PLANO, Texas, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pizza Hut and
community-based hunger relief organizations are celebrating a major
milestone today: surpassing 100 million pounds of food donated by
Pizza Hut to feed those in need. Since 1992, Pizza Hut restaurants
have donated food to hunger relief organizations nationwide through
its Harvest Program, a program originated by the company 25 years
ago in partnership with Food Donation Connection (FDC).
As many as one in eight Americans face food insecurity, while
30-40 percent of all food produced is thrown away even though much
of it is safe to eat. One hundred million pounds of food is enough
to provide a meal to 100 million people in need. It is enough to
feed the 7.1 million people in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area each week for 14
weeks.
"For 25 years, we've been working with thousands of
organizations to reduce food waste and feed those in need," said
Artie Starrs, President of Pizza Hut
U.S., headquartered in Plano,
Texas. "It's wonderful to pause and recognize the many
hard-working, compassionate organizations who do so much for our
communities. It's a pleasure to share this milestone with them, our
communities, our team members and franchisees, nationwide."
Pizza Hut restaurants donate to 2,500 organizations nationwide
with the help of FDC, which links individual restaurants to hunger
relief organizations. FDC was founded by former Pizza Hut executive
Bill Reighard, who saw a need to
help the company reduce food waste.
Reighard realized surplus food that was safe to eat should not
be discarded but rather donated to local feeding organizations.
After launching the Harvest program internally, he left Pizza Hut
and created FDC in 1992 with Pizza Hut as its first donor partner.
Today, Reighard's company works with more than 17,000 restaurants
and 10,000 hunger relief groups across the U.S. and in other
countries.
"Pizza Hut led the charge," said Reighard, who is FDC's
president. "It's wonderful to celebrate this milestone and to
recognize that the Pizza Hut commitment still inspires other big
brands, as well as independent restaurants, to fight food waste and
feed people in need in their communities. Our work would not be
possible without companies like Pizza Hut and the many caring
organizations like Dallas LIFE that participate in Harvest
programs."
Pizza Hut recognized surpassing this milestone with an event
today at Dallas LIFE, one of the 45 Dallas-Fort Worth area organizations
participating in the Pizza Hut Harvest program. Representatives of
some of those organizations participated along with public
officials, Pizza Hut franchisees, team members and others.
"Pizza Hut is a global brand whose people are very mindful of
their communities," said Rev. Bob
Sweeney, Executive Director of Dallas LIFE. "We are grateful
for their dedication to building stronger communities — whether
it's through Pizza Hut food donations, the company's 10-year
commitment to impact 100 million lives by promoting literacy, or
its Life Unboxed EDU program that encourages employees and their
families to continue their educations."
Pizza Hut remains FDC's largest donor partner. Its restaurants
donate error pizzas, no-show pizzas and breadsticks, plus surplus
pizza and pasta. Local organizations collect the surplus food for
use in their community feeding programs.
Pizza Hut also participates in the Food Waste Reduction
Alliance, an industry coalition created by the National Restaurant
Association and the Grocery Manufacturers Association. The alliance
works to reduce the amount of food waste generated, increase food
donations to those in need, and encourage recycling of unavoidable
food waste to divert it from landfills.
About Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM),
serves and delivers more pizzas than any other pizza company in the
world. With easy order options including the Pizza Hut app, mobile
site, Facebook and Twitter messenger and Amazon devices, Pizza Hut
is committed to providing an easy pizza experience – from order to
delivery. Founded in 1958, Pizza Hut has become the most-recognized
pizza restaurant in the world, operating more than 16,400
restaurants in more than 100 countries.
Pizza Hut is also the proprietor of The Literacy Project,
an initiative designed to enable access, empower teachers and
inspire a lifelong love of reading. The program is rooted in the
foundation set by the Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Program, which is the
longest-running corporate supported literacy program, impacting
more than 14 million students each year. For more information,
visit www.pizzahut.com. Follow Pizza Hut on Facebook
(www.facebook.com/PizzaHut), Twitter (www.twitter.com/pizzahut) and
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/pizzahut).
Pizza Hut
|
FDC
|
Dallas
LIFE
|
Doug
Terfehr
|
John
Pacitti
|
Gracie
Sweeney
|
972.338.6992
|
800.584.4992
|
214.421.1380 x
11
|
Doug.Terfehr@yum.com
|
john.pacitti@foodtodonate.com
|
gracie@dallaslife.org
|
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SOURCE Pizza Hut