Food Wise will be taken outside of the scope of LFS 350 classroom. We decided as a group that the LFS class gave us too little time to fully develop our project idea and to gather enough information from various stakeholders. The concept of our project could potentially become very successful in both reducing food waste and increasing food security, therefore we have decided to continue our project after the end of LFS 350, as we will have more time to connect with the food bank, potential stakeholders, and other food donation organizations.
Weekly Objectives:
- Each member will interview 2 people, in order to acquire consumer opinions regarding Food Wise’s objective
- Interview the executive chef of Wescadia and Erin Nichols from Angel Food Runners.
- Continue to contact hotels, catering companies, convention centres to gather more information about donating prepared food to food banks
Achievements:
What
Margot interviewed the head chef at Directions and they were very supportive of the program and said they could definitely benefit from more food donations. Santiago received interest and a consent form from Erin Nichols, Angel Food Runners manager. Shannon set up a confirmed interview time with Wescadia’s head chef on November 10th, where we will discuss his current involvement in various initiatives that include recycling,composting and food donation.
Moment of Significant Change Workshop:
So What
Reflecting on our moment of significant change workshop, we have encountered ups and downs since the beginning of our project. Overall, the aspects we thought were going to be difficult, such as the health regulations for donating perishable and prepared foods and finding similar programs related to our project idea, were not difficult to address. The food donor encouragement act addressed the food safety and liability issues, and even though contacting Angel Food runners/food bank was thought to be challenging, they were actually very supportive and willing to make time for an interview. Receiving our marks for the the presentation and blog was a huge downer, however, the feedback on the proposal helped expand our understanding of a project proposal and allowed us to solidify our research methods and project goals. We are now on an upward slope, as we set up interview times with stakeholders. We already have heard positive feedback from the head chef at Directions, a youth service centre we interviewed, who explained that they are always looking to get more food donations from food runners because their budget is very small and donations allow them to make better meals for more people. They also told us to keep them in touch so that they can benefit from our program once it is up and running.
Strategies for successful project completion:
Now What
Our strategy for successful project completion is to finish acquiring as many interviews as possible, and to analyze the interviews we collected in our previous weeks. We will then combine our collected information into a final report which will articulate our project process, analyze our research and information we gathered, and look at if we’ve reached our defined goals of success, including increasing the amount of food donated to food banks. We will also look at further investigation into implementing the certification program, which was our initial goal when we first developed our project idea.
Linkages
The Global Food Waste Scandal by Tristram Stuart, provided an overview of the level of food waste taking place in developed countries, which is based on surplus production. The development of Food Wise is based on the management of surplus food within the hospitality industry. The backup food from events will be donated to food banks in order to decrease food insecurity and food waste.
Conclusion
At this exciting middle stage of our project, as we learn and gather more information from our stakeholders, we can slowly start to see how our project goals will take shape. So far, the support we have gotten from the people we have spoken with show that we are on a path towards success.
