According to a publication by Salesforce, Share My Meals, a nonprofit organization that recovers prepared meals and delivers them safely to communities in need across New Jersey, New York City, and Pennsylvania, delivered 230,000 meals in 2025. This represents a significant increase compared to the 62,000 meals distributed in 2023, while the organization's technology team grew by only half a position during that period. This operational efficiency was achieved through the development of a centralized platform named STAN (an acronym for Safety, Tracking, Allocation, and Navigation), built on Salesforce Field Service, which connects food donors, volunteers, and recipient nonprofits in real time. The platform resolved the operational bottleneck that previously held the organization back from expanding, and the organization now plans to open the system as a blueprint for other nonprofits.
Moving from Nine Siloed Software Tools to a Single Platform
Prior to launching the STAN system in January 2024, Share My Meals relied on nine separate software tools to manage the logistics of meal recovery operations. Each tool handled a completely different function: volunteer coordination, donor management, meal allocation, and food safety tracking. This fragmented structure required the staff to perform significant manual data entry, suffered from a lack of data centralization, and made it impossible to scale efficiently.
For a nonprofit operating on a lean budget, this operational structure formed a major bottleneck. Share My Meals Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Victoire Cleren noted that for a nonprofit, operational efficiency is not a luxury, but an absolute necessity. The organization needed to find a way to accomplish more tasks using the same existing resources, understanding that without this change, growth would stall.
Choosing Salesforce Field Service and Supporting the Internal Team
The decision to build the STAN system on Salesforce Field Service, rather than using a logistics-specific tool or developing a custom system from scratch, stemmed from where the operational data was located. Cleren explained that because all of the organization's operational data already lived in Salesforce systems, the Agentforce platform can access and act on this data seamlessly and directly. As part of this setup, the organization's volunteers receive a pre-briefing summary directly within the application, providing a quick at-a-glance overview of their assignment—a component especially valuable for occasional volunteers.
Beyond field operations, the platform also supports the organization's internal technology team by assisting with configuration, implementation, and coding. Cleren noted that this shift has a profound impact on the organization as a nonprofit, as it replaces the need for expensive external developers and enables the organization to continue improving its platform within its existing budget and team structure.
The Daily Operations Chain and Field Automation
The daily operational routine begins when Operations Associates establish the day's schedule, while trained volunteers and food donors prepare for assignments. Immediately after lunch service ends, the food donor logs surplus food via a simple QR code scan, which instantly sends an alert to the matched volunteer with the location details they need to reach and the meal distribution destination.
The field volunteer confirms food safety and the quantities received, transports the meals to the waiting recipient nonprofit, and swaps fresh containers for clean ones to maintain a continuous reusable container cycle. The moment the task is marked as complete, the donor's dashboard updates in real time with the weight of rescued food and the number of meals made possible. Concurrently, a regional operations associate oversees the overall picture, intervening only when a human touch is required. This cycle, updating autonomously dozens of times a day, frees staff members to focus on core priorities and enables more meals to be rescued at a faster pace.
Unified Operation Across Donors, Volunteers, and Recipient Organizations
The organization's operations are now managed from a unified operational framework connecting all stakeholders: Donors submit their donations via a QR code scan and record quantities directly into the shared system, which automatically triggers an alert to available volunteers and updates the donor dashboard in real time. Volunteers register through a dedicated volunteer portal, complete safety training via an on-demand learning platform, and receive instant app notifications when a pickup is ready, including location details, quantities, and food safety timelines. In addition, they can scan containers for food safety compliance and reusable container inventory tracking. Recipients, encompassing partner organizations and direct families, receive automated messages and notifications ahead of each delivery. Communication is managed through an integrated call and text system, a native Salesforce product, ensuring that every interaction is conducted efficiently and remains fully traceable.
Growth Metrics: 3.7x in Operational Volume with the Same Tech Staff Scale
The impact of the STAN system since its January 2024 launch is reflected in the operational metrics presented by the organization: The number of meals delivered surged from 62,000 in 2023 to 230,000 in 2025, a 3.7x increase. The number of employees rose from 7 to 15, a 2.1x increase. The number of volunteers grew from 75 to 293, a 3.9x increase. The number of counties served expanded from 5 to 18, a 3.6x increase. The number of meal donors increased from 36 to 120, a 3.3x increase. The number of partner nonprofits and organizations rose from 25 to 55, a 2.2x increase.
Cleren emphasized that without a single unified platform, such a pace of growth would not have been possible. The system reduced manual labor, improved data management, and gave the organization the operational structure to do more with fewer resources. Growth was also evident in platform adoption itself: Salesforce contractor licenses, representing the field operators and partners actively using the system, increased from 20 to 160—an 8x increase that added 140 individuals managing food rescue logistics through the platform.
The first proof point emerged when logistics ran smoothly end-to-end with all implemented automations, followed by milestones of 100,000 meals and then 200,000 meals faster than anticipated. Cleren noted that the most meaningful moment was seeing the reaction of partner organizations receiving beautiful prepared meals delivered safely and consistently, enabling them to assist more people in need.
Improved Volunteer Retention and Technological Autonomy
Using the application also positively influenced volunteer retention. When the application guides volunteers clearly and enables them to complete their shifts without confusion or delays, the volunteering experience improves. Cleren noted that the app not only streamlines operations but also makes volunteering feel professional and purposeful, with many volunteers reporting that the user experience was far more professional than they had anticipated.
Furthermore, the biggest surprise for the organization was how the system empowered the internal team and reduced dependence on external technical support. The team is now able to implement configuration changes, troubleshoot, and introduce improvements that previously required hiring expensive external developers and consultants. This technological autonomy is now driving a broader vision: while Share My Meals' priority remains deepening impact across communities in New Jersey, New York City, and Pennsylvania without a proportional increase in costs and complexity, the organization aims to turn STAN into a blueprint opened to other nonprofits so they will not need to build similar solutions from scratch. According to Cleren, Salesforce and Agentforce make such scalability realistic, and the goal is not only to expand Share My Meals, but to use what has been built to multiply impact across the entire food recovery ecosystem.