our story
Hunger in the U.S. isn’t a problem of supply. It’s a problem of access and distribution. That’s where Spoonfuls comes in.
The stats tell us that 31% of food in the U.S. goes unsold or uneaten. Meanwhile, 47 million people in the U.S. (1 in 3 households in Massachusetts alone) struggle to feed themselves and their families.
Food insecurity across the Commonwealth, and across the nation, is not caused by a lack of food. It’s a symptom of a faulty food system where surplus and need exist side by side. At Spoonfuls, we recognize food recovery, picking up and distributing perfectly good, unsold food to people who need it, is a sensible solution to wasted food and hunger.
Our mission is to facilitate the recovery and distribution of healthy, fresh food that would otherwise be discarded.
Guided by a series of Core Values and Inclusion Tenets, our team works to efficiently deliver this food directly to those organizations where it can have the greatest impact and to address the health, environmental, and economic effects of wasted food on our community.
Spoonfuls (formerly Lovin’ Spoonfuls) launched in 2010 as a 501(c)(3) organization, starting with a single food recovery route in Greater Boston. Today, we’re New England’s largest food recovery operation! To date, we have distributed over 40 million pounds of fresh, nutritious food – enough for 32 million meals – across Massachusetts.
As we’ve grown our food recovery program, we’ve also grown to work alongside community partners, business leaders, and policymakers to raise awareness about the problem of wasted food and to engage people more deeply in identifying and actioning long-term solutions to tackle food insecurity and the climate emergency.
We imagine a world in which a sustainable environment and access to nutritious food is unqualified and respected. We will continue to follow the examples of, and remain informed by, community voices as we work to build a fair food system and address food insecurity and the climate emergency. These values are measures of justice rather than charity.
To best realize this vision, Spoonfuls is improving our capacity to deliver food with purpose in alignment with our ambitious five-year Strategic Plan. Our team is working diligently to expand to new geographies, grow our network of partners, and expand our program offerings to best address the impact of wasted food on people and the planet.