Rescuing Leftover Cuisine

In 2014, 23-year-old Robert Lee left a finance job at J.P. Morgan to commit himself full-time to Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC), the organization that he dreamed up during his senior year at New York University. The son of Korean immigrants, Robert had experienced food insecurity throughout his childhood, and now he was compelled to address one of the United States' most paradoxical challenges: how millions of people go hungry every day while massive quantities of quality food are thrown away. Armed with corporate donations from J.P. Morgan and seed money that he and co-founder Louisa Chen had won in a venture competition at NYU, Rescuing Leftover Cuisine was launched.

Rescuing Leftover Cuisine — which expanded its operations to the West Coast in 2023 — has rescued more than 4 million pounds of leftover food across the country and served more than 3.5 million meals to individuals experiencing homelessness and/or food insecurity. The organization offers additional services such as food waste consulting, tax credit assistance, and co-branding resources. Through this innovative and effective model, RLC pursues a world in which no food is wasted and hunger is eliminated.