Donation management for menu planning at soup kitchens

Marjolein E. Buisman, Rene Haijema, Renzo Akkerman and Jacqueline Bloemhof-Ruwaard

European Journal of Operational Research, 2019, vol. 272, issue 1, 324-338

Abstract: The food industry is confronted with a pressure to reduce waste and to make agreements on donating surplus food to charitable organizations. Charitable organizations such as food banks and soup kitchens can use these donations in preparing food parcels or meals for their clients. For soup kitchens, donation management is strongly influencing menu planning, and conversely, menu planning considerations have a strong impact on donation management decisions. To make the best use of (mostly highly perishable) food donations, we develop an MILP model for integrated donation management and menu planning that proposes a menu plan and suggests which (part of the) donations to accept. The combination of menu planning and donation management is essential for soup kitchens, but has not been studied before.

Keywords: OR in societal problem analysis; Food waste reduction; Food donations; Menu planning; Soup kitchen (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ejores:v:272:y:2019:i:1:p:324-338

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2018.06.005

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