i was the only one in line to buy a pretzel at Auntie Anne's................

[dalt01]

the girl walked up and reached in the bin and pulled and threw away about twenty assorted pretzels and such that had apparently been there to long........sooooooooo.........i talked to her about it and they do that several times a day. i dont understand waste. first of all, proper product mgmt can eliminate some of that and how much good will would you generate by giving them out or at the very least letting the employees have them, now, easy.....i was in the restaurant business in another life and i am aware that if employees get waste there will be more waste...but even that can be controlled....my point is, waste food is thrown away all day everyday, everywhere and i just had a flash when i saw this of a small one in a poor country who would have cried with joy for just one of those pretzels............just musing...................................................................................................................................................................................

 

[PinkBudgie]

Well, you could write to corporate about your concerns. Maybe they just need someone to bring it to their attention. Or maybe the manager wouldn't be opposed to you coming in on certain days and picking up the extra and donating it to a shelter or food bank or something.

 

[natale1980]

You should see what grocery stores do.
I worked at a store and we would throw out bags and bags of food every day in our department alone. If I had to guess I would say close to 100-200lbs of food in just the bakery.

-nat

 

[Jedana]

Restaurants can't give away food to shelters or homeless feed stations. There is a concern that if the food isn't kept at the proper temperature, bacteria will grow and there is potential for a lawsuit if someone gets ill.

They don't give it away to people, in general, because then people will stop buying the food, and just wait around until it's time to hand out the old food.

Auntie Anne's makes new pretzels every 10-15 minutes, depending on the type of pretzel. During slow periods, they are supposed to "stagger" the batches, so that there is something fresh coming out every 3-5 minutes, to keep that fresh pretzel smell in the air.

I worked there for 5 horrible months a couple of years ago. The lack of support from corporate, in addition to the bad practices by my district manager, were the reasons I left so quickly. I've never had a job tell me that I had to keep someone who no called/no showed two days a week or someone else who would show up high on a regular basis for work--and when I had enough and fired them both, was told I couldn't hire a replacement and to cover their shifts myself. (which I did--7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day...at least I knew I had to work, instead of making plans and then having to cancel them due to a NCNS or a high employee)

 

[fall08CP]

When I worked at a bagel shop (2009) we donated all of our non-specialty bagels to a shelter at the end of the night. The specialty bagels had spices or sweet toppings which would go bad/get soggy so employees brought them home, but all other bagels were donated. We didn't have a lot of waste to begin with, but it was nice to know that no bagels went to the trash.

 

[jpeka65844]

I used to work across the mall from an AA's. They'd give us their pretzels at the end of the night. Probably not supposed to but oh well..

And don't get me started about the toy store next to us that would throw out perfectly good toys. We used to raid their dumpster and take them to shelters and daycares. Then they got wise and started to loc it.

 

[TSWJan78]

I used to work at AA's too and we always handed out pretzels at the end of the night. I don't remember throwing them out durring the day though.. but they are muuuuch better with 20 min from coming out of the oven.

I used to work across the mall from an AA's. They'd give us their pretzels at the end of the night. Probably not supposed to but oh well..

And don't get me started about the toy store next to us that would throw out perfectly good toys. We used to raid their dumpster and take them to shelters and daycares. Then they got wise and started to loc it.

 

[Joshua_me]

I can remember my very first job at McD's when I was 16, (and dinosaurs walked the Earth ) and being absolutely *shocked* at the amount of perfectly fine food that was thrown away every single day.

Often, the Big Macs and Quarter Pounders that went into the garbage numbered in the hundreds by the end of the day.

NO one was allowed to take them home, and even commenting on the situation was enough to get you "written up".

It was insane.

Next time you're in a McD's parking lot, ask yourself why the dumpster shed is padlocked and covered.

It's so the hungry and homeless cannot get to the food inside.



