2019 Food Waste Solutions Summit

Ten years ago, ReFED’s Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste set an ambitious vision for transforming the way America produces, manages, and thinks about food waste. Since then, the field has continued to grow, solutions have scaled, and momentum has built in ways both measurable and inspiring. But with urgency still high and much work remaining, this opening session is as much about what comes next as it is about how far we’ve come. Our emcee Chef Joel Gamoran and ReFED’s Sara Burnett will kick off our programming by welcoming you to Charlotte. ReFED President Dana Gunders will set the stage with a look at the field’s most meaningful accomplishments from the past year—including the reveal of a brand new video featuring voices from around the country highlighting their work—as well as the bright spots on the horizon in the year ahead. And the session will also feature a unique “kitchen table” discussion about the new landscape of food as a result of policy and other macro cultural influences, featuring Michiel Bakker of the Culinary Institute of America, Emily Broad Lieb from the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, and chef Michel Nischan, and moderated by Kim Severson of the New York Times.

The frontier of food waste innovation is bolder and more promising than most people realize. But what does it take to turn innovation into real-world impact? Meet solution providers who have secured early funding, launched pilots, and proven their concepts in the market. They’ll pull back the curtain to reveal how they built early traction, the challenges they’re facing on the path to scale, and what it will take to unlock their next phase of growth.