FAQs
The Denver Food Matters Restaurant Challenge is a peer-to-peer learning experience in the form of friendly competition between local restaurants in Denver. The Challenge is designed to promote best practices in wasted food management. Two cohorts of restaurants will engage in a 12-week challenge to reduce food waste in their businesses. Participating businesses will work with expert consultant CET to identify how and when food waste is happening in their operations, identify goals to target this waste, and implement a comprehensive strategy to reduce, repurpose, and divert wasted food. Participants will celebrate their achievements at a closing event and will cooperate to share stories and successes for a media campaign.
The Challenge is designed to make progress on the Denver Food Vision focus areas (inclusive, healthy, vibrant, resilient) by highlighting best practices in wasted food reduction. Facilitating peer-to-peer learning among restaurants in Denver is one of the best ways to build a strong network of leaders in food donation, wasted food reduction, and composting.
The first step is to register your interest. Applications will be reviewed to select for final participants, taking into account factors such as business type, geographic location, ownership models, and diversity. Selected applicants will receive no-cost wasted food expertise from CET and choose from a “menu” of food waste reduction strategies to pursue for points. Restaurants will compete to earn the most points by implementing their chosen suite of strategies. The restaurant that earns the most points by the end of the Challenge wins!
The questionnaire includes basic questions, such as business name, contact information, number of employees, and average meals served per week. To better understand your interests and current activities, several questions seek to understand why you are applying, as well as your current donation or composting practices, if any.
7-8 businesses will be enrolled in each cohort (Summer and Fall). Applicants who are not selected for the challenge are encouraged to follow the challenge via the website and social media to learn from the experience of participants.
Each cohort will participate in the challenge over the course of 3 months; either June to August or September to November. Participants will spend 8 weeks actively implementing their chosen wasted food reduction strategies with the support of CET and the local recruiter.
Participants will need to commit to meeting with CET staff for an initial visit, and periodic follow-up check-ins. Participants need to have time to review recommendations, select which strategies to pursue, and then spend two months actively participating in the challenge. There will be two audits and two surveys during this time frame which all participants are expected to complete, as well as active participation in a welcome meeting, potential group learning opportunities, and a closing event
Among many benefits, participating businesses will have the opportunity to engage in peer-to-peer learning with other restaurants and be connected with local food rescue and composting solutions in their communities. They will receive public recognition from the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment for their role in the Challenge, as well as potential press exposure in Denver publications. Of course, participants will also receive no-cost wasted food expertise from CET to support efforts to reduce waste, costs, and environmental impacts.
The Denver Food Matters Challenge is hosted by the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment, in collaboration from numerous partners. Coordination and waste reduction consulting is provided by CET, who brings decades of experience in wasted food solutions. Othe project partners include We Don’t Waste, a local leader in wasted food diversion, and Drexel Food Lab, a nationally-known food product design and culinary innovation lab. This project is made possible by funding from the USDA.