To anyone who has ever worked in food service.

[Sanzenbacher]

I made a thread like this on BI, but thought it would be good to get advice firsthand from people who have worked for or do currently work in food service, whether it be fast food, sit-down mom and pop, fancy, bar, pizza place, etc. etc.

I would like to know:
1) Where you worked.
2) What was the procedure of throwing away unused food, such as buns, bread, pizza, etc.
3) How neatly was (if it was) thrown away? Did they tie it up or just throw it everywhere?
4) what (to you knowledge) was the penalty for getting caught?

[julianf]

starbucks throughs all pasteries and coffee out everyday.

[Iehovah]

I think you'd rather not be taking the cast-offs of anything coming out of a fast food restaurant. Their view of what constitutes unserveable is loose enough that if it didn't get thrown straight to the trash, you probably don't want it.

[STEROS]

i used to jackurbate in the bathroom when i had the morning shifts when i worked at this bad ass little quaint chinese joint.

sometimes it'd get on the toilet seat so i'd have to grab a piece of toilet paper and wipe it off... i did wash my hands of course afterwards, accordingly to the fda food codes.

[Eridani]

Don't know if this is quite what you're asking but I watched a show a while ago about people who eat by taking what supermarkets throw away. Like when something goes past the best before date they have to throw it out, but normally it's completely fine. They throw a LOT of perfectly edible fruit and vegetables out every day for example.

[moonturtle]

it goes in the dumpster, which sometimes has a fence enclosing

[M. Samuel Chevalier]

wherever ive worked it was either thrown in a trash bag (with other garbage) and then in the dumpster or thrown directly in the dumpster (with other garbage). Have fun eating garbage, bro!

[Rude Louis]

1) Katz's Delicatessen 24-hr restaurant
2) None. Thrown in the trash all mixed together. Trash went to the back exit. Thrown in the dumpster later.
3) See above.
4) Moral disgust.

[Iehovah]

Dumpsters, eh? If you're starving or homeless, go for it. A little dignity shouldn't get in the way of survival, though there are usually other perfectly decent (not to mention healthier) alternatives.

If you're just some kid looking to cop free food out of a dumpster, that's a bit embarrassing, unless your goal in life is to be a starving homeless person and are in training for it.

As far as healthiness goes, consider the fact that dumpsters are a good way to pick up nasty diseases. They tend to go uncleaned for extended periods of time.

[Sanzenbacher]

I think if I got there right as the store closes, and as the employees are walking out to their cars and heading home, I would be able to minimize the amount of time the food was in the trashcan with other trash.

What about Starbucks? Do they throw out their stuff like Dunkin Donuts and Panera?

[pHd]

worked in a bar/restaurant-there is no waste. staff just eat it afterwards, cant beat a bit of roast pork scavenging and a few veggies. Wrong food orders excellent haha, get a meal for free!

[shopping cart for brains]

Originally Posted by Sanzenbacher

I made a thread like this on BI, but thought it would be good to get advice firsthand from people who have worked for or do currently work in food service, whether it be fast food, sit-down mom and pop, fancy, bar, pizza place, etc. etc.

I would like to know:
1) Where you worked.
2) What was the procedure of throwing away unused food, such as buns, bread, pizza, etc.
3) How neatly was (if it was) thrown away? Did they tie it up or just throw it everywhere?
4) what (to you knowledge) was the penalty for getting caught?

1. A deli that was mostly a restaurant, I was a line cook.
2. Throw em all in the same bag along with a shit ton of nasty liquids that just so happened to make their way in there (oils, soda, water.. mostly mayonnaise). Most of the trash was mixed together, the only 'edible' thing I could really think of is the baguette ends we cut off to make sandwiches. Those all went to a smaller see-thru plastic bag that got thrown away most of the time.
3. I assure you, any garbage bag that's coming from a restaurant is going to be absolutely vile. The bags are tied any everything, but it doesn't change the fact that what's inside is a giant mess of goo and half eaten food.
4. Getting caught? Mostly just shame. A manager would tell you to fuck off.

Any edible food in a restaurant that isn't going directly to a customer, is going to an employee, cause that's just one of the perks of working in a kitchen. If you're looking for food by dumpster diving, I suggest you stay away from anywhere that actually preps food to be eaten. Grocery stores are probably better, albeit filled with expired food.

[Bradley]

I would like to know:
1) Italian Rest. & Hotel w/ Fine Dining
2) None officially stated, usually just went into the huge bag next to the dishwasher.
3) Mixed in with discarded food from plates, water, and various trash/shit you would not want to eat.
4) Everyone boosts food form their job in food service, it's the only perk to working there.

[cellophane]

1. Sonic Drive-in
2. Any un-used food was thrown away. In the same trash can that we threw everything else in.
3. Not very neatly. We just tied our garbage bags and threw them in the dumpster out back.
4. You never want to go dumpster diving at a Sonic. Never. I imagine the penalties would include various diseases.

