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December 9, 2024
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Introduction
Food waste happens every night—restaurants throw away perfectly good food while just blocks away, families wonder where their next meal will come from. Elijah Carter saw the disconnect and decided to change it. What started as one person collecting leftover meals from a single restaurant has turned into a food recovery system that helps reduce food insecurity and create a sustainable food solution that benefits both businesses and communities.
Through Full Circle Meals, Elijah has built a food rescue initiative that doesn’t just fight restaurant food waste—it transforms surplus food into fresh, high-quality meals while fostering partnerships with local organizations. But this wasn’t an easy road. In this interview, he shares the personal struggles that shaped his journey, the challenges that almost stopped him, and how he’s working to expand his mission nationwide.
This is more than just a business story—it’s about reimagining what’s possible when we stop seeing food waste as trash and start treating it as an opportunity for change. Read on to discover how Elijah Carter is revolutionizing food sustainability efforts and how you can be part of the movement.
What is your mission?
I started Full Circle Meals to solve two problems at once—food waste and hunger. We take surplus food from restaurants and grocery stores and turn it into fresh, affordable meals for people who need them most. Our goal isn’t just to feed people but to create a sustainable food system where excess food is never wasted and no one has to wonder where their next meal is coming from.
What experiences shaped you as an entrepreneur?
Growing up, nothing was ever wasted in my house. My grandmother could turn leftovers into the best meal of the week, and she made sure we understood that food was valuable. At the same time, I watched my mom stretch every dollar to put meals on the table. I didn’t realize it then, but those experiences taught me two things: resourcefulness and respect for food. It’s probably why, as a kid, I was always finding ways to make something out of nothing, whether it was selling homemade snacks or repurposing old things to give them new life.
What inspired this idea?
When I worked in restaurants, I saw how much food was thrown away every night. Perfectly good ingredients, entire trays of prepared meals—just tossed. At the same time, I was volunteering at a local food pantry and saw families struggling to feed their kids. The disconnect hit me hard. It felt wrong that one side of the city had too much, while the other had too little. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and eventually, I realized I had to do something about it.
How is your business different?
A lot of food recovery programs rely on donations, and while that’s great, it’s unpredictable. I wanted to create something sustainable, something that didn’t just depend on generosity but actually worked as a structured system. Instead of just collecting leftover food, we partner with restaurants and grocery stores to rescue surplus ingredients before they go to waste and turn them into nutritious, high-quality meals. That way, we’re not just redistributing food—we’re repurposing it in a way that benefits everyone.
How did you start?
I started small. One restaurant, one night a week. I convinced a local restaurant to let me take their unsold food at the end of service, and I used a borrowed kitchen to prepare meals for a nearby shelter. It wasn’t perfect, and I had no idea if it would work long-term, but I knew I had to try.
Soon, word spread. More restaurants wanted to get involved, and people in the community started reaching out to help. It went from a passion project to a real operation almost overnight.
What was the biggest challenge you faced?
Honestly, trust. Restaurants worried about liability. People assumed “rescued food” meant it was unsafe or low-quality. It took time to convince people that what we were doing wasn’t just repackaging leftovers—it was a carefully managed, sustainable solution.
What did you have to sacrifice to make it work?
Everything, at least for a while. I quit my job, emptied my savings, and gave up stability. There were nights I barely slept, wondering if this would even work. I had friends settling into careers, buying homes, moving forward with their lives, while I was struggling to pay rent because I had thrown everything into this idea. It was hard, but something in me just wouldn’t let it go.
What kept you going during those tough times?
Seeing the impact firsthand. Watching a mother pick up a hot meal for her kids and knowing it came from food that would’ve been wasted—it’s impossible to walk away from that. Hearing restaurant owners say they felt good about reducing waste and giving back to their communities kept me believing that this was worth the fight.
How did you overcome that challenge?
I stopped trying to convince people and started showing them. We opened our kitchen to the public, invited community members in, and shared before-and-after stories of the food we repurposed. When people saw the process—when they tasted the meals—it changed everything. Restaurants that were hesitant at first became some of our strongest partners.
What impact have you made so far?
Since launching, we’ve rescued over 500,000 pounds of food from being wasted and turned it into over 200,000 meals for food-insecure families. We’ve built partnerships with more than 100 restaurants and grocery stores, and some of our former volunteers have even gone on to start similar initiatives in their own cities. The ripple effect is what makes me most proud—this isn’t just one project in one place. It’s a model that can change the way we think about food waste everywhere.
What traits have helped you succeed?
I think my stubbornness has been both a blessing and a curse. When I believe in something, I can’t let it go, even when it gets tough. I also think my ability to connect with people has been huge—so much of this work is about relationships, about building trust and making people feel like they’re part of something bigger.
What makes an entrepreneur successful?
You have to be willing to fail because you will. You need resilience because people will tell you no a hundred times before someone says yes. And you need vision—not just for what’s in front of you, but for what’s possible, even when no one else sees it yet.
What advice would you give to other founders?
Start before you’re ready. If you wait for the perfect conditions, the perfect plan, or enough money, you’ll never start. Test the idea. Do it on a small scale. Learn from it and adjust as you go. Most importantly, keep going. The difference between success and failure is often just the ability to stick it out when things get hard.
What challenges are you facing now?
Scaling is our biggest challenge. We know the model works, but expanding it to new cities while keeping it sustainable and community-focused takes time and resources. We need better logistics support, funding for infrastructure, and stronger partnerships with distribution centers to keep up with demand.
How can people support your mission?
There are so many ways to help. People can connect us with restaurants and grocery stores that want to reduce waste, donate to support meal distribution, or volunteer in one of our community kitchens. Even something as simple as spreading the word makes a huge difference.
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