ReFED receives 2026 Impact Award from the James Beard Foundation. by: James Beard Foundation March 31, 2026 The James Beard foundation(r) announces The 2026 Restaurant and Chef Award nominees and Impact, Humanitarian of the Year, and Lifetime Achievement Award honorees. NEW YORK (March 31, 2026) - The James Beard Foundation(R) announced today its 2026 Restaurant and Chef Award nominees, as well as this year's Achievement Award honorees (Impact, Humanitarian of the Year, and Lifetime Achievement), in advance of the James Beard Awards(R) ceremonies presented by Capital One. Considered the pinnacle of culinary recognition in the US and among the country's most prestigious honors, the James Beard Awards celebrate exceptional talent in the culinary and food media industries, as well as a demonstrated commitment to creating a culture where all can thrive. The full list of nominees and honorees is below and on the James Beard Foundation website. "Congratulations to all! As we mark 40 years of the James Beard Foundation, we're reminded of just how vital it is to celebrate and champion the people driving American food culture forward," said Clare Reichenbach, CEO of the James Beard Foundation. "From the industry professionals defining our dining landscape to the advocates shaping our food system, their work is a testament to the talent, leadership, and care that make food such a powerful force in our lives. Thanks to our partners at Choose Chicago, we are equally thrilled to continue celebrating the Awards in the great city of Chicago for another two years." For nearly four decades, the James Beard Awards(R) have shaped how excellence is recognized and understood in American food culture and continue to be the industry's benchmark. Across programs, the Awards continue to grow and evolve - broadening representation of the regions, cuisines, dining styles, and communities of its culinary landscape. As a marker of distinction, the Awards serve as a trusted guide for diners, a respected honor among professionals, and a platform for advancing the James Beard Foundation's mission to champion a thriving independent restaurant industry. Achievement Awards: The James Beard Awards(R) consist of three achievement awards: The Humanitarian of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards administered by the Awards Committee, and the Impact Awards, administered by the Foundation's Board of Trustees Impact Committee. The Impact Awards is a newer program as of 2025, born out of the James Beard Foundation's impact work and advocacy policy priorities, and building on the previous Leadership Awards that were retired in 2024. The Impact Awards program recognizes changemakers actively working to push for standards that create a more equitable, sustainable, and economically viable restaurant industry and food system for producers, workers, and consumers alike. The Impact Awards are administered by the Impact Committee of the Foundation's Board of Trustees and reflect the year's programmatic priorities. Honorees are nominated by an expert Impact Awards Advisory Council and through a public open call, with final selections made by the committee. Honorees will be acknowledged at a luncheon awards ceremony in Chicago on Sunday, June 14, as well as on stage at the Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony on Monday, June 15 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The 2026 Impact Award honorees are: * ReFED is a nonprofit field catalyst building a movement to solve food waste and create a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive food system. Implementing the data-driven solutions ReFED has modeled has the potential to unlock nearly $60 billion in net financial benefit while diverting 20 million tons of food from going to waste every year. ReFED's comprehensive Insights Engine helps restaurant and foodservice operators identify and solve their food waste footprint, not only improving the bottom line, but engaging and empowering staff, strengthening workplace culture, and allowing workers to participate in meaningful change. As a field catalyst, ReFED has unlocked more than $215M through its unique suite of programs, including the Catalytic Grant Fund that supports scalable solutions to food waste. Additional recipients of a 2026 Impact Award are: * Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) * Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation * Senator Ben Ray Luján * Southern Smoke Foundation ReFED is a U.S.-based nonprofit that partners with food businesses, funders, solution providers, policymakers, and more to solve food waste. Its vision is a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive food system that makes the best use of the food ReFED, Inc. grow. The organization serves as the definitive source for food waste data, providing the most comprehensive analysis of the food waste problem and solutions to address it. Through its tools and resources, in-person and virtual convenings, and services tailored to help businesses, funders, and solution providers scale their impact, ReFED works to increase adoption of food waste solutions across the supply chain.

