'We Get Fired If We Eat Them" - Dunkin' Worker Claims They Have To Throw Away Hundreds Of Donuts Every Night

Throwing away food while millions face food insecurity is simply awful.

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• January 28, 2023

Wasting food is awful when we have so many people starving. A now-viral TikTok video, viewed more than 12.3 million times, exposes Dunkin' Donuts' food waste to consumers.

The video, shared by user @korrbs, shows two Dunkin' employees throwing away what they claim is around $100 worth of donuts, which they say are perfectly fine to eat. Accompanying the video is a text overlay that reads, "When we're required to throw out $100 worth of donuts but get fired if we eat them."

Many viewers noted that their managers at Dunkin' locations often let them take home any extra donuts instead of throwing them out. Nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted, equating to 119 billion pounds of food wasted each year.

That's enough to make 130 billion meals! Food waste occurs at every stage of food production and distribution - from farmers to packers and shippers, from manufacturers to retailers to our homes. Food waste in our homes makes up about 39% of all food waste - about 42 billion pounds.

At the same time, commercial food waste makes up about 61% of all food waste or 66 billion pounds. Many things have to change, and we all need to put in an effort.

Watch the video below:

With approximately 12,900 locations in 42 countries, Dunkin' is one of the largest coffee shop and donut shop chains in the world. Its products include donuts, bagels, coffee, and "Munchkins" donut holes.

A now-viral TikTok video, viewed more than 12.3 million times, exposes Dunkin' Donuts' food waste to consumers.

If this video made you angry, you are not the only one. However, comments below the video say that this is not a common practice in all Dunkin restaurants.

“I work at Dunkin, and our boss actually encourages us to take home donuts that don’t sell,” one commenter wrote.

“It just depends where u work, [most] of them let u take them home free,” another user stated.

“My shift leader would always let me take what I wanted home,” a third claimed. “My siblings loved when I worked nights at dd.”

Others suggested the excess baked goods might be able to be donated or otherwise given away to avoid being thrown in the trash.

“Just makes no sense to waste food if its still safe to consume just not up for sale anymore,” one commenter wrote.

“Why they don’t give it to poor people or in a charity, this is so sad,” another suggested.

“You should check out the app too good to go and see if your managers would consider joining that!” a third added.

Throwing away food while millions face food insecurity is simply awful.

A record 349 million people across 79 countries are facing acute food insecurity – up from 287 million in 2021. This constitutes a staggering rise of 200 million people compared to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. More than 900,000 people worldwide are fighting to survive in famine-like conditions. This is ten times more than five years ago, an alarmingly rapid increase.

Damjan