Daily Podcast #46

Source 🎧

The delicious potential of rescuing wasted food | Jasmine Crowe-Houston - TED Talks Daily (TED Audio Collective)

Sentences ✍️

1. And as I’m reading through this at this point now into the wee hours of the morning, I’m getting upset because I’m thinking about the people that are lined up at 9 a.m. for my 3 p.m. feeding every Sunday because they know that there’s not a lot of people that come out to feed during the week.
   • wee hours: The very early hours of the morning, typically between midnight and around 3–4 a.m.
   • New sentence: She stayed up studying until the wee hours of the morning before the big exam.
2. I have a multimillion dollar liability insurance because the airport was my first customer, and we were driving on tarmacs, and I ended up having to get insurance that I wasn’t quite ready for.
   • tarmacs: Paved areas at an airport where airplanes park, taxi, or are loaded/unloaded; short for “tarmacadam,” a type of road surface.
   • New sentence: The passengers had to walk across the tarmac to board the plane.
3. You know, like, hey, I won’t say the hotel group, but they had on their website, and this is someone I’m trying to pitch now.
   • pitch: To present or promote an idea, product, or proposal in order to persuade someone to accept or buy it.
   • New sentence: I’m going to pitch my business plan to a group of investors next week.
     
     

Summarization 👀

Jasmine Crowe-Houston founded Goodr in Atlanta after realizing that hunger was more about logistics than scarcity, and that dignity was often missing in how food was provided to those in need. Her journey began with feeding the homeless and led to a viral video of her pop-up restaurant that treated guests with respect and care. She discovered the massive scale of food waste in the U.S.—30-40% of food ends up in landfills—while many still go hungry. After learning from an 86-page report on food waste, she became determined to solve the issue. Goodr’s model now helps businesses reduce waste by redistributing edible surplus food to nonprofits and people in need, while also tracking the environmental and financial impact. The company also builds free grocery stores in schools and delivers meals, especially supporting students during the pandemic. Crowe-Houston explained that many companies fear legal liability, but Goodr solves this by providing insurance, packaging, and legal waivers for nonprofits. She cleverly used corporate sustainability reports and EPA data to pitch her services, helping businesses turn wasted food into community impact. Goodr operates in 15 states and 26 markets, using an app-based logistics platform that makes donating surplus food as easy as clicking a few buttons. The platform calculates weight, tax value, and environmental impact, generating donation receipts and reports for corporate clients. As a for-profit B Corp, Goodr offers a more scalable, impactful, and sustainable alternative to traditional waste management, turning food waste into a tool for social good.