use of the model and technology with the implementation of licensing fees. There is a strong demand for our services, but we do need the visibility and exposure to promote this opportunity and expand to reach our goal of 100 cities by 2030. 

Through our participation we would be interested in forming cross-sector partnerships and learning from any key advisors within the food systems, technology and logistics sector. While we have been successful piloting and growing our program in six - soon seven - cities in the US and Canada, we want to learn from others valuable insights in all of these fields through which our model and operations are influenced. As a newer organization, we also look forward to the opportunity to connect with investors and potential funders that can offer feedback or access to financial resources that will support scaling our project and helping us move toward our goal of 100 cities by 2030.