Thus it makes for one less source of substantial food donations. We understand how important it is to think about the future of the industry, but we rarely have the time to devote to that kind of planning. The survey also revealed what the researchers characterize as a misunderstanding on the part of food-donation programs. It is a stretch for the food-donation programs to expect donors to have the same level of involvement as the recipients themselves. The survey revealed a wide diversity of size and scope of food distribution programs.
Some programs have full-time employees, others rely solely on volunteers.
The annual volume of food handled ranged from 8,000 pounds to 5.5 million pounds and the number of donors ranged from 10 to 3,300. Independent and chain restaurants were the most generous with food contributions, followed by hotels and supermarkets, the study found.