Judith Hochhauser Schneider, Global Impact Collective and Sheryl Anayas, Seattle Public Utilities, moderated. Our speakers included:

· Gwyneth Rampton, Vice President of Sustainability, Compass Group. Gwyneth brings over two decades of diverse experience to Compass Group, the leading food service company, from a career journey spanning from retail merchandising to international logistics.

· Andrew Shakman, CEO, LeanPath. Andrew Shakman is CEO and founder of Leanpath, a dedicated food waste management tool for thousands of restaurants, hospitals, universities, hotels, corporate dining facilities, cruise lines and contract management organizations. From the beginning, Andrew has worked to catalyze the global movement to address the food waste crisis.

· Mariah DeLeo, Program Director, Good Food Economy, Seattle Good Business Network. Mariah joined the Seattle Good Business Network — a nonprofit coalition of local businesses, municipalities, community organizations, and residents working to build a resilient and vibrant local economy — with over 20 years of experience in food and sustainability. As the Good Food Economy Program Director, she seeks to help strengthen the community network of regional food system stakeholders to create a sustainable, resilient, and just local food economy.

The speakers brought together distinct players in the food waste puzzle: a large food service provider with many touchpoints within the industry (chefs, line cooks, dietitians, customers, partners, etc.), a service provider delivering innovative tools to combat food waste, and a coalition leader bringing together community members to solve complex problems.

What was clear was that this is a tough time for food businesses, especially smaller non-chain restaurants, and this is when partnership is all the more important. Panelists talked about fitting the right tool, the right information, and the right inspiration to the right person at the right time. We all have a part to play. For instance:

• Chefs can be trusted voices. Hearing from someone you trust is much more meaningful than hearing from a sustainability officer. It is these deep trusted relationships give behavior change a leg up. Everyone in the kitchen looks to them for leadership.

• Line cooks are global change makers even if they don't know it. They are the ones on the front lines. They don't get the respect they deserve, and we need to change that. We need to empower them with the right tools — tools that are easy to use and fit within their workflow.

• Service providers can change the way businesses are run. Sodexo was highlighted as the first global food services company to tie food waste outcomes to financing in an innovative way to incentivize food waste prevention at all levels of the company.

• We can all change the way we talk about “waste.” The word has a tendency to create negative value. Instead, we can highlight words such as “surplus” or “excess yield” to better describe unused food.

With just an hour for breakfast, panel, and discussion, we had an incredibly robust and productive conversation within a short timeframe. Thank you to everyone who attended this fruitful discussion. If you have more questions on this event, don’t hesitate to reach out to us here.