Hotel Kitchens Need to Wake Up: The Hidden Power of Food Rescue

In the hustle and bustle of hotel operations, something vital is being overlooked — and it’s ending up in the trash.

Every day, commercial kitchens across Southeast Asia throw away perfectly edible, nutritious food, while nearby communities struggle with malnutrition and hunger. This isn’t just waste — it’s a missed opportunity to make a meaningful impact.

Hotel kitchens are some of the most consistent generators of surplus food. From buffet lines to banquets, large volumes of high-quality meals go uneaten and are discarded not because they’ve gone bad, but because no one took the time to think twice. Kitchen staff are often too busy, and management too focused on efficiency metrics, to see the opportunity staring them in the face: a simple system that rescues surplus food and delivers it directly into the hands — and stomachs — of the underserved.

This is where Scholars of Sustenance (SOS) comes in.

Photo by Lauren DeCicca

Founded with a mission to optimize the food industry and make sure good, edible nutrition doesn’t go to waste, SOS has created a seamless solution for hotels and other commercial food establishments. With cooling trucks running seven days a week in Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, SOS picks up surplus food from participating locations and redistributes it the same day to slums, orphanages, mountain communities, and others in need.

In less than nine years, SOS has become Southeast Asia’s largest food rescue NGO, saving over 68 million meals from ending up in landfills.

They’ve done this with a deep understanding of the food industry’s constraints: hotel staff don’t have time or budgets to handle food rescue operations. That’s why SOS offers its service completely free of charge, removing every possible barrier to participation.

And yet — many hotels still pretend their food waste is negligible. Some report laughably small numbers — as low as five kilos a day — when international data shows they’re likely wasting between 40 to 80 kilos daily. This discrepancy is often due to underreporting to head offices or internal apathy, where the culture has accepted waste as unavoidable and unremarkable.

But here’s the truth: waste in commercial kitchens is unavoidable — but letting it go to waste is not.

Photo by Lauren DeCicca

Food rescue isn’t a shameful admission of inefficiency. It’s a proud step toward community support and environmental responsibility.

SOS isn’t asking hotels to cook more or give away food that would otherwise be sold. They’re asking for the unavoidable surplus to be redirected — safely, effectively, and with zero disruption to operations.

With six easy-to-implement hotel programs, SOS makes it simple for kitchens to get involved. Their cold-chain technology ensures food stays fresh and safe throughout transport, and their teams handle all the logistics. The result? Hotels can proudly say they’re part of the solution — not the problem.

If you work in any food-related commercial establishment — whether in a hotel, restaurant, factory, supermarket, supplier, or transport company — it’s time to rethink your role. Your surplus food could be someone’s only meal of the day.

Saving money and feeding your community can go hand-in-hand. All it takes is the will to act — and a partner like SOS to make it happen.

Wake up. Waste less. Feed more.

For more information, or to start rescuing food today, contact Scholars of Sustenance and be part of the movement changing lives, one rescued meal at a time.

Written by

Bo H. Holmgreen

Founder and Executive Director,

Scholars of Sustenance