IFMA The Food Away from Home Association Partners with Kindland to Serve Kindness Across the Foodservice Industry

New partnership invites food manufacturers, operators, suppliers and service providers to make kindness a visible part of the food-away-from-home experience

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IFMA The Food Away from Home Association and the national nonprofit Kindland announced today that they are partnering to inspire more kindness throughout the national foodservice industry and its communities.

Americans spend more than $1 trillion each year dining out and purchasing food away from home. In restaurants, cafés, convenience stores, schools, hospitals and other establishments, the foodservice industry has always been built not only on food and service, but on people and kindness. The new partnership will promote, foster and support that spirit on an organized, sustained basis.

Kindland is a national movement that brings together businesses, organizations, schools, communities and individuals to recognize, share and inspire acts of kindness. By making kindness more visible, Kindland seeks to create a ripple effect of positivity, connection and goodwill in a United States of Kindness.

“IFMA The Food Away from Home Association is pleased to be part of this national kindness movement,” said Phil Kafarakis, the Association’s President and CEO. “Kindland’s mission dovetails with our own purpose to empower, nurture and connect our ecosystem of manufacturers, operators, supply chain partners and service providers.”

Through the new partnership, IFMA The Food Away from Home Association is encouraging its members to participate in Kindland’s Kindness is Served Here program, an initiative designed to recognize and celebrate the extraordinary acts of kindness taking place every day throughout the food industry. Participating organizations can sign up to receive free materials and resources, including a “Kindness Is Served Here” door cling that businesses and establishments can proudly display to let employees, customers and visitors know that kindness is one of their core values.

“Food and kindness have always gone hand in hand,” said Stuart Muszynski, CEO of the Values-in-Action Foundation (VIA), the national non-profit that presents Kindland. “Every step of the food experience creates an opportunity for human connection, from the person stocking a shelf or preparing a meal to the employee who greets a customer with a smile and thanks them for stopping in. Customers return that kindness by showing patience, gratitude, understanding and respect. These may seem like small moments, but together they can have an extraordinary impact.”

Bringing Kindness to the Season of Giving

IFMA The Food Away from Home Association members are invited to help launch Kindland’s first-ever Kindness Wednesday on December 2, 2026. Held on the Wednesday following Thanksgiving, Kindness Wednesday is a new national tradition designed to kick off the giving season by encouraging Americans to perform, recognize and share acts of kindness on the same day.

Foodservice organizations can participate by sharing Kindness Wednesday with employees, customers, suppliers and partners and encouraging them to mark the day with simple acts of kindness. From recognizing an employee and helping a colleague to thanking a customer or supporting someone in need, every act contributes to a larger culture of kindness.

Reporting Acts of Kindness

Participants can also use Kindland’s Just Be Kind® App to make recognizing kindness part of their everyday routine. The app provides a simple way for individuals to record and share acts of kindness they experience, perform or witness, helping demonstrate the collective impact of kindness in communities across the country.

Through its partnership with Kindland, IFMA The Food Away from Home Association is extending its commitment to bringing the food-away-from-home community together to drive innovation, address shared challenges and create meaningful change. By engaging its members in the Kindland movement, the Association hopes to inspire the industry to lead by example and demonstrate how kindness can strengthen workplaces, customer experiences and communities.

Why Kindness Matters

Kindness is more than a gesture; it can be a powerful force for stronger people, workplaces and communities. Research has associated kindness and prosocial behavior with greater happiness, belonging and connectedness, reduced stress and anxiety, improved well-being, and stronger relationships and workplace cultures. The Kindland movement brings together communities, businesses, organizations, schools and individuals to recognize and share the kindness happening around us, inspiring a groundswell of positivity and goodness.

About IFMA The Food Away from Home Association

IFMA The Food Away from Home Association is a trade association founded in 1952. The organization empowers, nurtures and connects an inclusive and diverse $1.5 trillion food-away-from-home ecosystem of manufacturers, distributors, operators and others. By sharing insights, fostering best practices and developing networking and educational opportunities through events, IFMA The Food Away from Home Association informs and instructs its members, and motivates change to improve both individual organizations and the food-away-from-home industry at large. For more information, visit foodaway.org.

About Kindland

Kindland, presented by Values-in-Action Foundation, is a national movement dedicated to creating cultures of kindness, caring, and respect in schools, businesses, and communities. Through programs, resources and initiatives that encourage people to recognize, perform and share acts of kindness, Kindland seeks to create a ripple effect of positivity and help build a United States of Kindness.