What's up with the Green Beans?

In mid-November of this year, 70-90 restaurants in the Norfolk area will receive a can of green beans with a tag encouraging them to return the can along with other non-perishable food items. Those who return a minimum amount (TBD) will be eligible to receive prizes including free hotel room stays, tickets to sporting and theater events, and admission to museums.

And it all started like this:
In late 2006, I had a small bag of 6-7 cans sitting by my front door, waiting to be taken to the Marriott and placed in a box by the time clock. (The Care Committee for the hotel was having a food drive.) For some reason I had an episode of Oprah on the TiVo -- I can only assume I thought I had taped the "Favorite Things" special, an exciting event on Oprah. Not that I don't like Oprah, I just don't normally have her show on the TiVo, and so it stands out in my memory that I did on that day. However, the episode was one in which she gave viewers $1,000 and told them to give it away to other people in creative ways. And WOW! The stories they told were incredible and uplifting. All the different ways they came up with to make the thousand dollars grow to even more money were just amazing.

I looked again at my little bag of food. Only an hour before I had complimented myself on what a LARGE bag it was, but now it just looked ordinary. My mind started to think of some way to make my donation larger. How could I possibly do that? I'm not as smart as those people on Oprah and I have no connections. Hmm, maybe I should ask my neighbors to donate. Yes, that should do it.

That night the Marriott was very boring. I found myself staring out the window of my office on the 24th floor, looking out over the city. My mind was wandering, trying to grasp how I could make my little donation turn into a BIG donation. And to be honest, the thought went through my mind, "All you have ever done is wait tables. You have no talent to offer, nothing to bring to the table, nothing except water with lemon and a fresh towelette."

Somewhere in that murky self-depreciation, the idea hit me: I have fed people all my life, why can't I use that talent to feed the less fortunate? After all, in my new position, I know dozens of people in the F&B industry; in fact, I know more of those people than I know the neighbors on my street. And thus a food drive was born!

That first year I contacted 40 restaurants in the downtown area. The drive was called the "Downtown Restaurant Food and Beverage Employee Canned Food Drive". Try saying that ten times fast... At the end of it all, 14 eateries participated, and we raised about 400 lbs. of food.

In 2007 I decided to do it again, but since there was only a 30% participation rate the previous year, I went further out and delivered more than 90 invitations all over the great city of Norfolk. After all , I figured 90 restaurants would equal at least 30 participating if the ratios held true. This year the snappy name became "Norfolk Restaurant Food and Beverage Employee Canned Food Drive." Really, the new name was so uninspired!

And for all that work, and all those invitations I had 14 participating restaurants again. On the bright side, we doubled the donation for that year.

There was even more to learn in 2007 as I decided to supplement my food and cash totals by hosting a party in my backyard, early enough in the season so the temperatures would be warm. In early October I invited around 50 people to a pre-drive collection party, complete with lots of music and alcohol. My friend Reed suggested that I implement a cover charge of cash or specific amount of canned food, but I completely rebuked that idea.

Now I happen to have the best friends in the world, so it still stings that this party was such a failure. Of the 50 people who came, only 8 offered cash ranging from $5 to $50. And as for the food donations, well those were pathetic. Some things I heard were, "Here are four cans, one for each of my friends who came with me." I guess it was the distance from the actual start of the food drive, maybe it was the warm autumn temperatures, maybe it was just human nature. But I did learn the words "minimum donation" and I keep those words close to my heart.





So why such an attrition rate? Why out of 90 invitations, did only 14 decide to help? There was a lot to think of as I moved into 2008.

If you have ever dealt with a restaurant manager, you know his word is only good until the moment he walks out the door. Then its the next manager's decision. Contracts, promises, phone calls, station charts and all sorts of other information are lost at every switch-over, and my invitations were definitely getting lost in the shuffle. I needed something that would stand out. Something bigger than an envelope. Something like a can of food!

A can of beans sitting on a desk is hard to lose in the paperwork. One manager asks another, employees ask the manager, and people's short term memories are refreshed with this silly reminder. The can becomes the seed, it represents the dollar in the tip-jar before the shift begins. And of course, I added prizes. Dog-gone it, if these people won't give freely of themselves, I'll bribe them!

In 2008, cans of green beans were delivered to 70 eateries along with the challenge to return the can along with other non-perishable food items. I believe I started with almost 45 "bites", although in the end, the number dropped to 25 places that actually participated. Maybe because the minimum donation requirement for the prize drawings, but the best part was the amount of food donated, especially in a recession year: 2,100 pounds- over a ton! Whoo-hoo, the newly named and more approachable "Green Bean Challenge" was a success!

And so here we are, mid-way through 2009 and this year I am moving full steam ahead by adding this blog and a few print ads. What numbers will this year bring? Stay tuned!