Chamber, foundation seek participants for food waste pilot program

The Park City Chamber & Visitors Bureau and Park City Community Foundation are looking for 20 local restaurants and caterers to participate in a pilot program designed to save resources and reduce food waste.

The program will work one-on-one with the businesses participating in the Zero Food Waste Restaurant Cohort. The program, available at no cost to participating businesses, will provide hands-on support, financial incentives and industry expertise to make waste reduction streamlined and effective for the local food service community.

“This is a great opportunity for local restaurants to work alongside experts to find customized solutions that will help reduce waste and costs for their businesses,” said Morgan Mingle, the chamber/bureau’s director of sustainable tourism, who led the creation of the project.

Interested restaurants and caterers can apply to participate by 11:59 p.m. April 28 at https://pccf.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6mc0MrSg3SRiSAC. Details are available by emailing Andy Hecht at andy@parkcitycf.org.

The Park City Community Foundation launched the Zero Food Waste initiative in June 2024 with the goal of diverting and eliminating all food waste from the Summit County landfill by 2030. The foundation continues to work on getting households signed up for curbside food waste collection and is also working with local businesses and partners like the chamber to scale food waste collection to the business community.

“Being a resort community, it’s critical to have our local businesses participating in the Zero Food Waste movement,” said Hecht, Climate Fund manager at the foundation. “This is a great first step to scaling these solutions to other businesses and organizations, and we’re excited to partner with the chamber to offer this pilot to leading restaurants in the area.”

The Park City entities say that food waste results in thousands of dollars’ worth of edible food ending up in landfills, contributes to wasted investments, misses opportunities to feed more people, and increases greenhouse gas emissions.

The pilot program will remove financial barriers by having the foundation cover all startup costs and initial service fees for food waste diversion, allowing restaurants to focus on learning, piloting and implementing solutions without worrying about the upfront investment.

Participants will attend a one-day workshop on June 3 to hear industry-leading experts from ReFED discuss waste-reduction best practices and creating individualized action plans to waste less and save money. Each restaurant will also receive five to seven hours of free follow-up consultation from ReFED on implementing their individual waste-reduction plans.

Participating restaurants will be fast-tracked into the Green Business Program, gaining recognition for their sustainability efforts and benefiting from marketing and promotional opportunities.

The Zero Food Waste Restaurant Cohort aligns with the objectives outlined in the Sustainable Tourism Plan, unveiled in 2022 by the chamber and Summit County. The plan aims to create a future where community and environmental benefits are valued with the same weight as economic benefits, resulting in a thriving community and welcoming destination.

The chamber/bureau represents over 1,000 businesses in Summit County. The foundation works to solve the greatest challenges in Greater Park City. It says it has generated more than $60 million in total impact to the Greater Park City community and Summit County since its inception in 2007.