April 7 2020  |  Catering

Delta donating food in worldwide effort with caterers, chefs

By Rick Lundstrom

Delta is providing more than 200,000 pounds of food to hospitals, community food banks and other organizations around the world to support people in need. as well as those working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Both perishable and non-perishable goods are being donated after Delta adjusted service offerings on board and in Delta Sky Clubs to reduce touchpoints between customers and employees,” said a release from the airlines. “As a result, Delta has been left with food that would have expired before it could be served to customers.”

Delta has longstanding relationships with organizations like Feeding America, a nonprofit network that supports food banks and where employees help repack more than 2 million pounds of food per year. In addition, Delta is working to help long-term food service partners including Linton Hopkins, Newrest and Sodexo with resources they need to serve their communities.

So far in 2020, Delta has donated more than 200,000 pounds of perishable food items from warehouses to Feeding America partner agencies across the U.S. and other charities, including Georgia Food & Resource Center and Missouri's Carthage Crisis Center.

Regional managers are working with caterers to donate food where needed. In Nice, France, Delta partnered with Newrest to donate pre-packaged snacks to hospitals and healthcare workers. Additionally, food and coffee were donated to MIR, an organization distributing free meals and providing shelter to the homeless and human trafficking survivors. Managers in New York are also doing their part by providing food donations to hospitals in their region.

In Philadelphia, Delta partnered with SodexoMAGIC to donate more than 500 pounds of food from the Delta Sky Club at the airport to a local Feeding America food bank.

Delta Sky Clubs around the U.S. including those in Los Angeles and at New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports have activated programs similar to the one in Philadelphia, providing donations to first responders, local charities and churches.

Delta is working with Linton Hopkins – an Atlanta chef and longtime Delta partner – to provide trays and packaging supplies to support food distribution with initiatives like ATLFAMILYMEAL, which delivers meals to Atlanta hospitality workers. Hopkins' team is delivering over 5,000 meals per week, including to first responders at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital.

Delta employees are sending fresh Flight Fuel boxed meals to Reservations and Customer Care centers to support the teams responding to unprecedented numbers of customers needing to make changes to their flights.

Copyright 2024 PAX International. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy Sitemap