What happens to surplus commercial produce? When high-quality fruits and vegetables lose their commercial buyers due to supply chain disruptions, changing demand or market shifts, they are often dumped into landfills. Food Forward, a Southern California produce recovery organization, solves this operational challenge by redirecting truckload-scale commercial produce surplus from growers, shippers and wholesalers to hunger relief networks — recovering over 100 million pounds of produce in 2025 alone and surpassing 500 million cumulative pounds recovered since 2009.
Beyond Charity: How Food Forward Re-Engineered the Commercial Produce Supply Chain
When Food Forward launched in 2009, bringing commercial produce wholesalers into the fold was far from a seamless transaction. Wholesalers and distributors were often wary of potential delays or disruptions on their loading docks, requiring the organization to rethink its operational integration completely.
“We came to the field with a ‘teach us’ mentality — not ‘we know better’ or ‘do it our way or meet us on our terms,’ but ‘teach us,’” says Rick Nahmias, founder and CEO of Food Forward. “Let us know how we can do something that is good for your bottom line, good for the culture of your company, and then gets us to the goals that we’re trying to get to.”
By approaching the industry as an operational partner rather than a traditional charity, Food Forward built a model designed around supply-chain efficiency. In 2025 alone, the organization recovered more than 100 million pounds of fresh produce in a single year, officially crossing the half-billion-pound cumulative milestone since its founding. Beyond providing 2.8 billion total servings of fruits and vegetables to communities experiencing food insecurity, these recovery efforts have diverted an estimated 445,000 metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions away from landfills.
Speaking the Industry’s Language
Rather than relying on one-off charitable donations, Food Forward credits long-term integration with major commercial vendors for its operational reach.
“We’re really focused on long-term relationships, going into 10-plus years with many of our 500-plus wholesale donors,” Nahmias says. “Our staff brings more than 400 cumulative years of experience in the food and produce industry, so we’re always speaking the industry’s language.”
This shared background enables Food Forward to step in when commercial logistics fail — such as when market conditions leave bulk freight stranded.
“The one-off loads when we get 30 truckloads of lemons or 15 truckloads of tomatoes are great,” Nahmias says. “Most food banks will refuse anything more than a few pallets because it’s just too much. Our specialty is bulk breaking and working at scale.”
The Environmental and Operational Impact:
- 500+ Million Pounds Recovered: Cumulative produce diverted from waste streams since 2009.
- 100+ Million Pounds in 2025: Reached single-year recovery record through wholesale, urban gleaning and market programs.
- 445,000 Metric Tons CO2e Prevented: Landfill diversion reducing greenhouse gas generation.
- 2.8 Billion Servings: Fresh produce delivered to regional hunger relief networks.
Scaling Knowledge Nationally
While Food Forward operates its wholesale operations primarily near major logistics hubs in Southern California, it shares its framework nationally through a Farmers Market Recovery Mentorship program. By providing open-source tools and seasonal coaching to regional nonprofits in places like Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the organization helps local communities capture fresh surplus directly within their regional food sheds.
Ultimately, Food Forward’s growth demonstrates that addressing commercial food waste relies on meeting supply-chain partners on their own terms.
“There’s this common denominator ... which is that of sharing abundance and taking produce which is found in a place of surplus and moving it into a place of need,” Nahmias says. “That is the guts, that is the gears that Food Forward is.”
A Call for National Supply Chain Partnerships
Nahmias says the core message he wants produce industry leaders across the country to hear: distance is not a barrier to partnership. Even though Food Forward’s headquarters and primary logistics hubs are rooted in Southern California, the organization’s operational reach extends to national and international produce suppliers.
“We are open and available to work with wholesalers from all across the country,” Nahmias says. “Just because we’re located in Los Angeles doesn’t mean you have to be within a few hundred miles of LA to make it work. What we’re most interested in is working with industry partners that really move the needle on food loss and then have a sense of real empathy about food access.”
Given that one in four Southern California residents experiences food insecurity — a stark contrast against the backdrop of regional commercial abundance — Food Forward has built the logistical capacity to process single-crop loads that traditional hunger-relief groups cannot handle. Whether a business has a single pallet or 15 truckloads of a single commodity, Nahmias says Food Forward can break down bulk freight and route it into the relief network, inviting wholesalers anywhere to reach out and build long-term recovery partnerships.
Additional Insights from Rick Nahmias
The Packer: How does Food Forward track and verify its environmental metrics for corporate partners?
Nahmias: We’re getting more and more sophisticated every year with how we are recording our metrics both by ourselves and also with downstream partners like Dyrt, who takes wasted produce and composts it. So we can now say with certainty that less than 2% of all produce actually ends up in a green waste situation, including packaging, clamshells and pallets. That sophistication comes from new technology and leaning into partners who understand these metrics.
Why hasn’t Food Forward opened new physical warehouses in other major cities across the U.S.?
We grapple with how big we should get and how many beachheads there should be. But until we’re at a high threshold of capturing everything we can in Southern California, expanding physical bases to places like Denver or Nebraska is inefficient for a nonprofit funded by donors and foundations. Instead of opening new locations, we export our model by mentoring local nonprofits through our Farmers Market Recovery program.
Why is the Farmers Market Recovery Mentorship program so effective in other regions?
It gives farmers an amazing sense of security knowing their surplus isn’t being resold, but is immediately feeding people in their own food shed. We provide a multi-month curriculum, open-source materials and backend tools at no cost. Crucially, we build in elasticity so local groups in New England or Utah can adapt the workflow to fit their own regional culture.
