Amy Keister is the Global Director of Sustainability at Compass Group. She leads a visionary team shaping the future of foodservice, focusing on business growth, and leveraging strategic partnerships to create positive change throughout the food system. On this episode of “Food Lab Talk,” Michiel speaks with Amy to hear about how “Stop Food Waste Day” went from an idea to a global day of action, how education plays a role in scaling food waste solutions, and Amy’s formula for influencing and building change.
Amy Keister: “At Compass we are extremely decentralized on purpose and I think that’s why we are able to be the world’s largest. We really pride ourselves on being local and having a customized approach in every single one of our offerings.”
03:01 Why Amy went “all in” on sustainability
04:43 The “purist” versus the “realist” mindset
06:22 Setting food loss and waste reduction goals
08:28 Tools and benchmarking against goals
09:21 The important first step to accelerate progress
09:57 Incentivizing individuals and leaders to advance a goal
11:38 Sharing your learnings to inspire others in your organization
12:42 Turning personal passion into systemic action
13:51 Balancing consumer demand and building trust
15:18 How Stop Food Waste Day drives awareness and scales change
17:40 Overcoming a bias for convenience
19:00 A case study in choice and consumer behavior
20:05 Breaking down silos for an integrated sustainability approach
22:20 Why its important to find people on the opposite side of an issue
25:05 Embracing the tensions in a system
27:07 Making the business case for sustainability
29:16 Amy’s formula for influencing and building change
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*The views expressed by the guests in this podcast don't necessarily represent the host’s views, nor those of his employer.
What is Food Lab Talk?
A better food system starts with one thing: vision. Food Lab Talk gives global food system changemakers a platform to articulate their vision for the future of food.
The series features interviews with inspiring individuals who are working on the frontlines of many of our most pressing food issues: reducing food loss and waste, enhancing food system transparency, facilitating shifts toward more balanced plant-forward diets, enabling informed individual choices for sustainable lifestyles, and accelerating the transition to a circular food economy.
Join Google’s Michiel Bakker to meet the leaders taking bold action and answering what each of us can do to create a better food system for us all.