The 2023 Super Bowl is almost here and football fans around the country are getting ready for a day of self-indulgence, a real blowout. We’re not kidding, an astounding estimated 105 million pounds of guacamole are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday.
On Feb. 12, host of the big game, State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, will be serving truckloads of goodies to tens of thousands of fans in attendance — and even more at the annual, star-studded tailgating event taking place outside the stadium.
But what happens to all that leftover food?
This is where the Food Recovery Network comes in. The FRN is a nonprofit organization committed to reducing food waste by sourcing and receiving donations of excess food from venues like college campuses, corporate or sporting events. They will be on-site to save the leftovers of the estimated 140,000 pounds of food generated by the Super Bowl.
“Last year, we recovered about 2,000 pounds of food,” Regina Anderson, executive director of FRN, tells TODAY.com. “This was like crab legs, scallops, ahi tuna and high-end seafood, but it was also whole milk, butter, lots of eggs that were just the raw ingredients that we were able to recover,” Anderson says.
When the Super Bowl kicks off at 6:30 p.m., Anderson and an energetic team of 11 will already be undertaking an endurance test of their own — loading thousands of pounds of leftover food onto trucks.
Safety is a priority, so the team, made mostly of college student volunteers, needs to act fast, completing their objective before the two-hour FDA-guided window for perishables closes, rendering the food non-donatable.
“We have refrigerated trucks that we rented,” Anderson explains. Last year’s surplus was brought over to the Mission in Inglewood, California, and this year the loaded trucks will head to the Phoenix Rescue Mission.
As the FRN points out on its website, about 40% of food produced in the United States goes to waste, yet one in eight Americans experience food insecurity. Anderson says the organization’s mission is to combat those statistics.
This Sunday, the Players Tailgate will take place right outside State Farm Stadium. The pregame festivities are hosted by chef Bobby Flay and will offer luxury bites from him and several other celebrity chefs. As if the food were not enough of an incentive to attend, the event also offers the opportunity to mingle with more than 70 NFL players like the Broncos’ Jerry Jeudy and the Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill.
“First year, we had maybe 400 people. This year, we’ll have 2,500 people,” Kyle Kinnett, CEO of Bullseye Event Group tells TODAY.com, adding that the event rolls out 65,000 square feet of red carpet for guests to enjoy the culinary stylings of chefs like Flay, Michael Voltaggio, Brooke Williamson and Rocco DiSpirito, among others.
Kinnett says that before FRN came around, thinking about how much to order to avoid wasting money and perfectly good food was at the top of his mind while planning tailgates around the country with his NFL partners.
“I lose sleep at night, trying to nail that number so I don’t have waste,” Kinnett says. “But here, it’s super cool. It’s a good way for me to give back and not worry about it.”
This year’s event menu includes spit-roasted red chile pork tostada nachos with green chile queso, lobster and black truffle grilled cheeses, pickle-brined chicken thighs with ranch and caviar, and deep-fried lobster. That five-star menu is sure to whet a lot of appetites during the Players Tailgate, and thanks to Anderson and Kinnett, appetites will be satiated afterwards, too.
“It’s changed my perspective on all this. I didn’t want any excess. Now I want to donate 10,000 pounds of food,” Kinnett says. “Who they’re providing the food to gets pushed aside when a Super Bowl rolls into town. Everybody should have a Super Bowl experience.”
