THE Shawarmer restaurant chain is marking its 20th anniversary by launching the “Shawarmer for Social Responsibility Save It!” campaign, the most ambitious and comprehensive social impact program in company history designed to help tackle the growing food waste issue in Saudi Arabia.

The new Save It! campaign from Shawarmer, one of the largest and fastest growing Saudi owned and operated restaurant chains, is a year-long initiative designed to draw attention to and provide actionable solutions to Saudi’s food waste issue. The program will engage youth, families, the restaurant industry and stakeholders across the entire “farm to table to landfill” ecosystem to take responsibility for helping tackle a serious issue that has far-reaching impact on Saudi society.

Saudi ranks number one in the world in total food wasted. Statistics released in a new survey by the Saudi Grain Organization estimates that 33% of all food in the country ends up in garbage bins. That’s more than 4 million tons annually with a value of SR12 billion.

“People don’t realize the serious impact of our food waste issue. The economic value of what goes into Saudi trash bins every day is staggering,” said Abdullah Zeid Alshabanat, Head of the National Program for Food Lost and Waste. “But most importantly, our Islamic values urge against it.”

“As a homegrown Saudi restaurant group, we have both an opportunity and responsibility to help contribute to a real and lasting solution to our nation’s food waste issue,” said Abdulmohsin Al Rabiah, CEO of Innovative Foods, Shawarmer’s parent company.

“We are launching a series of internal programs and investing heavily in new technology to minimize wasted food across our supply chain and 92 locations. But we also know with our national reach and 20-year history, we have an opportunity to help educate and motivate our customers, employees and industry partners to do something truly unique and special to make a real impact on reducing food waste,” added Iyad Al Rasheed, Shawarmer Director of Operations.

The Save It! initiative will kick off with a competition among Saudi university students, with teams competing to take part in an intensive three-day marketing challenge. Aspiring participants can register their ideas for a Save It! campaign on the Shawarmer.com website.

Shawarmer will work with university partners and marketing industry experts to select the top 15 teams to join the three-day competition where they will work closely with a range of leading experts in advertising, marketing, social responsibility and environmental issues to develop a final campaign. At the end of the competition, the winning team will get the opportunity to show their creative thinking and marketing expertise to all of Saudi, with Shawarmer funding their effort to run a national food waste education and awareness campaign.

“What better way to kick off our Save It! program then to harness the power, energy and creative inspiration of our Saudi youth. What makes this program special is that not only will we invest in a national education campaign targeting a very real social issue, but we are also investing in the future of our young people,” said Faisal Al Rasheed, Director of Marketing for Shawarmer.

Shawarmer, known for its creative and unique marketing campaigns, is asking potential Save It! competitors to find a creative answer to a simple question: Are You Ok with This Issue?

“We know our customers and we know Saudi youth care about building our future society together. We know that when they see the real magnitude of our national food waste crisis and the impact it has on so many people, they will not be OK with it. They will want to get involved. They will want to work with us to help build a campaign that will inspire Saudi’s across the country to join the cause,” Al Rasheed added.

The Save It! university marketing competition will run through mid-April when winners will be awarded at a special industry forum hosted by Shawarmer with key stakeholders, influencers and decision makers uniting for a special Saudi food waste summit. Phase II of the Save It! campaign will be announced at the close of that summit. — SG