[-Fuck-]

1) Dunkin Donuts
2) At the end of the night and at 12pm we threw out all remainder donuts, with the employees choice of taking 12 home.
3) We put them in a big black trash bag and wheeled it to the back of the store to throw into the main trash (Stop & Shop)
4) Getting caught what? I was a skinny, dehydrated, semi alcoholic pothead when I got hired. I ended up eating so much junk and drinking so much coffee, and being young and stupid with a fresh paycheck, actually agreeing to do 35+hours there with part time pay. No workout discipline and I had left my GF a year prior, and being pretty much the antisocial kid I pretty much am ate my way into being so blocked up with sandwiches, coffee (it's the cream), marijuana and absolutely unhealthy shit that I ended up in the hospital. They slit my asshole open during surgery, (I was knocked out totally), and drained everything out of me and put a drain in me, then when I went back for them to pull it out it was the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life and the loudest I've screamed, ever. It was like having a thick long plastic razor yanked out from inside the side of your asscheek, then looking down to see watery blood everywhere. My own family makes fun of me for my interest in fasting as "extreme", but don't ever give me credit for the hell I went through during this experience.

Then I went through a definite state of inedia and trying to make sense of food and fitness and changing my life. Pretty much nothing has been the same since then, I did work at another restaurant after this, but I can say honestly I could care less if the food industry went to hell, the only places I want to work are places that have to do with technology, graphic art, music, or at least being in an office chair serving a greater need than the same 30 burger addicts every fucking day of my life, haha.

[Rodrat]

If you go in and tell them you run a kennel or something they might give you some of the thrown out stuff at night. I know a lot of people around here feed their dogs that way.

[Psychotogen]

Just go to the soup kitchen. Restaurants don't want the Riff-Raff hanging around.

[jator]

Ya everywhere I've worked (in food) they just throw out what ever is past exp. date. Into the dumpster, with god knows what's in there. I don't think they'd care if some bum went through it and ate it, but do so at your own peril as it probably has a ton of bacteria on it.

Why would they waste time and money wrapping up garbage though?

[Sanzenbacher]

Originally Posted by -Fuck-

I was a skinny, dehydrated, semi alcoholic pothead when I got hired. I ended up eating so much junk and drinking so much coffee, and being young and stupid with a fresh paycheck, actually agreeing to do 35+hours there with part time pay. No workout discipline and I had left my GF a year prior, and being pretty much the antisocial kid I pretty much am ate my way into being so blocked up with sandwiches, coffee (it's the cream), marijuana and absolutely unhealthy shit that I ended up in the hospital. They slit my asshole open during surgery, (I was knocked out totally), and drained everything out of me and put a drain in me, then when I went back for them to pull it out it was the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life and the loudest I've screamed, ever. It was like having a thick long plastic razor yanked out from inside the side of your asscheek, then looking down to see watery blood everywhere. My own family makes fun of me for my interest in fasting as "extreme", but don't ever give me credit for the hell I went through during this experience.

Great story. I laughed, I cried, I lost 10 lbs.

[FoodStamps]

Originally Posted by julianf

starbucks throughs all pasteries and coffee out everyday.

spelling ?

pussy ass bitch nigga

on topic : where i would work we would throw away wrong orders (i.e. bitch made niggas that changed their mind about what they wanted to eat and insisted the waiters got/heard the order wrong)

would happen about 10-15 times per shift, so like 30-45 times a day

[WAN]

Depends on the business.

When I used to work for this pastry franchise, they gave away all the unsold bread (which was all freshly made that day), to registered charities. However us the employees could take home whatever we wanted.

At this restaurant that I worked at, they just threw it out (but it was left-overs from half-eaten plates so you probably wouldn't want it) in a fenced in dumpster.

I once was caught eating out of the garbage can at this fast food restaurant and got a good talking to by my assistant manager.

Idk what would happen if you got caught diving for food in dumpsters, it might possibly be trespassing? OP if you are really hungry, do what i did: dress respectably, then go to a supermarket. Go to the deli department and ask them to slice some meat for you. Go to a secluded corner, and eat that shit. Make sure you properly deal with the packaging as it has bar code on it and could set off the alarm. But don't just stash it somewhere in the store either, because once they find out, they will catch onto the scheme.

Happy eating.

[delysid]

1) A posh restaurant.
2) Was usually saved for the kitchen/waiting on staff to eat after shifts finish. Any food which was thrown away was usually just dumped straight into the garbage bags, so it would be covered in shit anyway.
3) read 2)
4) Being called a dirty scavenging hobo, or words to that effect.

[Mirana]

I work at a restaurant, if you're in the area I can hook you up some garbage.

