By: Matts Batryn
The reasons for choosing an entrepreneurial path are numerous. Some crave the autonomy and control that comes with starting something new. Some see a market without a product and the chance of striking it rich. However, for a select few, the entrepreneurial mindset comes from recognizing a way to better society and having a passion for a very specific cause. For Leah Lizarondo, food insecurity was an issue that demanded better solutions, especially considering how much food goes to waste each day in America. Not being the type to stand idly by as food waste occurred in her own city, Lizarondo utilized her expertise in the non-profit and technology sectors to create 412 Food Rescue, where she and her team seek to end food waste and food insecurity – one delivery at a time.
412 Food Rescue is a Pittsburgh non-profit dedicated to bridging the last mile of food recovery and access. The organization partners with food retailers, volunteer drivers, and nonprofit organizations to connect surplus food with individuals and families who are experiencing food insecurity. The growing team of 13,000 volunteer drivers, mobilized by the Food Rescue Hero technology platform, has redirected more than 19 million pounds of food in western Pennsylvania, equating to 15 million meals and mitigating 10 million pounds of CO2 emissions in the process. Here’s how it works: Volunteers download the Food Rescue Hero app, which is available via iOS and Android, and claim a one-time or weekly rescue. The app navigates the volunteer to the pickup location, where a contactless pickup takes place, then navigates to the drop-off location for a contactless drop-off.
While this technology solution is the core element of the organization’s work, they also do many other things to address food waste and hunger in Pennsylvania, like creating meals from surplus food, equipping people with better cooking skills, creating innovative products from food waste, and creating a market for “unsellable” produce.
With a master’s degree in public policy and an extensive business background, Lizarondo, who both co-founded 412 Food Rescue and serves as its CEO, has a breadth of experience leading the way for change. However, the entrepreneurial world was never a real consideration.
“For me, I can’t say I always knew I’d be doing my own thing – It was never my goal to be an entrepreneur really,” says Lizarondo. “But I saw that no one else was trying to do the solution that we so clearly saw had merit, so somebody had to. Food waste was something I was always passionate about.”
But it’s not just about “doing it.” Lizarondo and her team understand that to be successful, especially as a growing non-profit organization, you have to approach the work with a fervor for innovation.
“At the beginning, we were told that it just won’t work. By a lot of people.” says Lizarondo. “We embraced technology, and in 2016 we launched our Food Rescue Hero mobile app….It’s been downloaded by more than 19,000 individuals in the Pittsburgh area. Also, our food rescue platform is currently being used in 13 cities across the country and our goal is to have a hold on 100 cities by 2030.”
Lizarondo recognizes that an up-to-date and easily accessible growth platform is necessary. In the United States, it is estimated that over 40 billion tons of perfectly good food ends up in landfills each year, totaling $161 billion dollars, or $1,500 per household.[1] However, that is only the measured food waste from consumers. Grocery chains, restaurants and agricultural waste skyrocket the total annual value of wasted food to an estimated $285 billion dollars, with an estimated 35% of all food products going unsold or uneaten.[2] Giving people an easy way to access 412 Food Rescue and its services is paramount to tackling the massive issue at hand.
When it comes to saving some of the tons of wasted food and helping alleviate food insecurity, 412 Food Rescue has no shortage of public support and willingness to help. Often, the biggest challenge stems from being too successful too quickly.
“Our biggest hurdle at the beginning was finding distribution networks through which we could actually utilize the rescued food,” says Lizarondo. “We would get these bottlenecks where we would have tons and tons of food waiting to be rescued, but we had already exhausted outlets for the food with other food pantry programs.”
To get around this issue of having too much food and not enough food pantry programs to distribute the food through, Lizarondo and her team created brand-new food distribution outlets such as public housing sites and programs such as Home Delivery, which acts as “DoorDash for good,” allowing volunteers to deliver food directly to the doorsteps of those experiencing food insecurity. “I measure our success by how much we have actually addressed food insecurity in the areas we service. It’s one thing to say we saved 59 million pounds of food, but we want to measure if we’ve actually alleviated hunger.”
When asked what the crowning achievement of the ongoing expansion of the Food Rescue Hero would be, Leah doesn’t hesitate on her answer:
“New York City. Hands down,” she says. “In New York – it would be a challenge for sure because of the sheer density of the city. I can picture Food Rescue Hero volunteers simply going from one restaurant to another and collecting more food in a fraction of the time it would take a delivery truck in a different city.”
412 Food Rescue may be flourishing today, but the entrepreneurial world isn’t a brief endeavor. It takes time, patience, passion, and ultimately thick skin.
“As a new entrepreneur, you have to be ready to hear ‘No.’ A lot. ” laughs Leah. “Also, you need to embrace that your work life isn’t going to be a normal work life. It’s been 7 years since we started, and you don’t realize how much of yourself you have to put into something like this to keep it going. Trying to pursue balance when you’re starting a new business isn’t something you’re always able to do.”
412 Food Rescue isn’t your prototypical business when you think of being an entrepreneur. However, Lizarondo and her team prove that, while business acumen is important, having passion in what you’re doing and willing to learn and innovate on the fly are what can turn an idea into an organization that plans to revolutionize food recovery across the globe.
September is Hunger Action Month. It’s a month where people all over the United States stand together with the Feeding America network to fight hunger and food insecurity across the nation. If you would like to donate, volunteer, or have any questions, visit 412foodrescue.org and foodrescuehero.org to find out more information on how you can best contribute.
Matts Batryn, at the time of this post, is a second-year student at Penn State Dickinson Law. He is currently interning with the Civil Litigation Division in The Office of Attorney General.
Sources:
[1] IFCO SYSTEMS, Food Waste By Country: Who’s The Biggest Waster? IFCO SYSTEMS Stories (Dec. 16, 2020), https://www.ifco.com/countries-with-the-least-and-most-food-waste/.
[2] American Food Waste Analysis, RE-FED, https://refed.com/?sort=economic-value-per-ton/ (last visited Aug. 24, 2021).
