ReFED Summit 2026 Recap: Keeping Food Waste Prevention in Focus

Apr 27

2 min read

Updated: Oct 26

The 2026 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit took place May 19–21 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Its program brought food businesses, solution providers, funders, policymakers, and nonprofits together around food waste solutions. ReFED has since published the event archive and session recordings.

Metafoodx’s announcement for the summit focused on three issues for foodservice operators: reducing overproduction, recording food waste consistently, and documenting progress toward sustainability targets. Those issues remain relevant after the event because they affect daily production and purchasing decisions.

ReFED’s 2024 data puts the scale in context. U.S. foodservice generated surplus food valued at $157 billion, equivalent to 14% of foodservice sales. Surplus includes food that goes unsold or unused, including food that is donated or sent to other destinations. It should not be treated as a measure of disposal alone.

For a kitchen team, prevention starts with understanding why food becomes surplus. Prepared food that returns unserved may point to a batch-size or replenishment problem. Plate waste may prompt a different review of portions, menu choices, or guest preferences. Keeping those records separate makes the next decision clearer.

Food recovery also needs its own record. A kitchen can reduce overproduction while continuing to route suitable surplus to donation partners. Recording what was prepared, what remained, and where it went helps the team assess both activities without counting the same food twice.

The summit’s official archive is the place to revisit its sessions. For a foodservice follow-up, bring one recurring production question to the next kitchen review and identify the data needed to answer it. Metafoodx helps teams connect production, consumption, and waste records so that review can inform the next service.

ReFED’s 2026 summit archive: https://summit.refed.org/archive/2026/

ReFED foodservice fact sheet, 2024 data: https://refed.org/downloads/by-sector-foodservice-2025.pdf

Metafoodx is a food operations intelligence platform that captures the food journey from prep to plate, so foodservice teams can lower food cost, produce more accurately, and prevent waste before it happens. Ready to see how we can help transform your food service operation? Book a demo with our team today.