Food Waste in the Caribbean: A Growing Crisis

Every year, roughly 50 million tonnes of food are wasted across the Caribbean food supply chain. Most of it never makes headlines. It just disappears into bins at the back of restaurants, hotels, and supermarkets after closing time.

Where the waste happens

Food loss in the Caribbean happens at multiple points. At the farm level, produce that does not meet size or appearance standards gets discarded before it reaches market. At the distribution level, poor cold chain infrastructure means perishable goods spoil in transit. At the retail and food service level, businesses over-prepare and over-stock to avoid running out, and what is not sold at the end of the day gets thrown away.

The food service level is where Last Bite focuses. Restaurants, bakeries, hotels, and cafes are well-positioned to address this because they know in advance how much they are preparing, and they are concentrated in accessible areas where a pick-up model is practical.

The numbers are significant

Across the wider Latin America and Caribbean region, the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that about 127 million tonnes of food are lost or wasted annually. For the Caribbean specifically, that translates to roughly 30-40% of total food produced or imported being wasted before it is consumed.

For small island nations that import a large share of their food, this is not just an environmental issue. It is a food security and economic issue. Every tonne wasted is a tonne that had to be imported, paid for in foreign exchange, transported, and then discarded. The cost sits across the entire supply chain.

Why food service waste is a practical target

Agricultural and distribution waste are difficult to address without large capital investments in infrastructure and supply chain systems. Food service waste is different. The food already exists. It has already been prepared. It is sitting in a kitchen or bakery cooling down after the last customer has left.

The barrier is not logistics. It is connection. The food business does not know who wants it, and the customer does not know it is available. A marketplace platform solves that specific problem without requiring any change to how either side operates.

What communities are doing

Across the Caribbean, there is growing awareness of the problem and genuine interest in practical solutions. Some municipalities have started food rescue programmes with local food banks. Some larger hotel chains have invested in on-site composting. And platforms like Last Bite are creating market-based mechanisms to redirect surplus food to people who want it.

None of these approaches is a complete solution on its own. But together they represent a shift in how the region thinks about food that does not sell. Waste is increasingly being seen as a system design problem, not an inevitable byproduct of running a food business.

The role of consumers

Consumer behaviour also plays a role. When people choose to buy surplus food rather than a new meal, they are creating demand for a product that would otherwise be discarded. Over time, that demand signal makes surplus food sales a predictable part of a business's revenue model rather than a last-minute scramble to avoid waste.

The price incentive helps. Surplus food at 30-70% off is a compelling offer, especially in economies where food costs are already high relative to income. The environmental benefit comes along with the financial one.