What 10 Fast Food Chains Do With Their Leftovers

There's a lot of leftover chain fast food flying around — and much of it doesn't get eaten. According to Recycle Track Systems, the United States throws out approximately 120 billion pounds of leftover food each year, making it one of the countries that produces the most food waste. The restaurant industry contributes significantly to this. As a result, it's no surprise the biggest fast food chains out there have tried to implement robust leftover policies — in order to cut down on having to dispose of the items they haven't sold by the end of the day (in addition to cutting down on negative press). Chains like McDonald's, Starbucks, and Papa John's are open about the programs they have in place to either reuse or donate leftovers. These companies actively encourage employees to be mindful about how they deal with them.

However, other fast food chains aren't quite so transparent. Places like Raising Cane's and Domino's have been slightly elusive about what they do with their leftovers, and some employees have revealed that the chains aren't as mindful as they should be. Ever wondered what your favorite fast food joint does with all its leftover chicken and burgers? You're about to find out.

With more than 36,000 restaurants across the world, it's probably no surprise the leftover policy at McDonald's has been extensively tailored — and in the United States, it works hard to ensure food waste is kept to a minimum. McDonald's leftover system is adapted from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Food Recovery Hierarchy, which essentially considers whether food can be donated, upcycled, converted into feed or compost, or has to be disposed. This tiered system ensures that its eligible food is redistributed, and McDonald's has worked with organizations like Food Donation Connection, Feeding America, and The Global FoodBanking Network to make that happen. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, its push on leftover donations saw it give away over 9 million pounds' worth of food in just a few months.

That said, things can vary from store to store, and Reddit users who have claimed to be McDonald's employees have reported a slightly different story when it comes to leftovers. Some people confirm that eligible leftovers from their restaurants are donated, while others state that anything left at the end of the day is just thrown out. Some folks have also stated that their managers will let them take home any leftovers that might still be worth eating.

As leftovers protocols go, the one at Raising Cane's may leave a little to be desired. The chicken chain isn't especially open about what it does with its leftovers in publicity or on its website, in stark contrast to a lot of its competitors. Sadly, this may well be because it doesn't do much with its leftovers other than throw them out. Multiple Raising Cane's employees have reported that their respective restaurants simply dispose of leftover food at the end of each day, instead of trying to redistribute viable food to organizations or shelters.

This is all compounded by the fact that some Raising Cane's restaurants don't seem to have a handle on their stock management, which then means that they have way more leftovers than they probably should when they close. One employee posted a picture of a huge bucket of leftover chicken on Reddit, stating that the waste situation at their store had gotten out of control. This all seems to fly in the face of Raising Cane's commitment to supporting local communities and organizations, which it proudly displays on its website. Surely, redistributing leftovers would be a great way to do this, wouldn't it?

Starbucks has well over 18,000 locations across North America, and that brings the potential for a lot of leftovers. Thankfully, over the last decade or so, it's worked hard to ensure that any leftover food from its stores finds another home. Since 2016, its FoodShare program has donated the equivalent of more than 121 million meals in unsold food, which is collected from its locations at the end of each day, before being distributed to local food banks and services. It's also worked with Too Good To Go since 2017, a company that allows people to check out where there might be leftover food at restaurants near them via an app, and save it from being thrown out.

Starbucks also works to reduce waste overall in its stores, and in 2025, it signed the U.S. Food Waste Pact, seeing it commit to its mission to stop excess leftover food. Leftovers may also end up in the hands of its employees: Some people have reported that at the end of a shift, if food is going to be thrown out anyway, they're allowed to take home all of those sugary Starbucks pastries. All of these efforts seem focused on preventing good food from ending up in the trash, which we definitely applaud.

It's fair to say that the leftovers situation at KFC is kinda twofold. Officially, KFC diverts leftovers through its Harvest Food Donation Program. According to the KFC Foundation website, restaurants that don't sell all their food at the end of the day donate their food through the program to "a local hunger relief organization in their community." The website goes on to state that restaurants store the food in their freezer before it's picked up and taken elsewhere.

Through the Harvest Food Program and KFC's other donation efforts, the restaurant has donated more than 92 million meals since 1999. It should be pointed out, though, that KFC's Harvest program is not utilized across the board, and some restaurants may not participate in it. In those situations, what happens with leftovers seems to be a little more freeform. Multiple anecdotal reports from people who state that they're KFC employees have said they take leftover food home at the end of the day, while others have stated that its chicken is shredded and put into their pot pies for the following day's service. Hey, if it's not being thrown out, then we're not unhappy about it.

For such a big chain (and the go-to spot in America), Domino's is a little shy and retiring about what it does with its leftovers. It's way more vocal about what it does to reduce waste in general. Domino's focuses heavily on trying to keep excess food in its stores to a minimum, and it regularly updates its processes to reduce waste across its supply chain. The result of this is that there aren't a lot of leftovers to begin with: The company boasts that it produces less per meal than your typical household would, which we do have to say is pretty impressive for a major restaurant.

