Restaurant serves cheap meals made with expired foods

The Daily Table is a grocery store and restaurant which puts all of its food to use — whether it's past its sell by date or not.

Food waste is a major global problem, with some 40 percent of all edible goods in the US finding itself in landfill, rather than eaten. Part of this is down to the shelf-life given to fruit and vegetables — supermarkets won’t sell food unless it reaches certain aesthetic standards or is within its sell by date. While enterprises such as Culinary Misfits have begun trying to tackle the first of those issues, The Daily Table is a new grocery store and restaurant which puts all of its food to use — whether it’s past its sell by date or not.

Spearheaded by Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s, the inner-city venues will offer grocery shopping as well as dining. Rather than focusing on branded fruit and vegetables that often come with manufacturer-imposed use by dates, The Daily Table will keep its goods on the shelf until they’re starting to wane. Once this has happened — typically a few days after the expiry date — the goods will be reused in the restaurant. “Most of what we offer will be fruits and vegetables that have a use-by date on it that’ll be several days out,” Rauch told NPR. By keeping food until it’s possible to do so, the franchise will be able to offer healthy, safe meals that can be priced to compete with fast food chains.

Rauch aims to raise awareness of the problem of food waste with the new company, change consumers’ attitudes to expiring food, and also provide cheap wholesome restaurant food in urban areas. Are there other ways to ensure perfectly edible perishables get used up rather than thrown away?

Spotted by Murray Orange, written by Springwise