I was in Starbucks here in Calabasas a few weeks ago, 10 minutes before closing time. While waiting for my coffee, I noticed a barista dumping all the unsold sandwiches into a large trash bag. After getting in my car that costs $4 a gallon to locomote, I returned home to hear a news story about food pantries being low on donated food items during these tough economic times. The next day I returned to Starbucks to ask if I could have their leftover perishable items to deliver to a labor exchange in Malibu each morning. A few days later, the manager got back to me and claimed some well-fed suit said I couldn't take them because they had mayonaise on them, leaving them afraid of a lawsuit. Even though I like lawyers less than Mayonaise, I understood. Granted, those are the times we live in, so here's my idea to develop a new revenue stream for Starbucks and feed a lot of people. Each night, one hour before closing, Starbucks should sell all those perishable items (Sandwiches/salads, etc) for $1 a piece...and advertise the heck out of it. They have 4000 stores in the US (3986 of them in Calabasas and Malibu, alone), so it'll add up. Since I wasn't so hot in math, if they sell just one sandwich a day in 4000 stores for 364 days a year (the scrooges close on Christmas), my calculator just told me that's $1,456,000 added to their bottom line. MOST importantly, however...a LOT of people will be fed, allowing some to reduce their food bill a bit. Lastly, after they're the new community hero's, they should use their clout to motivate others in the food industry to do likewise....starting with the local grocery stores. Did you know that supermarkets HAVE to throw all unused ground beef out at the end of each day? $1 a pound, supermarket people, and make a difference in folks in your communities lives, instead of throwing it all away. This idea should be good for a FREE lifetime Starbucks card, no?

Skills: Communications, Marketing, Sales