However, that means there are still leftovers at the end of every shift — and Domino's employees have been open about what their stores do with their leftover food. Not all of it is good. In the past, workers have exposed some egregious examples of food waste in their restaurants, which can then end up being thrown away. Elsewhere, though, employees have revealed that they give food and leftover pizzas away at the end of each shift, donating them where possible — although others can still find their final resting place in the trash.

Dunkin' runs two official schemes that aim to deal with its leftovers: Its End of Day Donation program and its composting program. The first of these is, as the name suggests, a donation scheme to local community and hunger relief groups, with its bakery items, unclaimed orders, and other food items picked up and redistributed. Its composting program, meanwhile, allows franchisees to compost leftovers like coffee grounds, allowing them to nourish the earth. Some participants in the composting program have seen a huge amount of success, with one franchisee, Kim Wolak, reported to have composted 3.7 million pounds of food waste by 2021 across her 10 restaurants.

That said, both the End of Day Donation and composting programs are optional. For those that don't take part in the programs, things can get a little looser — and not in a good way. Some Dunkin' stores end up throwing an astounding amount of leftovers into the dumpster at the end of the day, contributing significantly to food waste. Others will allow their employees to take viable items home, and throw out the rest, as its donuts can't be carried over to the next day. It all makes for a complicated picture.

Who'd have thought that Papa John's would be so rigorous about its leftovers and reducing food waste? Honestly, we love to see it. The best-selling pizza chain has been working to redistribute leftovers since 2010, when it created its Harvest Program, working in partnership with Food Donation Connection. As of 2025, 95% of its corporate restaurants had established pathways for its leftovers, and these restaurants send abandoned orders to food donation services in their area. Its surplus food go to almost 300 different organizations nationwide, and more than 4.2 million meals' worth of leftovers have been donated since its Harvest Program kicked off in earnest.

However, Papa John's has even bigger plans. In 2022, the restaurant set a target to donate 10 million meals over the following five years. This figure would be achieved through its Harvest Program and through donating leftover food, but also through grants via the Papa John's Foundation to food-focused non-profits — and by donating fresh food to people who need it. We respect the hustle, Papa John's.

Chick-fil-A may serve different food from donut chain Dunkin', but interestingly, the way the two businesses deal with leftovers is similar. Like its coffee-focused compatriot in the food world, Chick-fil-A both composts and donates leftovers. It does the former at its restaurants and at its Support Centers, and it uses compostable packaging to make the process easier. Although composting leftovers might sound niche, a huge number of its stores take part in it: Almost 2,500, to be exact.

On the donation side, Chick-fil-A distributes leftovers through its Shared Table Program, which began operating in 2012. The restaurants that take part in the program package up food at the end of the day, which is then picked up by local food organizations. Chick-fil-A has given away the equivalent of more than 30 million meals since the program started, but as with so many of these programs, not every restaurant has to take part in it. For those locations that don't, people who have stated that they're Chick-fil-A employees have mentioned that some stores give their food away to customers, while others throw it out. "Mine tosses. No one gets anything. Makes me mad," said one person on Reddit.

Wendy's solution to leftover food is to first try and avoid any significant leftovers at all. On the Food Waste page on the Wendy's website, it states that its restaurants "... rarely have significant leftovers to dispose of or donate," thanks to its evolved supply chain use of fresh ingredients. Wendy's is constantly trying to improve its food waste situation and minimize the amount that each store produces — and between 2019 and 2030, it's aiming to reduce overall waste by 50% in its company-owned locations.

However, what Wendy's does with leftovers it does have is interesting — and before you order its chili, you might want to know how it's made. For years now, it's been a pretty open secret that Wendy's repurposes its leftover hamburger meat into its chili, taking the beef from its burgers once they've been sitting under the heat lamp for too long, chopping it up, and stirring it into the sauce. While this might sound strange or unpleasant at first, it actually makes a lot of sense: Wendy's famously uses fresh meat, after all, and it's still perfectly edible the day after, provided that it's been stored properly and cooked to the right temperature. We think it's a smart way to cut down on food waste.

Chipotle takes its leftovers seriously. Like other restaurants, it operates a Harvest Program, a food donation scheme that it's been a part of since 2007. Through this program, it donates viable leftovers at the end of each day, sending them to food banks and groups in the local area. In the past, Chipotle has set a high bar for its restaurants to participate in the Harvest Program, and this push for them to join it has resulted in a lot of surplus food being donated, with hundreds of thousands of pounds diverted from the trash in 2020 alone. Chipotle also tries to reduce overall waste through its Mindful Prep initiative, which trains its workers to avoid using too much food in the first place, thereby helping cut down on leftovers.

As ever, though, none of this means that Chipotle stores are devoid of leftovers at the end of every day, and not all restaurants donate their food. Some people who have stated that they're Chipotle employees have questioned the restaurant's official line on donations, and others have pointed out that a lot of its food items, like meat, beans, and cheese, get carried over to the next day if they're fresh enough.