Restaurant food donation procedure and log template (free)

At close, a café often has a tray of unsold sandwiches, a dozen pastries and a pan of soup that won't make it to tomorrow. A lot of owners would rather give it away than bin it, and then stop at the same question: what if someone gets sick?

Federal law answers most of that, and the food safety part is the same work you already do. This post explains the law in plain terms, then gives you a donation procedure, a partner sheet, a label and a donation log.

General information, not legal or tax advice. State and local health rules still apply to donated food, and some states add their own protections. Ask your accountant whether your donations qualify for a tax deduction.

What the law protects

The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (42 U.S.C. 1791) protects people who donate food in good faith. It was amended by the Food Donation Improvement Act (Pub. L. 117-362, January 5, 2023). In short:

What the law says	What it means for you
A person, which includes a "restaurant, caterer", is not subject to civil or criminal liability arising from the nature, age, packaging or condition of apparently wholesome food donated in good faith to a nonprofit for distribution to needy people.	Donating through a food bank, pantry, shelter or food rescue group is protected.
Since 2023, that also covers food the nonprofit passes on "at zero cost or at a good Samaritan reduced price", a price no higher than the cost of handling, packaging, transporting and distributing it.	A pantry that charges a small handling fee doesn't cost you the protection.
Since 2023, a qualified direct donor (the list includes restaurants and caterers) is protected when it donates in good faith directly to a needy individual at zero cost.	Giving food straight to a person in need, free, is now protected too.
Apparently wholesome food is food that meets all quality and labeling standards of federal, state and local law, "even though the food may not be readily marketable due to appearance, age, freshness, grade, size, surplus, or other conditions."	Yesterday's bread and the oddly shaped pastries qualify. Food that's unsafe doesn't.
The protection doesn't apply to injury or death caused by gross negligence or intentional misconduct. Gross negligence means conduct by someone who knew, at the time, that it was likely to be harmful.	Donating food you know has been left out, spoiled or recalled isn't protected.
"Nothing in this section shall be construed to supercede State or local health regulations."	Your health department's rules still apply to donated food.

And the FDA Food Code 2026 now has its own short section on donation: "FOOD stored, prepared, PACKAGED, displayed, and labeled in accordance to LAW and this Code may be offered for donation" (§3-204.10). In other words: if you could have sold it safely, you can donate it.

What to donate, and what not to

Usually fine to donate	Don't donate
Unsold whole items: bread, pastries, packaged sandwiches, salads made today	Anything served to a guest, even untouched (§3-306.14 bars re-serving food once it's been with a guest, except sealed or closed items such as crackers and condiment bottles that aren't TCS food)
Prepared food that never left the kitchen, kept at 41°F or below or 135°F or above, and cooled properly if it was cooked	Food held on time instead of temperature (TPHC) past its discard time, or food left out by accident
Ready-to-eat food within its date mark	Food past its date mark, or with no date mark when it needs one
Sealed, in-date packaged food and drinks	Recalled food, or food from a damaged package
Fruit and vegetables that are bruised or imperfect but sound	Anything you wouldn't serve to a guest yourself

Date marking still applies. Ready-to-eat food that needs time and temperature control and is kept more than 24 hours is marked with the day it must be used by, at most 7 days at 41°F or less, with the day it was made counted as day 1 (§3-501.17(A)). Donate it well inside that window, and write the date on the label, so the recipient has time to use it.

Ask your partner first. Every food bank or rescue group has its own list of what it accepts. Many take bread and produce but not hot food, or need prepared food chilled and packed in a certain way. Their list wins.

The partner sheet

Fill it in once with each organization, and keep it by the walk-in.

Donation partner: [organization name]

Contact: [name] · [phone] · [email] · Nonprofit status confirmed: [yes / how]

What they take: [bread and pastries / packaged sandwiches / chilled prepared food / produce / sealed packaged goods]

What they don't take: [hot food / anything with meat / opened packages]

How it's packed: [their containers / our containers, lidded / chilled in a cooler with ice packs]

Labels they need: [contents, date made, allergens, reheat instructions]

Pickup: [days] at [time] · Who picks up: [driver / volunteer] · Where: [back door] · If nobody comes by [time]: [call / keep chilled for next pickup / discard and log]

Temperature on pickup: [checked and written on the log]

The donation procedure

Print it for the closing crew.

