Food Donation Connection

Food Donation Connection, LLC

Type	LLC
Founded	1992
Founder	Bill Reighard
Headquarters	Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Bill Reighard, President
Services	Coordination of prepared, perishable food donations
Owner	Bill Reighard
Number of employees	40 (2012)
Website	http://www.foodtodonate.com

Food Donation Connection (FDC), LLC is a privately owned American company that serves as the liaison between restaurants/food service companies interested in donating surplus food, and local social service agencies that distribute food to people in need. The company’s vision, “Let Nothing Be Wasted”, is a response to the challenge given by Jesus in the Gospel of John (John 6:1-12). Jesus, after providing food to feed over 5,000 people, asked his disciples to gather up the food that was left, so that it would not be wasted. FDC’s objective is to redirect wholesome prepared food to organizations that help the hungry; food that would otherwise be thrown out by food service organizations.

The company was founded in 1992 by Bill Reighard, a former restaurant executive. Its operations and Harvest Support call center are located in Knoxville, Tennessee. FDC assists food service companies by developing and implementing Harvest Food Donation Programs, custom-designed to provide an alternative to discarding surplus prepared food.

While other organizations focus on the collection and distribution of non-perishable foods, FDC provides an alternative to discarding surplus, wholesome prepared food (such as excess, order errors, and food that is past the restaurant’s conservative shelf life date but is still wholesome). As the industry leader in coordinating prepared food donations, FDC coordinates these donations from client donors such as restaurants, college campuses, airports and hospitals to food rescue agencies across the U.S. and Canada, as well as some overseas locations.

FDC supports both donors and agencies using a unique communication and reporting network with a support center, and maintains expertise in operations, food quality and food safety, and tax savings. For its donor partners, FDC sets up and coordinates all aspects of the food donation program, including feasibility testing, development of quality and safe-handling guidelines for processing of donations, linking donor locations to qualified local food rescue organizations, tax valuation and reports for tax purposes, and ongoing program management to ensure proper program implementation. In 2011, FDC coordinated the donation of 35 million pounds of wholesome, prepared surplus food from 248 food service business entities (with 13,880 restaurants or donor locations) to 7,908 local non-profit hunger relief organizations.

FDC supports its agency partners by analyzing their current needs and linking them to one or more appropriate food service businesses who provide donations of surplus, perishable, prepared food. This prepared food allows the recipient agency to focus its resources on fulfilling its core mission, as opposed to spending resources on purchasing and preparing food.

Food Donation Connection does not compete against non-profits for funding from government and private sources. Instead, FDC funding is derived from a percentage of donor partners' incremental tax savings, that result from the proper donation of surplus food. Donor efforts to properly store and donate surplus food are rewarded by opportunities to become involved in their local communities, build corporate goodwill and employee morale, recognize potential tax savings, and reduce their carbon footprint.