Chipotle is joining forces with The Farmlink Project on a mission to donate 10 million meals to food banks during this holiday season.
The Farmlink Project is a nonprofit grassroots movement by students from colleges and universities across the country to connect farms with food banks and feed those in need, while helping to support essential jobs.
The organization raises external funds to collect surplus food from farms and supplies and transport it to communities in need.
In an effort to boost awareness of the nonprofit’s work, The Farmlink Project will distribute 1,000 free burrito codes from Chipotle for every 1,000 new followers of its Instagram page, up to 5,000.
Chipotle is also encouraging its supply network, employees and guests to contribute through actions including donating excess crops, volunteering time or providing resources to help ensure that food doesn’t go to waste.
Guests at the fast-casual chain can contribute by using Chipotle’s real change feature and rounding up their bill to the next highest dollar amount when ordering via the application or Chipotle.com.
Chipotle chief marketing officer Chris Brandt said in a statement, “It’s incredibly inspiring to know that a group of college students saw a problem and immediately built a scalable solution that will help people in need and reduce waste. We are excited to partner with The Farmlink Project and utilize our network of growers to accelerate their mission of feeding the hungry this holiday season.”
The Farmlink Project co-founder Maxwell Goldman added, “As we head into Thanksgiving, we want to express our gratitude to the farmers, truckers, volunteers, contributors and now everyone in the Chipotle community. Together, we understand the absurdity of food insecurity in the U.S. and have developed a plan to address its short term challenges this holiday season, while also building important farmer relationships and inspiring fan engagement that will benefit our mission for years to come.”
