Jasmine Crowe had been hosting formal pop-up dinners for Atlanta’s homeless for several years when a video about her work went viral in January 2016. 

It became her lightbulb moment. She realized that much of the US hunger problem was about logistics, not scarcity.

Many restaurants, catering, and event companies have plenty of leftovers, but don’t have a system for figuring out how to donate and deliver them to the needy. At the same time, low-income families, the elderly and the homeless don’t have ways to access existing free-meal services or nearby food banks. The answer lay in connecting them.

“Hunger is not a scarcity issue. There’s more than enough food. It’s actually a logistics issue,” she says.

Each year, 40 million Americans go hungry while 80 billion pounds of food end up in landfills, and businesses miss out on $40 billion in unclaimed tax incentives, says Goodr, and the current food supply chain hasn’t solved the problem, even with many social programs that aim to end hunger.

Jasmine is an award-winning social entrepreneur and TED speaker. In 2018, she became the 35th black woman to raise more than $1 million in venture capital for her business. Under her direction, Goodr has redirected over five million pounds of surplus food from restaurants, event centers, airports, and businesses to millions of people who are food insecure. 

A former independent philanthropy consultant who once struggled with food insecurity herself, she created Goodr, a food-waste management company, in 2017. Its blockchain-based digital platform tracks surplus food and essentially, redirects surplus food from businesses to nonprofits that can share it with those who are food insecure.

“We believe the solution is simple: Feed more, waste less. Goodr provides a secure ledger that tracks an organization’s surplus food from pickup to donation, delivering real-time social and environmental impact reporting analytics. The Goodr model aims to provide a triple-win solution by improving an organization’s bottom line through charitable tax donations, reducing its greenhouse emissions from landfills and getting its edible surplus food to local communities in need.”

Statistically, Goodr has been responsible for 30 million meals served to people in need, 3 million pounds of food diverted from landfills, and 6.2 million carbon emissions prevented as a result. It charges a volume-based fee for service, a subscription fee for access to its platform, and businesses pay a sponsorship fee. It has a wide range of clients.

At the start of the pandemic, Goodr pivoted to food distribution by organizing pop-up grocery stores for the community as well as launching a grocery delivery program that provides weekly delivery to over 2,000 seniors. Goodr clients include Hartsfield Jackson Airport, NBA, Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Public Schools, and many more. 

Since March of 2020, Goodr has been responsible for providing over two million meals to people in need. 

Jasmine recently wrote her first children’s book, Everybody Eats, which teaches youth about hunger, compassion, and empathy.

Sources:

Goodr website

How One Atlanta Startup Solved The Biggest Problem In Food Waste Recovery. Forbes, May 13, 2019

This App Delivers Leftover Food To The Hungry, Instead Of To The Trash. Fast Company, May 3, 2018