What Happens to High-Quality Supermarket Food at the End of the Day?

[Gregg.]

I'm sure we've all gone into an upscale supermarket in the evening. We still see rows and rows of sub sandwiches, wraps, hot roast chickens, sushi, artisan breads and cakes, cut up fruit and melon platters. I'm sure most of these things can't be sold tomorrow, except maybe the fruit platters and bakery items, which can last two or three days tops. If I'm in the store only an hour to two before closing, clearly tons of stuff is sitting there at full price. I'd buy it if they reduced it, but not at the inflated price they put on it when they made it this morning.

So what happens to it? Does it go to soup kitchens? Someone in an institution is eating day-old a balsamic chicken and endive wrap, with a cut up melon platter for desert, just so these stores never have to discount the stuff? Do the homeless dine on lemon pepper chickens with herb-roasted potatoes, that are 30 hours old? Maybe in this day of insurance fears, a supermarket isn't even going to donate the stuff that's been sitting under the heat lamps all day. Do the staff manage to take it home, rarely ever cooking for themselves and their families?

Or does it all wind up in the dumpster?

 

[frankberry]

Call the Supermarket and ask.
My uncle and aunt (now long deceased) owned a Supermarket.
Produce and other products which were unfit for sale was given to local farmers for use as pig food.

 

[MarcB]

The 3 major chains in my town - Shoprite, Stop & Shop, and Price Chopper sell reduced priced baked goods. Then if they don't sell they're picked up by "Bread For Life" a local Southington Charity. They'll drop the stuff off at The Calendar House (Senior Center) and the Activities Center at Spring Lake Village (Senior Citizens Condo Complex). I can'tt speak for PC or Stop & Shop, but I know at the Southington Shoprite on Monday's they take the old donuts and give them out to Seniors (55 and older) from 9AM-1PM along with a cup of coffee. Anything leftover from that goes to the employees. Some stores also mark down any left over sandwiches the next morning. Meats too. Discount produce is also available and at least at the Southington Shoprite the produce that isn't salvagable is composted.

 

[JeffM]

In my area, the one major grocery chain (practically a monopoly) gathers up all their day-old baked goods to be distributed free thru a community service agency. Anyone who uses the agency can simply stop by their office and pick up whatever they want for free, though "sweet" items (rolls, donuts, etc.) are limited to one package daily; most of what they get is apparently sandwich buns.
One of the food shelves here has a refrigerated truck they use to pick up produce, which of course is distributed right away, most of it to soup kitchen-type operations.
Once I was shopping at one supermarket here (the only one not in that near-monopoly I mentioned) and the young woman at the deli counter walked up to me and handed me a refrigerated chicken casserole, saying its on-display time had run out at 5 pm and she needed to give it away. So I accepted it. Good too.