Help!! I need to donate 3300 lbs of pepperoni!!

[Teresa_Rae]

I wish I was kidding.

I work in quality assurance for a pizza company. We have 3300 lbs of stick pepperoni that is out of spec for size. It is too large to fit in our slicers so we can’t use it. The supplier is crediting us for the error, but now we have 3300 lbs of pepperoni that we can’t use and nobody will take.

I feel sick to my stomach at the thought of throwing away 3300 lbs of perfectly good meat.

We have called multiple food pantries and so far nobody will take it.

Unless somebody was willing to drive far to come get it, the taker would have to be in the Chicagoland area and be able to pick up four pallets of product.

Any ideas?

[Marcia (Mrs. Pete)]

FOOD PANTRIES!!!!

[loria]

food opantires often don't hae the storage for items that need refrigeration (or that could spoil?) assume that the pepperoni fits that description?

have youy tried religous orgs that run shlters or soup kitchens? try the archdiocese in chicago see if they have an idea--

[soxfan22]

Teresa - If I were you I'd try to find a way to hold on to it. If this things spirals into a depression, that Pepperoni may come in handy...

[Chickadee]

Put it up on your local Craig's List and FreeCycle? Maybe you'll find some local pizza places, food pantry volunteers, or just regular folk who will come get it in smaller batches than 3300 lbs...

[augie]

Theresa - I'll get back to you - I have a group of folks on another forum I frequent that may be able to help - stay tuned...

[mindehankins]

I was going to say freecycle! Freecyclers will take dirty socks.

[BuddyRock]

Let me make a phone call to my husband @GCFD and see what he knows. Have you already tried the Greater Chicago Food Depository?

[BuddyRock]

Teresa-
You have a PM-please check your mailbox.

[Teresa_Rae]

FOOD PANTRIES!!!!

No food pantries want it. They say they'd have to cut it up and that's too much work.
They want topped pizzas and that's it

Thanks Buddyrock, your suggestion was the first we'd tried.

We've asked like 100 different places and nobody wants it because it's stick pepperoni.

I'm trying to see if the supplier will take it back and see if they can donate it. They're a bigger company than mine so they might have connections we don't.

Unfortunately we can't give it random people through Craig's List or Freecycle...there's too much room for something to go wrong. There are a couple Good Samaritan acts that protect us when we donate to charities, but it's too big of a risk to let just anyone take it. A guy leaves it in his hot car, eats it, gets sick, and we get sued.

[BuddyRock]

You might also try contacting Feeding America.

[pipanale]

I know this is serious, but let me offer the following:

My wife is pregnant. Put it in a huge box and ship it to Raleigh. She'll eat it.

[Anthony]

Theresa - I'll get back to you - I have a group of folks on another forum I frequent that may be able to help - stay tuned...

Augie are you a member of Pepperoni Lovers Anonymous too? What is your handle over there???

(Just kidding! - if you can find someone in need of this good for you!)

[augie]

Anthony - Pepperoni lovers, yes.

Anonymous - no!

[jmq]

.
Obviously, the more altruistic suggestions like the ones made here would be nice and much preferred plus I assume your engineers have considered and rejected the idea of making a temporary modification to the slicing equipment.
However, if that didn’t work out, would you consider selling to one of your competitors or frozen pizza makers or one of the big pizza retail chains?
Here’s a real long shot suggestion of that type: until recently one of our big accounts was McCain Foods (no not the Senator – they are based in Canada and are big in the potato business) and they had frozen pizza making plants in different parts of the US. They make the Ellio’s frozen pizza brand. They do have a plant in Illinois – don’t know if it makes pizza – but their corp office is also located in Lisle, IL. But they probably have very specific size specs for their equipment too…