[potatolicious]

I like the idea, physical distribution will be the problem though. Most stores don't mind donating things to the needy that would go to waste otherwise - but no one wants to have the homeless congregate around their store chasing away business.

There would be substantial value for this to exist in addition, or in cooperation, with food banks.

[pkfrank]

Definitely would need cooperation with food banks / other charities in order to handle distribution. It's important that i) the homeless folks aren't chasing away business, and ii) that you aren't supplying a population of potential customers turned dumpster-divers (i.e. physical separation from the location).

I could see this being a valuable tool for food banks to build relationships with willing-entities that otherwise wouldn't want to bother with setting up the relationship and keeping track of items donated.

If it were very simple:

- Bakery downloads App "Free Food"

- Plug in estimated donation

- Get matched with a willing food bank

- Pictures to confirm donation from both parties

- Some agreed-upon "value" (points) for said donation

- Food bank takes and re-distributes

Win-Win-Win

Bakery does good and maybe gets some benefit; Food bank gets more food (as long as the collection ROI makes sense); and hungry people eat food that would otherwise end up in the trash.

FYI, I wrote about this idea very briefly way back when: http://peterkimfrank.com/2013/01/21/doing-well-by-doing-good...

[TimHuntley]

FlashFood, a student startup from Phoenix, is doing this. They have a network of vendors and volunteers who connect perishable food with existing infrastructure like food banks and soup kitchens.