U.S. Food Waste Pact report shows less food Being wasted in retail and foodservice sectors. A new report from the U.S. Food Waste Pact (Pact), a collaborative initiative of 30 food businesses across the country led by nonprofits ReFED and World Wildlife Fund, shows reductions in the amount of food being wasted nationwide by grocery retail and foodservice companies in 2024 compared to 2023. The results are good news for the food system, as it tries to address its 60-million-ton food waste problem. This is the second year that Pact signatories have reported these data, with 2023 results serving as the inaugural benchmark for food waste in these sectors. Unsold food rates, the metric that most accurately reflects waste reduction in the retail sector, decreased by 1.1% from 2023 to 2024, despite an increase in tons wasted. This means that while market fluctuations and business performance across the retail sector resulted in more food passing through grocery stores, food waste still decreased based on the share of retail inventory that went unsold. The food efficiency rate, the metric that most accurately reflects waste reduction in the foodservice sector, decreased by 5.7% from 2023 to 2024, which was accompanied by a 4,000 ton reduction in waste and a $15.9 million decrease in the wholesale cost of surplus food. "Being able to measure these kinds of trends is a core reason for why we launched the U.S. Food Waste Pact over two years ago," Jackie Suggitt, vice president of business initiatives & community engagement at ReFED said. "Measuring food waste is critical to making progress to reduce it. This kind of data allows our signatories and food businesses across the country to take informed and targeted action against food waste." In addition to these downward trends in retail and foodservice, the report shares that Pact pilot projects to test and scale solutions to food waste resulted in significant reductions. To date, these pilots have demonstrated food waste reduction averaging more than 50%, including: Across four pilots, frontline workers have generated 750+ food waste reduction ideas and have implemented over ten ideas, resulting in an average food waste reduction of 66%. One whole chain pilot from 2025 that tested a solution to utilize more strawberries in the foodservice sector reduced on-farm strawberry waste by 51%. The Pact's first low-waste events pilot implementing measurement practices and testing several solutions to back-of-house waste reduced 55% of food waste in key food categories across participating sites. "Our pilots show impressive proof of concept that, if brought to scale, could have staggering impacts on food waste," Pete Pearson, vice president of food loss and waste at World Wildlife Fund says. "It points to the need for more collaboration across the supply chain to leverage simple solutions with high returns." "Being a part of the U.S. Food Waste Pact has been incredibly valuable for ALDI," says Emily Wiora, sustainability director at ALDI US. "As a founding signatory, collaborating openly with our peers has accelerated our progress and provided insights that we excitedly share with fellow signatories. As the Pact grows, so does its impact on reducing food waste nationwide. Together, we are making meaningful strides in food waste diversion and reduction, and we take pride in being part of the retail cohort that established the national benchmark for food waste in our industry." A total of 14 food businesses and organizations joined the Pact in 2025, nearly doubling the initiative's signatory base. Organically Grown Company and Midwest Foods established a food distribution cohort for the Pact, and CAVA, Starbucks, and Wawa tripled the quick-service restaurant cohort. Hilton was the Pact's first hospitality signatory, and at the end of the year, the American Hotel & Lodging Association joined as a coalition signatory, a partner that can reach many organizations. Trade associations Western Growers Association and the International Fresh Produce Association helped the Pact establish a presence in the producer sector, and FMI - The Food Industry Association's joining marked a critical milestone for the Pact because the association touches every corner of the food system. These signatories and more have expanded the Pact's work across the entire supply chain, allowing for more collaboration to accelerate impact. "This was a landmark year for the U.S. Food Waste Pact," says Dana Gunders, president of ReFED. "Our signatories are deeply invested in learning from each other, and the impact of that shared knowledge shows. Whether on a micro scale through pilots or on a macro scale through their own business initiatives, they are taking data-informed action to reduce food waste, and their collaboration is accelerating progress on that shared goal. We're excited to deepen our engagement with signatories this year as we focus on expanding our resources and scaling solution adoption." The signatories of the U.S. Food Waste Pact are retailers Albertsons Companies, Ahold Delhaize USA, ALDI US, Amazon Fresh, Kroger, New Seasons Market, Raley's, Sprouts Farmers Market, Walmart Inc., and Whole Foods Market; manufacturers Bob's Red Mill, Del Monte Fresh Produce Company, and Lamb Weston, Inc.; coalition signatories Health Care Without Harm and R&DE Stanford Food Institute; trade associations the American Hotel & Lodging Association, FMI - The Food Industry Association, the International Fresh Produce Association, and Western Growers Association; foodservice signatories Aramark, Compass Group USA, ISS Guckenheimer, and Sodexo USA; quick-service restaurants CAVA, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and Wawa; hospitality signatory Hilton; and distributors Organically Grown Company and Midwest Foods.