[Iehovah]

Originally Posted by WAN

At this restaurant that I worked at, they just threw it out (but it was left-overs from half-eaten plates so you probably wouldn't want it) in a fenced in dumpster.

I once was caught eating out of the garbage can at this fast food restaurant and got a good talking to by my assistant manager.

You were actually employed, yet felt the need to go dumpster diving at your place of employment? What the hell happened here? Rover crawl into the trash can before you could finish the job?

[WAN]

Originally Posted by Iehovah

You were actually employed, yet felt the need to go dumpster diving at your place of employment? What the hell happened here? Rover crawl into the trash can before you could finish the job?

I uhm, have this disease where I am compelled, absolutely compelled, to look for food in all possible places. If there is a half-open bento box lying in the trash can, I will open it discretely, in the hope of finding left-overs that people are too full to finish (and sometimes with success). I have deprived of many a bum of his/their lifeblood this way.

[Dr. Awkward]

I wont name the place becaus eI still work there, but for bread and all that we only thaw what we need for a day, we only prep vegetables needed for the next few hours, etc. Almost no food gets thrown away, that's just bad business.

[Rodrat]

Places like KFC and such throw away mashed potatoes and green beans by the gallons. hardly edible considering its KFC but still...

[Akagi]

Originally Posted by WAN

I uhm, have this disease where I am compelled, absolutely compelled, to look for food in all possible places. If there is a half-open bento box lying in the trash can, I will open it discretely, in the hope of finding left-overs that people are too full to finish (and sometimes with success). I have deprived of many a bum of his/their lifeblood this way.

Were you starved as a child?

[Iehovah]

Originally Posted by WAN

I uhm, have this disease where I am compelled, absolutely compelled, to look for food in all possible places. If there is a half-open bento box lying in the trash can, I will open it discretely, in the hope of finding left-overs that people are too full to finish (and sometimes with success). I have deprived of many a bum of his/their lifeblood this way.

HIV doesn't work that way.

[Rimbaud]

I`ve worked every thing from mcjobs when I was younger to fine dining, and anything in between.

some fast food places I worked at back in the day kept food waste. For what, I never understood. We put the expired food in a certain bin and had to record it.

anything above fast food, food waste was just thrown in the garbage with whatever else. A lot of cooks like to spit in the garbage. Servers throw used Kleenex in. Sometimes the garbage bag from the bathroom was put into a kitchen garbage bin.

I remember one place I worked at, some homeless guy would go through the dumpster. I saw him sleeping in there a few times...and other times, pissing.

...

so with that...I don`t recommend dining from the "carbitch" like Markorepairs

Possu aamupalaa - YouTube

Possu aamupalaa - YouTube
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[lillix]

1. Uno Chicago Grill
2. Wasted proteins and any sizeable amount of raw product like cheese or veggies got written down. Things like bread, pizza crust, spoiled ingredients or refires were just tossed out with abandon.
3. Usually things were just tossed out as needed, not all together. It would be scattered in various trash bags in the prep line, expo station, the line, or the front of house. No coordination.
4. Getting caught taking it? Never really saw that happen. We did can a prep cook for lifting burgers. They tossed their deep dish pizza crusts every night and I would occasionally convince the culinary lead to let me bring a couple home to freeze and use at home for great pizza on my own time.

[Sanzenbacher]

You guys can still keep posting, just for information's sake, but I found it wasn't really worth it. Or at least it wasn't worth driving all around town late at night, wasting gas, and most of the time getting nothing. I won't do it anymore. I'm friend with two guys who's parents own a Chinese place, so I'm sure I could say that I'm hungry and they've given me free stuff too, well not free, I work there when they get busy and and are short staffed (they don't pay me, but it's cool, since then they do give me food for my time). Plus the volunteering should look good on a resume if I keep doing it and keep applying at places.

I went out...I think 5 times, got stuff 3 times. 1st time I got a bunch of take and bake pizzas from Papa Murphy's, second time I got a huge ass bag of still hot Rocky Rococco's big slices and bread sticks (though that bag had some wet paper towel and shit in it, so that kind of grossed me out, and while the food on the very top of the bag was good, the very bottom had like sauce and toppings everywhere), and the last time I got a bunch of unused bread from Subway, but it tasted bland. Guess I could put butter or something on it.

Other times, I tried going to Little Caesar's since someone (not in this thread) suggested that they throw out a shit load of Hot and Ready's at the end of the night that are still warm, but I found nothing. I then tried going back to Rocky's, but I think they were on the stakeout or something, since it was like 2 hours past closing and there were still people inside, so I just left.

And I fucked up a decent pair of shoes, by stepping in like some marinara sauce, lawl.

Thanks for the input thus far, though.