P.S. (And the same holds true for most all corporate restaurants)

 

[dmccarty]

Before there where dinosaurs walking the earth, I worked in my school cafeteria. Can you imagine schools letting kids work in the cafeteria today? Only sixth graders could do it and it was only for 20-30 minutes. We kept the milk cooler full, took out the garbage, and worse, had to clean off the plates!

The food that was thrown out went to a pig farmer. Now a days the pig farms really are factories and I would be shocked if they take waste food since they would not know the nutritional content of the food nor would they want to run the risk of getting the pigs sick.

Our pay for working in the cafeteria was larger portions for lunch. This was good when we had rice and fish not so much with the boiled Okra. You really got the shaft when they ran OUT of food! Then you worked for "free." That school made The Best Rice ever. I do not know what they did with the rice but on many days if you cleaned your plate you could get a second helping of rice. It was very good.

It is not uncommon in farm country to let people walk the fields after food crop harvests to pick up left behind produce. In my area this is sweet potatoes and peanuts since there is always produce missed or dropped by the machines. If people do not pick up the left over food it rots.

There is quite a bit of waste in the food chain.

On the flip side, most of the famine in the world is not caused by a lack of food. It is caused by warring factions that prevent people from farming or getting food shipped in. There is yet another famine in some East Africa but it is because the warlords in charge steal some, most or all of the food. They do this for the economic gain but they also use food as a weapon since they prevent the food from going to their enemies.

Famine now a days is not because McD's throws out a Big Mac or AA tosses pretzels. It is because some thug ruler does not allow people to eat. Tis true in East Africa, North Korea, Darfor, etc.

Later,
Dan

 

[bkoehl]

Next time you're in a McD's parking lot, ask yourself why the dumpster shed is padlocked and covered.

It's so the hungry and homeless cannot get to the food inside.



P.S. (And the same holds true for most all corporate restaurants)

I am not sure you meant it this way but you make it sound like they are doing it to punish the homeless and hungry. They do it so they don't get sued if someone eats something and gets sick or falls in the dumpster and gets hurt. (Ever read the stories about homeless people being found dead in dumpsters after trying to get in and hurting themselves?)

 

[Ivette1980]

Such a shame. This does happen everywhere. My local dunkin donuts does the same like clock work. the man that works there usually throws in a couple of more donuts or muffins in my bag and im to others. i understand why in nyc there would be padlocks on dumpsters. I would not want to clean up the mess that will be made, but i think its also due to avoiding a rodent issue.

why cant they send it to a shelter, i dont understand. Mcdonalds has one of the largest charities out there and yet they forget that they are starving children and fmailies out there. so sad.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I don't like their pretzels.

It's too bad they have to throw them away though.

 

[mommyceratops]

For what they charge for a pretzel I would not be happy if I bought a nasty one. But with that said when I used to work at TDS at the mall we would run there at close and get a free one.

I would write a letter. We have a local bread place that used to throw away the old bread and now someone comes and picks it up and takes it to a homeless shelter. All it took was writing a letter to someone.

 

[disneysteve]

Personally, I think I'd rather starve than eat their pretzels but I'm born and raised in Philadelphia so those things just aren't what I call soft pretzels.

That said, I totally agree with OP that food waste in this country is outrageous. I just read something recently and can't recall the exact number but it was something on the order of 150 or 160 pounds per person per year of edible food that gets thrown out. If we could find a way to cut the waste in the first place or direct the excess to those in need, we could easily solve the hunger problem at least here in the US.

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

As long as I live .... I'll never forget this incident ...

My DH and I were visiting New York City. We FINALLY found a parking spot for our van so we pulled over for a while to eat our sandwiches.

I saw a woman digging in a restaurant dumpster, searching for rolls. She sort of dusted off the rolls and put them in her bag.

As I am looking at her I realized that she bore a striking resemblance to my MOTHER !

I tell you ..... When I got home from my weekend in New York City, I hugged my Mom a lot!