[GUEST BLOG] from field to future: how persistence, partnerships, and innovation can reduce food waste. by: Alex Dinovo, DNO Produce March 16, 2026 Food waste is often discussed as a moral or environmental imperative, but inside food manufacturing and distribution, it's also an operational reality filled with tradeoffs, friction, and uncertainty. At the DNO Produce group of companies, ReFED, Inc. has learned that reducing food waste rarely comes from a single breakthrough. More often, it's the result of sustained investment, cross-sector collaboration, and a willingness to keep moving forward even when solutions cost more or take longer than expected. One area where this reality has come into sharp focus is upcycling. For decades, broccoli stems were largely treated as a byproduct of harvest, tilled back into the soil, offering limited economic value beyond soil health. Through a partnership with Bayer and their High Rise(TM) broccoli varietals, and with support from ReFED's Catalytic Grant Fund, ReFED, Inc. set out to change that. Its goal was to create a marketable product from broccoli stems that benefits farmers, workers, and consumers alike, something approachable, familiar, and craveable. Internally, ReFED, Inc. like to call it its attempt to create "the chicken wing of vegetables." The upside is real. Farmers are able to monetize more of the crop. Harvest crews benefit from clearer specifications and the potential for safer, more automated harvesting approaches. And a product that was once considered waste becomes part of the human food supply. But the challenges have been significant. To be viable for processing, broccoli stems must be harvested to precise length and trim requirements, which adds complexity in the field. Even then, the outer cambium layer of the stem is tough, and there is no off-the-shelf processing equipment capable of handling it at commercial scale. Progress has required close collaboration with equipment manufacturers, custom design, and countless iterations - none of them fast, and none of them cheap. Packaging has presented a similar mix of progress and friction. For its K-12 customers, ReFED, Inc. has transitioned many products to a biodegradable-enhanced flexible film that can break down in a typical landfill environment over approximately seven years. This was an intentional step toward reducing persistent plastic waste, even though the material carries a cost premium. Compounding the challenge, once ReFED, Inc. identified and qualified a supplier, that product was discontinued, forcing ReFED, Inc. back into the market to find an alternative and revalidate performance. ReFED, Inc. has also implemented a compostable cup program for rigid-pack school products, an initiative that aligned well with its sustainability goals until tariffs dramatically increased costs, in some cases by as much as 400%. ReFED, Inc. is actively searching for new solutions, but this experience underscored how quickly external policy and market dynamics can disrupt even well-planned sustainability efforts. Beyond products and packaging, ReFED, Inc. has made a commitment to ensure that minimal amounts of its organic waste end up in a landfill. Today, all trimmings and scraps are diverted to a local dairy farm, where they're repurposed as animal feed. Reaching this point took years of searching, negotiation, and operational redesign. The solution remains slightly more expensive than landfill disposal, and to make it work logistically, ReFED, Inc. invested in a press to remove excess liquid from organic scraps, reducing haul weight and cost. Across these initiatives, a few lessons stand out: * First, sustainability is rarely the lowest-cost option in the short term. * Second, food waste reduction is a systems problem, success depends on alignment across agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, policy, and markets. * And third, progress often comes from choosing persistence over perfection. If ReFED, Inc. want meaningful reductions in food waste, governments need to incentivize innovation and environmental stewardship. Companies need to invest even when the ROI isn't immediate. And consumers, from school districts to households, need to reward the organizations doing the hard work behind the scenes. Solutions don't have to be finished to matter. They just have to move ReFED, Inc. forward. Food waste reduction requires collaboration. If you're a grower, manufacturer, policymaker, funder, or fellow solution provider interested in advancing upcycling, sustainable packaging, or organic waste diversion, ReFED, Inc. welcome the conversation. Progress happens faster when ReFED, Inc. build it together. ReFED is a U.S.-based nonprofit that partners with food businesses, funders, solution providers, policymakers, and more to solve food waste. Its vision is a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive food system that makes the best use of the food ReFED, Inc. grow. The organization serves as the definitive source for food waste data, providing the most comprehensive analysis of the food waste problem and solutions to address it. Through its tools and resources, in-person and virtual convenings, and services tailored to help businesses, funders, and solution providers scale their impact, ReFED works to increase adoption of food waste solutions across the supply chain.