Aramark Helps the Chiefs Tackle Food Waste in Kansas City

As it was reported in the recently released 2023 Be Well. Do Well. Progress Report, Aramark is committed to reducing food waste across its operations with the dual goals of conserving resources and minimizing the company’s environmental footprint.

Aramark minimizes waste through a holistic food management process from planning and purchasing, to production and service. Through innovative food ordering and preparation techniques, Aramark works with the Kansas City Chiefs to produce and prepare just enough food to feed the crowd based on ticket sales, promotions, and tickets scanned. 

Aramark and the Chiefs partner with local charity, Pete’s Garden, to redirect uneaten and untouched food to organizations throughout the Greater Kansas City area that serve families in need. 

Aramark Sports + Entertainment’s District Manager, Tim Witkowski, sits on the Food Waste Reduction Project Advisory Committee and works to publicize and deploy food waste reduction strategies to support the Kansas City Regional Food Loss and Waste Reduction Action Plan.

“Although our goal is always to eliminate food waste before it is generated, there may still be instances when we have excess safe-to-eat food available. Our food donation program provides this food to hunger relief agencies, like Pete’s Garden, who distribute meals to organizations that serve families with children,” said Witkowski. “We donate thousands of pounds of food each year, which helps feed families in the Kansas City community and keeps surplus prepared food out of landfills.”

Food donations don’t just come from meals that weren’t served inside GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home to the Chiefs, Aramark also redirects surplus food from the player training meals. In 2023 alone, these food donations to Pete’s Garden totaled 5,938 pounds, or 5,000 meals to Kansas City area families.

“Aramark and the Chiefs appreciate that we can redirect surplus food from our player training meals to local families facing food insecurity. Chiefs players and staff know the importance of healthy eating. The families served by Pete's Garden deserve healthy food too. We are pleased to support their efforts to get nutritious meals on more family dinner tables,” said Erin Wishon, Senior Executive Chef Aramark/Kansas City Chiefs.

These waste reduction efforts support the Chiefs’ "Extra Yard for the Environment" program, which encompasses several directives that each aim to make GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and the University of Kansas Health System Training Complex as environmentally efficient and responsible as possible.

Aramark is a USDA Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champion and is committed to reducing food loss and waste in its U.S. operations 50% by 2030 from its 2015 baseline. For fiscal year 2023, pre-consumer food waste in U.S. food operations was 73% lower than the company’s 2015 baseline. In addition, Aramark has been a member of the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, an industry collaboration focused on reducing waste and finding ways to donate or recycle unavoidable food waste, for nearly a decade.