Food Forward, Inc.

Food Forward’s Mission and Values

Food Forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.

Learn More

Core Values

Community Engagement
Working together, we inspire and are inspired by the people in the communities we serve.

Integrity
We are honest, accountable, and authentic in our words and actions.

Equity and Inclusion
We cultivate a diverse workforce that nurtures equity and inclusion.

Joyfulness
We embrace a creative, spirited, and fulfilling environment.

Food Justice
We share the abundance of fresh produce and prevent food waste because everyone deserves access to fresh and nutritious food.

Credit: Jen Serena, Serena Creative

Credit: Jeffery Dawson

The Problem

In California, 1 in 5 households are food insecure. Ongoing economic uncertainty, food shortages, and closures of essential community resources continue to exacerbate the lack of access to healthy food for vulnerable households. At the same time, 35 percent of the food produced in the U.S. is unsold or uneaten each year, amounting to an annual loss of $408B to the economy. As wasted food decomposes in landfills, it produces methane, damaging the environment and contributing to climate change. Just one third of the food we throw away could feed every food insecure person in the country.

The Solution

Food Forward recovers surplus produce through three award-winning programs: the Wholesale Recovery Program and two volunteer-led Community Programs: Farmers Market Recovery and Backyard Harvest. More than 300 hunger relief agency partners across the region receive and distribute Food Forward’s recovered produce to their clients, free of charge.

“Food Forward helped us get nutritious, fresh whole foods to these communities that would rarely be able to access it to begin with. They’d be priced out of it, even if they were able to get some.“

Yuri Mitzkewich, Program Leader of Vegan Outreach

Careers

Join our team. We are always looking for passionate people committed to fighting hunger and food waste!

Join our team

Food Recovery:

Feeds 150,000 individuals their five daily servings of fruits and vegetables.

Prevents 215X more greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere than our operations emit.

$120M in social impact value of fresh produce donated to hunger relief agencies with an operating budget of just $3.9M.*In 2021