February 13, 2025 – Isabelle Lambotte, founder of Share My Meals, was featured in the ‘Entrepreneurs’ series by the Consulate General of Belgium in New York. In this interview, Isabelle shares the inspiring journey behind Share My Meals and our mission to fight food insecurity and the environmental impact of food waste.
Hello Isabelle! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview! Before moving to the States and launching Share My Meals, you spent most of your professional life in the pharma industry. Did you ever imagine yourself becoming the founder of a non-profit addressing food insecurity and food waste?
“I would say no, but I did always want to make a difference. For many years, I followed my husband to where his job took him, and here in the US, I took care of the kids. But I wanted to be more than a desperate housewife and felt like the time had come to reinvent myself. While working as a volunteer at a local food bank in Princeton, I noticed how people were lining up for hours just to get a small grocery bag with a few eggs, some frozen bread,… but nothing that made an actual meal. This really got me thinking…
Having worked in the pharma industry, I knew how big company cafeterias operate, and that much of their huge buffets goes to waste. That’s when I realized how insane the entire situation is… On the one hand, you have people lining up for a small bag of food, on the other hand, vast quantities of food get chucked out. So I put the dots together and created the concept of Share My Meals.
At Share My Meals, we have a double mission: fight food waste and food insecurity. By recovering prepared nutritious meals from companies, hospitals, universities and private schools, we make sure they end up with food insecure people. Thanks to Share My Meals, some of the food donors have become aware of the waste and started producing less. And that’s great! Reducing food waste is just as much our mission as fighting food insecurity.”
When you handle premade food, I imagine food safety plays a pivotal role?
“Most definitely! Food safety is all about time and temperature. You need to make sure that the meals are prepared in an appropriate kitchen, that the time between pickup and delivery is short, and that the temperature remains stable while delivering the prepared meals. The only way to guarantee this, is by tracking the trays. Scanned twice -at pickup and delivery, our reusable trays are part of a cycle. Thanks to our in-house app, we know exactly when and where the trays are delivered, keeping the loss of trays to a minimum.
The app is also a major incentive for our food donors -allowing them to track how they actively contribute to our goals and make a difference.
But the app is not the only reason why food donors are enthusiastic to work with us. In the early days of Share My Meals, I found out about a bill called the Good Samaritan Act. This legal principle protects people who help others in need. The Good Samaritan Act protects people who act in good faith, without expecting compensation, and within their abilities. Only a few donors knew about this act, and they were convinced that they couldn’t give away meals, not even to their own employees… In 2022, I was invited to the Capitol where the debate was reopened on what can be donated and to whom. The bottomline is that as long as the donations meet the safety guidelines, there’s no problem.”
Does the Share My Meal model exist in Belgium?
“I don’t know of any similar concepts in Belgium. Many people think Share My Meals is like Les Restos du Coeur or Too Good To Go. And although we might have the same mission to fight food waste and/or food insecurity, our approach is very different. Our business model generates value, not money, and that’s a very unique feature. When we recover meals, we multiply their value.”
Do you still deliver directly to people?
“We do. There’s around 70 families and 20 seniors that we deliver to directly. And when we started off during the pandemic, we delivered directly to everyone. As we grew bigger though, we quickly understood that it was impossible to know all the people in need in New Jersey. For this aspect, we rely on local nonprofit organizations like food banks or shelters.”
What did you learn about food insecurity and food waste through Share My Meals?
“The first thing I learned is that there are a lot of new poor people… People who thought they would never have to rely on Share My Meals. Many of them lost their jobs during covid and some are still struggling to get back on their feet.
I also realized that it is vital to respect the dignity of the people in need. That’s why at Share My Meals, we don’t judge and never ask questions.
At some point, we thought about using a food truck and having people come pick up their trays. But then we realized that some people don’t want to be seen walking to the food truck, and we have to respect that.”
What is the biggest challenge that you face as the founder?
“Fundraising is hard because we are all competing for the same thing. And my wish is that people would come to me and say they want to get involved, instead of me organizing big galas, which is not really my thing.
At the end of the day, I prefer to be efficient, and build long-term partnerships, like the one we have with the state of NJ and Governor Murphy. He puts food insecurity high on the agenda, and this is exactly the kind of booster that we need.”
What are your long term ambitions with Share My Meals?
“Food waste being the third-largest polluter after China and the US, it’s obvious we want no meals to go to waste. Not only in Princeton or New Jersey, but globally. Is that an ambition… or a dream? I don’t know. What I do know is that we have developed a tool that can replicate our sustainable low-cost expansion model everywhere. So the next step is to replicate it in several states of the country. All we need is a local person who matches the food donors with local nonprofits.”
What’s the biggest takeaway from Share My Meals?
“Reinventing myself in my 50’s was just the best! And I am very happy that for once, my perseverance made a real difference.
Of course, there were times I thought the sacrifice was too big. But when you have a good idea and involve the right people… it’s just magical! The people who work at Share My Meals are dynamic, inventive, and many of them found a new purpose in life. I couldn’t be more proud of them!”
