Feed your neighbors
with the food you already have
Restaurants, cafés, bakeries, caterers — if you serve food, you can donate your surplus.
Good food leaves your kitchen every night. A local pantry can put it on someone’s table tomorrow — and the donation is deductible.
That includes prepared food — tonight’s unsold meals, prep overages, and catering trays. If it’s safe enough to serve a paying customer, you’re covered — federal law (Bill Emerson Act, strengthened 2023) protects good-faith food donors.
The Problem You Already Have
Every restaurant, grocery store, and cafeteria generates surplus food daily. Thrown out, it feeds no one — and it still costs you, in hauling fees, lost inventory value, and a deduction you never claimed.
Good Food, Thrown Out
The average restaurant discards $10,000–$25,000 of food a year — meals a neighbor down the road could have eaten.
Missed Deductions
Food you throw away is food a neighbor could have eaten — and a record you never created.
Disposal Costs
Waste hauling fees average $300-600/month for restaurants. Donating reduces your waste volume.
How Pantry Saves You Money
Scan & Post
At end of shift, scan surplus items with your phone camera. Takes about 2 minutes.
Food Pantry Claims
A local food pantry sees your donation and claims it, then coordinates the pickup with you.
Receipt Generated
Pantry generates a donation receipt with fair market value, naming the pantry that received it. Download anytime.
Tax Savings
Your accountant applies deductions at tax time. You save money. Your community gets fed.
Tax Savings Calculator
See how much your business could save by donating surplus food
$4,160
Annual donation value (FMV)
$998
Est. annual tax savings
$83
Est. monthly savings
$4,990
Est. 5-year savings
Upper estimate. This assumes the full fair-market value is deductible. Under IRC §170(e)(3), a business’s deduction is generally its cost basis plus half the appreciation, capped at twice cost basis — often less than full FMV. Your actual deduction depends on your cost basis and bracket.
Estimates based on USDA commodity pricing. Consult your tax advisor for your specific situation.
IRC Section 170(e)(3)
Congress wrote this to move food, not paperwork
Up to twice the cost basis of donated food
For qualifying businesses, the deduction for food donations can exceed the standard charitable deduction. The food must be “apparently wholesome” and go to a 501(c)(3) that will use it to feed people — the statute’s own wording is “the care of the ill, the needy, or infants.”
Pantry handles the documentation. We generate receipts with everything your accountant needs.
Source: Internal Revenue Code § 170(e)(3); IRS Publication 526
Who Uses Pantry
Restaurants & Cafes
End-of-night prepared food, prep overages, cancelled catering orders
50 lbs/week ≈ $2,000/year saved (est.)
Grocery Stores
Near-expiry items, damaged packaging, seasonal overstock
200 lbs/week ≈ $3,500/year saved (est.)
Corporate Cafeterias
Daily surplus from employee dining, event leftovers
100 lbs/week ≈ $2,000/year saved (est.)
Caterers & Events
Post-event surplus that would otherwise be discarded
75 lbs/week ≈ $3,000/year saved (est.)
What You Get
Get Started in 5 Minutes
Questions? Contact our business team: partners@pantrydonate.com