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Man’s Uber Eats inspired project aims to donate excess food from events to charities
Inspired by Uber Eats’ delivery service, man creates project that donates excess food to charities
Alissa Gaskell
04.08.20

Who doesn’t love food? Whether it’s a sumptuous spread, a simple meal, or a snack, food brings comfort like no other. And because we live in fast-paced times where everything is at the touch of our fingertips, the food experience is made even better by online ordering and delivery.

A decade ago, you had to pore through restaurant flyers before picking up the phone and dialing the restaurant’s number for food delivery.

Now, you only need to make a few taps on your smartphone to place an order and have it delivered straight to your doorstep.

Uber thought of something better. The ride-hailing company launched UberEats, an online food ordering and delivery platform that allows customers more options – a variety of food choices from participating restaurants.

Courier & Press
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Courier & Press

But as amazing as the platform is, we’re here to talk about something equally inspired.

The ingenious concept inspired something even greater – B12Give.

As a name that can easily be misread as “bee twelve give”, the project is actually called “Be One to Give.”

Instagram
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Instagram

B12Give aims “to rescue 100% of avoidable food waste across Canada by the end of 2025.”

Tony Colley, the mastermind behind the anti-food waste campaign, launched B12Give after his stint as a part-time event manager for a catering company. He realized how truly heartbreaking it was to see so much food just being thrown out after each event.

And instead of letting leftover food go to waste, he started delivering meals to shelters on his bike.

YouTube
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YouTube

Three years before the idea for B12Give came to him, Tony Colley was making barely enough to buy food for himself. It was exactly that humbling experience that made him more determined than ever to make sure other people don’t have to go through the same hunger.

The project was so successful that Tony was able to deliver more than 11,000 pounds of food to different charities across Toronto.

Restaurants and catering companies now know to send a text message to Colley whenever there’s food to be donated.

YouTube
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YouTube

As Tony continues to work with retailers and make sure no food goes to waste, he also picks up more tips along the way, like how important proper labeling of food is.

Once he was asked if the food he brought over was gluten-free. Slightly taken aback, his inward reaction to the question was to assume some recipients were on the verge of complaining about taste and quality. It turns out certain individuals are on strict diets for health reasons.

This prompted Tony to create food labels that retailers could easily fill out with the necessary information.

YouTube
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YouTube

That means he’s not only donating food to those who don’t always have enough to eat on a day to day basis; he’s also cautious about how safe the food is for the people who are about to eat it.

And since chefs and managers know how to reach him in case of food donations, Tony has also learned to match his mode of transportation with the volume of food to be picked up and delivered.

Typically, Tony takes the subway to cut down on carbon emissions but large volumes of food require him to take his car.

YouTube
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YouTube

Here’s hoping even more restaurants and catering companies take part in Tony’s mission to make sure people in shelters have good food to enjoy everyday.

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