[Café / restaurant name] — Food donation procedure

At [time before close], sort the leftovers. Only food on our donate list, made today or within its date mark, kept at the right temperature, and never served to a guest.
Check the temperature of chilled and hot prepared food with a probe thermometer. Cold food must be 41°F or below. Hot food that's going to be chilled for donation is cooled properly first, never boxed hot.
Pack it in clean, lidded containers or food bags, one kind of food per container where you can.
Label every container: contents, date made, Use by date, Contains: [allergens], and Keep refrigerated / Reheat to 165°F where it applies.
Store it in the walk-in on the [donation shelf], labeled DONATION, apart from tomorrow's food, until pickup.
At pickup, check the driver is from [partner], fill in the donation log, and have them sign it.
If the pickup doesn't come, keep it only while it's still safe and within its date mark; otherwise, throw it out and log it as waste.

The reheat line is there because the partner may serve it hot. The Food Code reheats food for hot holding to 165°F (§3-403.11(A)); our grab-and-go label post covers what else to put on a label.

The donation log

Keep it on the clipboard by the walk-in. It's your record of what went where, and when, if a partner or your health department ever asks.

[Café / restaurant name] — Food donation log

Date	Item	Quantity / weight	Made on	Temp at pickup (°F)	Allergens on label?	Partner
[Mar 4]	[Turkey sandwiches]	[12]	[Mar 4]	[38]	Y	[Food rescue group]
[Mar 4]	[Croissants]	[18]	[Mar 4]	—	Y	[Food rescue group]

Monthly total donated: [quantity / pounds] · Reviewed by: …………………………

Weigh it if your partner asks for pounds. The monthly total is also a good number for your food waste log review: food donated is food not wasted, but food you donate every single night is food you're making too much of.

Donating directly to people in need

Since 2023, the law also protects a restaurant giving food free and directly to a needy individual. If you do this, keep the same rules: food from your donate list, packed and labeled, given away free, and logged ("direct, 3 sandwiches, no name"). Don't charge, even a little: the direct-donation protection is for food given at zero cost.

Your food donation checklist

[ ] A partner organization, with its "we take / we don't take" list
[ ] A donate list and a never-donate list posted by the walk-in
[ ] Temperatures checked before packing; nothing boxed hot
[ ] Every container labeled with contents, date, use-by and allergens
[ ] A labeled donation shelf, apart from tomorrow's food
[ ] Pickups on a schedule, and a plan for a missed pickup
[ ] A donation log signed at every pickup
[ ] The monthly total reviewed with your waste log

Where Mays fits

Stock that leaves, accounted for. On the web, Inventory → Waste → Log waste, pick the item and quantity, choose Other as the reason and write Donated to [partner] under Describe reason. The item comes out of stock on hand, and the entry shows on the Waste Log with what you wrote. See Logging waste.
A donation log on the closing crew's phones. Build a Food donation form under Tasks → Types with Repeatable rows (an Inventory item or Text field and a Number field for the quantity), a Temperature field, a Vendor or Text field for the partner, and a Signature field for the driver. Put it on the closing checklist. See Building custom forms.
The monthly total. Tasks → Data lists every submission, and Export CSV downloads them. See Task Data.
The sort at close. Add Sort and pack donations, label, donation shelf to your closing checklist. See Creating a checklist template.

What Mays doesn't do: the Waste Log's reasons don't include Donated, so a donation goes under Other, and the app's Waste log form has no donation reason either. A donation form doesn't take items out of stock, so pick one route for each item: the Waste Log for stock, or the form for the record. Mays doesn't print labels.

Feed people, not the dumpster

Pick a partner, agree what they take, keep donated food as carefully as food you sell, label it and log it. The law protects good-faith donors, and the Food Code now says plainly that safe food can be donated. The rest is a shelf, a label and a signature at the back door.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll set up your closing checklist and donation log with you.