[Bradley]

Originally Posted by Sanzenbacher

You guys can still keep posting, just for information's sake, but I found it wasn't really worth it. Or at least it wasn't worth driving all around town late at night, wasting gas, and most of the time getting nothing. I won't do it anymore. I'm friend with two guys who's parents own a Chinese place, so I'm sure I could say that I'm hungry and they've given me free stuff too, well not free, I work there when they get busy and and are short staffed (they don't pay me, but it's cool, since then they do give me food for my time). Plus the volunteering should look good on a resume if I keep doing it and keep applying at places.

I went out...I think 5 times, got stuff 3 times. 1st time I got a bunch of take and bake pizzas from Papa Murphy's, second time I got a huge ass bag of still hot Rocky Rococco's big slices and bread sticks (though that bag had some wet paper towel and shit in it, so that kind of grossed me out, and while the food on the very top of the bag was good, the very bottom had like sauce and toppings everywhere), and the last time I got a bunch of unused bread from Subway, but it tasted bland. Guess I could put butter or something on it.

Other times, I tried going to Little Caesar's since someone (not in this thread) suggested that they throw out a shit load of Hot and Ready's at the end of the night that are still warm, but I found nothing. I then tried going back to Rocky's, but I think they were on the stakeout or something, since it was like 2 hours past closing and there were still people inside, so I just left.

And I fucked up a decent pair of shoes, by stepping in like some marinara sauce, lawl.

Thanks for the input thus far, though.

You're doing it half right. You need more friends with jobs at these resteraunts, ask them what time they specifically will throw what out. Then you look at your menu of prospects and drive over there to collect your grub.

[constantinople]

Just hang out behind the store and wait for someone to come out, ask them if the next time they are about to throw away a couple slices of pizza or whatever, could you have it?

[Rude Louis]

Originally Posted by Sanzenbacher

And I fucked up a decent pair of shoes, by stepping in like some marinara sauce, lawl.

No you didn't. You wiped the sauce off and the shoe was fucking unharmed.

Fucking can't stand people like that. "Oh god my shoe fell in this water puddle it's ruined oh noes!"

Pussies.

[Mutant Funk Drink]

1) Six Flags.
2) I worked at a frozen lemonade stand, and at the end of every day, we'd flush the rest of the lemonade down the guest toilets.
3) Seeing as it was flushed down the toilet, not very neatly.
4) Employees could snack on it as much as they wanted, but we clearly couldn't give away lemonade to guests. The penalty likely wouldn't happen because I could always claim that someone is my friend.

[Sanzenbacher]

Originally Posted by Rude Louis

No you didn't. You wiped the sauce off and the shoe was fucking unharmed.

Fucking can't stand people like that. "Oh god my shoe fell in this water puddle it's ruined oh noes!"

Pussies.

I just got a new pair, so I don't really give a fuck about the old pair. No doubt, I can take some disinfectant wet wipes and clean them off, but at the moment I'm too lazy and just tossed them outside my back porch door. It's probably caked on by now, but not completely uncleanable. They were an elderly pair, as stated.

I was using allusion, man. No need to get so upset over such a small detail. Calm down, my guy.

[Rude Louis]

Originally Posted by Sanzenbacher

I just got a new pair, so I don't really give a fuck about the old pair. No doubt, I can take some disinfectant wet wipes and clean them off, but at the moment I'm too lazy and just tossed them outside my back porch door. It's probably caked on by now, but not completely uncleanable. They were an elderly pair, as stated.

I was using allusion, man. No need to get so upset over such a small detail. Calm down, my guy.

It just confuses me when someone says something like that. Drink spilled on pants does not mean ruined pants.

[Esponda13]

Originally Posted by Sanzenbacher

I made a thread like this on BI, but thought it would be good to get advice firsthand from people who have worked for or do currently work in food service, whether it be fast food, sit-down mom and pop, fancy, bar, pizza place, etc. etc.

I would like to know:
1) Where you worked.
2) What was the procedure of throwing away unused food, such as buns, bread, pizza, etc.
3) How neatly was (if it was) thrown away? Did they tie it up or just throw it everywhere?
4) what (to you knowledge) was the penalty for getting caught?

I have worked in several different fields of the food industry...


1) I have worked at Longhorn Steakhouse, A local Sports bar, Donatos pizza, Giant Eagle, and Heinen's grocery store...

2) Food was basically disposed of in trash bags and throw into a dumpster at all of these places, sometimes at the restaurants you could get away with eating some of it but typically the manager was a dipshit and wouldnt let employees eat it even if they were throwing it away

3) I guess its about as neat as garbage can be put it in a bag throw it away

4) To my knowledge if you garbage picked it I don;t think anything would honestly happen, its not like cops patrol the dumpster and arrest you for picking out food... But as an employee I imagine you could get fired cause it could be considered stealing

[Iehovah]

Originally Posted by Esponda13

But as an employee I imagine you could get fired cause it could be considered stealing

Or just plain disgusting and unprofessional.