At this yr’s ReFED Summit in Seattle, Andrew Shakman was in a reflective temper. When requested concerning the state of the meals waste discount motion, the Leanpath CEO, who has spent greater than twenty years combating meals waste, in contrast the second we’re in to the second act of a three-act play.
“If we return to Aristotle’s Poetics, the start is at all times gripping. The center is tough, and I feel we’re in act two, the place it’s now not the start, however we’re not on the finish.”
In accordance with Shakman, it’s a second of transition for the meals waste motion. The early momentum that outlined the final decade, fueled by sustainability pledges, daring 2025 targets, and a wave of startup innovation, is giving method to a extra difficult actuality. Some organizations are hitting their targets whereas many are falling brief. And now, for a lot of combating the battle, the query isn’t simply what the subsequent objective ought to be, however methods to hold the motion going.
In accordance with Shakman, which means leaning into the enterprise case for meals waste discount, a lot as he did when the corporate first began.
“Once we began, I’ve been at this 21 years. It was all about cash. It was all about saving cash, pulling {dollars} out of the rubbish,” he mentioned. “We got here to know that this was a nexus difficulty that integrated points round local weather and meals safety and land conversion and biodiversity and water sources and every part. At the moment we’re reverting again to a narrower story that’s extra centered on enterprise case simplification, making life as business-focused as attainable, due to the atmosphere we’re in proper now. There’s much less political unanimity round local weather and ESG.”
Shakman believes this re-focusing on the enterprise case is going on as a result of many enterprises are deemphasizing assembly sustainability targets, partially because of the political second we’re in in 2025. However simply because the Leanpath CEO sees a strong message in emphasizing effectivity and saving cash as key motivators to undertake meals waste discount tech, he doesn’t assume these within the trade ought to abandon speaking about how vital waste discount is for the atmosphere.
“You possibly can nonetheless have the entire dialog,” Shakman mentioned. “However the emphasis is on the enterprise case in the meanwhile. I don’t assume we must always permit ourselves to stroll away from the ethical crucial”
Once I requested him about AI, he mentioned the expertise is strongest when it drives motion within the kitchen and elsewhere.
“Cooks didn’t get into meals as a result of they needed to take a seat in entrance of their pc,” Shakman mentioned. “They need to contact and make contact, make join and create expertise, they usually need to know what’s the quickest path to taking essentially the most impactful motion, and that’s the place I feel AI goes to be very thrilling.”
Shakman believes AI is strongest when it provides context to determination making by triangulating totally different knowledge units, however believes the trade – and its knowledge – is in some ways structured in a manner that makes creating that contextual nuance troublesome. The true breakthrough, he believes, will come from breaking down the information silos in foodservice expertise.
“There are POS knowledge property for what you’ve offered,” mentioned Shakman. “There are stock knowledge property round what to procure and perhaps what’s in your menu. There are actually waste knowledge property which might be really distinctive contributors to the information panorama. And with these, once you triangulate with what you offered and what to procure, you now have the flexibility to see issues that you may by no means see earlier than.”
However whilst Leanpath builds towards that built-in imaginative and prescient, one which blends frontline kitchen instruments with enterprise-level oversight, Shakman stays centered on the individuals behind the information. “The changemakers on this difficulty are the individuals working in kitchens,” he mentioned. “They’re pushed by emotion, by the need to do good. If you happen to can align motion with objective, you unlock one thing highly effective.”
Shakman’s framing of the meals waste battle as a 3 act play isn’t all that shocking since storytelling runs within the household; his brother, Matt Shakman, is a longtime Hollywood director, directing exhibits like WandaVision and It’s At all times Sunny in Philadelphia and the upcoming Marvel film, The Incredible 4: First Steps.
Each Shakman brothers are, in their very own manner, making an attempt to navigate two very totally different Act Twos and form what comes subsequent.
You possibly can watch my full dialog with Andrew from the ReFED convention beneath and discover it later this week on The Spoon Podcast.
