Starbucks barista documents coffee chain’s alleged food waste in viral video: ‘Made me feel sick’

‘This should be illegal,’ one viewer claims

A video claiming to show food going to waste at Starbucks has gone viral, despite the company previously pledging to donate all unsold food.

Aidan Stockin, who works at the coffee chain, alleged that throwing away “perfectly good food” has become common practice at Starbucks.

In a clip that has been viewed 2.2m times and liked by more than 189,000 viewers, the 23-year-old showed food waste allegedly left over at the end of his shift.

“It’s not just one restaurant, it’s all of them,” the biology student from Massachusetts told NeedToKnow.co.uk. “I’ve worked in several over the past seven years and every single one says that they have a food donation service, then turns around and throws out a substantial amount of food daily.

“It made me feel sick to be forced into throwing out so much perfectly good food when the homeless shelter is 10 minutes down the road.”

In the video, he began by showing a shopping cart being filled with different packaged food items. He then revealed another trolley filled to the brim with pastries, before showing a picture of all the alleged waste in total.

Users have taken to the comments to share their reactions, with many left upset and confused.

“Nooo why can’t they donate it,” one viewer asked, while another said: “I would legit cash app you right now for those chocolate croissants.”

“Just call your local Salvation Army to pick it up,” someone else suggested, while another viewer claimed the food waste should be “illegal”.

(Jam Press/@aidan10154)

(Jam Press/@aidan10154)

(Jam Press/@aidan10154)

In 2016, Starbucks announced its “FoodShare” programme, where it said it would donate unsold food from 100 per cent of the US stores.

In 2020, it was alleged that Starbucks locations were throwing away unsold food, as investigated by the New York Post.

According to Aidan, food is allegedly still being thrown away in 2023.

Referring to the incident in the TikTok, he said: “The exact same scenario happened with our savoury sandwiches two days prior, in which two full carts were thrown away. In total, five carts were thrown out in less than three days.

“I felt trapped and conflicted because if it were up to me, I would have loaded the food into the back of my car and drove it straight down to the homeless shelter.”

(Jam Press/@aidan10154)

(Jam Press/@aidan10154)

Jam Press contacted Starbucks for comment.

A company spokesperson said: “At Starbucks, our goal is to donate 100 per cent of approved to donate food, including perishable items like salads and sandwiches, furthering Starbucks resource positive commitment to reduce waste by 50 per cent by 2030.

“Since 2016, Starbucks has been committed to supporting hunger relief through its innovative Starbucks FoodShare food donation program in partnership with Feeding America, Second Harvest Canada and other hunger-relief organisations.

“Expanding our efforts to rescue food and divert from landfills is key to helping us reach our aspirations. We have developed a process which enables us to donate our fresh, ready-to-eat food items in addition to the pastries that we have been donating for years. Our commitments and FoodShare programming are carried out in company-owned stores. We encourage our licensed store partnerships to include Starbucks donations in their existing food waste reduction and donation programs.”