For this Community Story, Replate spoke with Airtable Office Operations Manager, Kristen Schroeder, to find out why they make the extra effort to donate the surplus food from their San Francisco headquarters.

What is Airtable?

Airtable is a project management software that's cloud based. It's also my personal life line for my work to keep my life together. Airtable helps me out a lot as far as organizing and making sure that I'm keeping track with what I need to do.

Were you the one responsible for finding a food rescue service?

Yes! I was looking for a food donation service, and I reached out to an organization called OrgOrg, which is basically a forum for office managers, receptionists, facilities managers. We all bounce ideas off each other, ask questions, and ask about vendors. I was familiar with Food Runners, but I needed something a little more reliable and a little more meaty. So I had reached out to OrgOrg and they said, “Have you thought about checking out Replate?” So I did, and I went on your website and I was just absolutely blown away.

What made you decide to go with Replate?

The professionalism and the fact that I get insight of where my food is going and I can schedule when you guys can come and pick up the food. It's totally worth every penny for me to be able to go back to my team and say, "Hey I just want you guys to know that this is how many meals we've served since we started and these are the organizations that it goes to.” Every person [of your team] that I've met has been so nice and they're so grateful, and that makes a difference too.

Why did you want to donate the surplus food in the first place?

Before I started my life as an office person, I also worked in the food service industry. I was working at restaurants, I had worked in multiple grocery stores. Just knowing that there is such an epidemic of food waste, knowing that not everyone's gonna take home food and just to see all that food get thrown out or even composted. It breaks my heart because I know there's so many people that need healthy meals. [The cost of a pick up] is a drop in the bucket compared to what start-­ups spend for anything, let alone food.

I'm conscious of the food waste in America, but especially in the Bay Area, because we're not the only company that feeds our team members lunch every day. It makes sense and it's the right thing to do.

Does your team know that your surplus food is being donated?

They are aware that Replate is coming every day to pick up the food surplus and donate it. Not one person even questioned it and I think everybody was pretty happy to hear that we're doing something positive with our food waste. I don't know if everyone is aware of the amount of food waste that happens in the San Francisco Bay area, but I think everybody is on board with doing the right thing.

Support and follow Airtable’s work on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If you’d like to start donating your company’s surplus food or receive food, go to replate.org to sign up!