LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - Have you ever wondered what restaurants do with all of that leftover food? A majority of it goes to waste, but one restaurant is putting its unserved food to good use.
In downtown Little Rock there's a diner with a down home feel. Hot breakfast & fresh plate lunches are served up five days a week at Dave & Ray's Downtown Diner.
"Spaghetti, meat loaf is pretty good, chicken is excellent. You can't pick a bad day that they don't have any good food," says regular customer Bill Miles.
"We take care of anyone that comes in. We get a lot of the business clientele, we get the construction workers, we get everyday people down here," says owner Dave Bisceglia. He has been serving the downtown area for six years now. When the day is all said and done, he doesn't just throw away food.
Each year in the United States, 40 percent of our edible food is simply thrown away. With a buffet style restaurant Dave decided to make nourishing the community part of his restaurant's mission.
"We know we can't feed everybody, but we try to donate our leftover product and put it in good people's hands and they'll disperse it to needy people. We feel good about our food is actually getting used by somebody," says Bisceglia.
In these unprecedented times there is no one face of the hungry - they are children, parents, grandparents and even the working poor. So, instead of restaurants throwing away un-served food Dave Bisceglia encourages them to put it towards a good cause.
For Dave, his food goes to the Firm Foundation, a ministry in North Little Rock helping homeless and disabled vets.
Dave & Ray's Downtown Diner an everyday hero -- helping one meal at a time.