After Hours Vendor

Problem:

Currently, U.S. restaurants generate an estimated 22-33 billion pounds of food waste each year. More specifically, bakeries and coffee shops throw out food at closing time each day, despite being perfectly edible. Regular donuts and bagels are fresh when properly stored for a minimum of 3-5 days. So, how can we reduce the amount of food waste that is produced by these restaurants and chains? Specifically, how can we redistribute edible food from bakeries and coffee shops at discounted prices?

Idea:

Our solution is to use vending machines to sell leftover pastries from local coffee shops and bakeries that are currently thrown away at the end of a workday. To further expand our solution to food waste, we will collect any unsold items from the vending machines early the next morning and transport them to local homeless shelters and organizations feeding underserved communities. This solution redistributes food that would have otherwise been thrown away.

Main Beneficiaries:

Our idea has three primary beneficiaries: People looking for a late-night snack, our partnered companies, and homeless shelters. Late-Night Snackers: Our pilot machine would take place at the University of Miami. In this specific circumstance, college students would replicate hungry night owls in cities. Similar to hungry city residents/visitors, college students want easy and cheap access to food at night. After Hours Vendor will provide a convenient and cost-friendly food option for students. The University of Miami has an undergraduate population of just over 12,000 students, 43% of which live on campus. For these on-campus students, all food vendors close by 10 pm, with the exception of a 24hr market with up-charged snacks and candies. Students NEED a late-night food source that provides reliable and affordable products. Similar to our pilot, the company plans to expand to cities. Take New York City for example. NYC has more than 25,000 nightlife establishments, hosting millions of customers annually. For many of those customers, easy access to affordable food is a priority. Similar to the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM model, our vending machines would keep these food products at ambient temperature throughout the night and be purchased by passerbys or customers who utilize the accompanying After Hours app. The After Hours app would give users the ability to locate available vending machines and products. Partnered Companies: Our target partners are bakeries similar to Dunkin Donuts and Panera who consistently throw away as many as 100 donuts/pastries a night. The businesses that partner with us will benefit from an improved public image, improved marketing, and additional profits. By being on our application, these partners would be advertised to an array of hungry consumers, while also being portrayed as a “food-waste combating” company. Our machines will serve as an alternative to wasting/throwing out perfectly edible products without the business actually needing to be open. By working with these bakeries, we lend them an After Hours vending machine that is placed outside of the property and stocked with leftover products in our company packaging by the bakery's employees before closing. This turns food that would have previously been discarded into a profit for the company. Although we are starting in the local Miami area, we hope to gain enough traction and media attention to eventually expand statewide and nationwide. Homeless shelters: Food not sold from the vending machine will be collected the next morning and distributed to local homeless shelters and organizations feeding underserved communities.

Stage:

Inspiration and ideation

SDG:

GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

University:

University of Miami (USA)