A St. Louis-based startup founded by Andrew Glantz that provides meals and groceries to local communities in need, announced that the milestone donation of one million meals had been reached months ahead of schedule, thanks to faster-than-expected adoption by fast-casual and quick-service dining organizations.
Now available in 25 states at 500+ restaurant locations, GiftAMeal is a free mobile app with a simple yet unique premise. Customers take photos on the GiftAMeal app and for each photo shared, a restaurant-funded donation is made to a local food bank to ‘GiftAMeal’ to a neighbor in need. Customers can then share their photos on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to give additional meals (+1 for each platform selected). Not only do restaurants receive uplifting promotion, but customers also get a free way to engage in an experience that helps their community.
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Says Glantz, “With GiftAMeal, it’s all about creating an easy win-win. I’m a big believer in models that do well while doing good, and that profit and purpose can be consistent goals.”
The list of participating restaurants includes full chains like Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken (130 locations), 21 franchised locations of Red Robin, 11 franchised locations of TGI Fridays, two PLNT Burger locations, mom ‘n pop spots, and more. GiftAMeal has provided 1,132,241 meals to date, which totals over 1.4 million pounds of food across over 55 food banks in 25 states.
Spike Mendelsohn’s PLNT Burger, one of GiftAMeal’s newest restaurant partnerships, has two participating restaurants located in New York City.
"We at PLNT burger are proud and excited to be in partnership with GiftAMeal. Their software enables us to do more of what we do best – serve delicious burgers, fries and shakes to the good people of NYC, while empowering our customers to be agents of positive change and doubling down on our mission of creating a more just, plentiful and compassionate food system,” says Mendelsohn.
With crafted, plant-based burgers and an uplifting dining experience, the PLNT Burger motto invites guests to eat the change they wish to see in the world.
“It's truly a win-win-win, guests enjoy a phenomenal meal with us and nourish those in need through simple social sharing, which provides valuable social capital to restaurants in need, building our community and uplifting all stakeholders. We are thrilled to be a part of GiftAMeal's tremendous accomplishment of 1 million meals donated and can't wait to continue spreading joy, democratizing food for all, and eating the change together!" adds Mendelsohn.
To learn more about GiftAMeal, visit www.giftameal.com or instagram.com/giftameal. To download the GiftAMeal app, go to giftameal.com/download. Restaurants interested in joining can visit giftameal.com/partner to schedule a free demo today.
About GiftAMeal
Founded in 2015, GiftAMeal is a free mobile app that helps provide a meal to a family in need in a restaurant’s local community every time a user takes a photo of their order from a partner restaurant. Through over 500 established restaurant partnerships, the GiftAMeal program has helped provide over a million meals to those in need across 25 states — one smile at a time. The popular app, which donates to local food banks, is available for free on iOS and Android devices.
About Andrew Glantz
Andrew Glantz is the Founder & CEO of GiftAMeal, a cause-marketing platform for restaurants that has provided over 1 million meals to those in need through its novel “food for photos” concept. For each photo shared through GiftAMeal, a meal is donated to a local food bank.
An outspoken champion of social entrepreneurship, Glantz began his hunger-fighting venture while still a student at Washington University in St. Louis in 2015.
Now with hundreds of partner restaurants across QSR, fast-casual, and full service brands, Glantz and his creation, GiftAMeal, have become recognized as major forces for good by hospitality industry and hunger-relief organizations alike, winning 1st Place at the Global Impact Awards.
Glantz lives in St. Louis, where he was named to the Business Journal’s “30 under 30" List and regularly lectures at universities. He serves as Chair for Washington University’s entrepreneurship committee and sits on the Arch Grants Leadership Committee.
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