Something that’s stuck with me from my childhood (and I’m pretty sure it’ll stay with me forever) is just how much food waste scares me. It’s unreal. I can’t stand throwing food away—it makes me sad and ashamed because someone somewhere is starving right now while here I am, filling up my garbage can.
But no matter how wastefully a person might live, it’s nothing compared to the amount of serviceable food thrown out every single day by restaurants, businesses, and fast-food franchises. Case in point—Dunkin’ Donuts (now former) employee Bryan Johnston was horrified that he had to keep dumping several hundred donuts into the bin every single night. So he decided to donate the food to the homeless instead. Bryan uploaded a TikTok video of himself doing just that and even though people loved it, the 16-year-old lost his job for breaking protocol. But there’s always a silver lining… and Bryan’s the guy who can always find it.
Bryan told Bored Panda that he was really surprised when he found out he was fired. "It's still very hard to look back to when I replay the whole situation in my head. It felt as though my manager didn’t care that I worked there for 5 months and she didn't say anything like 'sad to see you go' or 'thanks for being a part of the team.'" Read on for our full interview with him.
A small heads-up, dear Pandas. Keep in mind that every owner of a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise personally decides whether or not to donate food at the end of the day. The company itself has created a support structure for those who choose to donate.
16-year-old Bryan Johnston's donut-saga went viral on TikTok. The teenager detailed how he got fired from Dunkin' Donuts because he gave donuts to the homeless instead of throwing them out
Image credits: bryanjohnston
He was literally tasked with throwing out hundreds of perfectly edible donuts each and every night
Bryan's a stoic guy. Even though it was tough getting fired, he's been getting a lot of support from people and he's very grateful to all of them for reaching out with kind words. "People also have been helping me financially until I find a stable source of income which I am beyond blessed for."
In Bryan's opinion, some franchises don't help feed the homeless because they're "greedy and lazy" to go the extra mile for the local community. "They would rather just throw away the food at the end of the day instead of paying an employee a couple more man-hours to bring the food to a donation center. Even though it's up to the store what to do with the waste, most store managers instruct us to throw out the food because they haven't set up a program to donate. And that roots back to the company itself and not having proper procedures set up in place for the food waste which I find extremely disappointing."
He also went into detail with Bored Panda about his future plans. In short, we can expect great things from him. "I plan on using my voice to bring light to the issue of how much food waste goes on throughout America each day and how true a problem famine and world hunger is. If companies like Dunkin' decided to someone reduce the food waste and/or donate the food to the hungry, issues like that would not be as huge of a problem. I still would want to grow on TikTok making positive videos as well as comedy/lifestyle content, but I am hoping to get a lot of people on board with me on how big an issue is that is overseen by so many."
Bryan also hopes to partner up with bigger corporations like Feeding America in the future and he'd love to volunteer. "But right now I’m still kinda shaken by the fact so many people on the internet support me and what I am doing/going to do. It gives me the motivation to continue to be a light in such difficult times in the world."
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Fed up with having to waste good food, Bryan decided to pack up the donuts and hand them out to the homeless
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Bryan also handed out food to firefighters, as well as the needy. He claims that this is why he got fired from his job at Dunkin' Donuts
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: bryanjohnston
Image credits: ItsTerrax3
Even though Bryan got fired because he handed out donuts to the homeless instead of throwing them away, there’s an upside to all of this. He got a lot of support from everyone online and some people even donated him some money to help keep him afloat.
However, true to his mission of being a Based and Charitable Lad, Bryan decided to use the money to buy donuts (Krispy Kreme, not Dunkin’) for hospital staff. Of course, the teenager uploaded a video of himself handing out the bags to healthcare workers and--oh, God, he’s just an all-round decent human being in a messed up corporate world, isn’t he?
Now, who’s up for donuts and volunteering?
Keep in mind that Dunkin' Donuts encourages its franchises to support their local communities. However, it's up to each individual franchise owner if they want to donate leftover food or not
Image credits: ItsTerrax3
Image credits: itsdivyag
Image credits: itsdivyag
Bryan had a wholesome update for us. Loads of people supported him financially, so he dabbed on Dunkin' by getting Krispy Kreme donuts for healthcare workers
Here's how people reacted to the donut-saga. Some even shared their own experiences with having to throw out food at work
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