Impact
360 Eats creates food rescue, delivery ecosystem
“Imagine what we could do with more trucks.”
A local nonprofit that bridges the gaps between hunger, waste and sustainability hopes to continue expanding its holistic food delivery system in 2026.
Cameron Macleish, co-founder of 360 Eats, said the organization now prevents between 5,000 and 6,000 pounds of quality food from reaching the landfill. He and a team of professional chefs then transform those ingredients, which might be close to a sell-by date or have packaging imperfections, into nutritious prepared meals.
A food truck with a commercial kitchen then delivers those meals to “communities in food deserts,” Macleish said. His innovative approach now encompasses workforce development.
“We offer a paid culinary training program for young adults in the communities we serve,” Macleish said. “We try to target former meal recipients to break the cycle of food and financial insecurity.”
The Pinellas County-based nonprofit, aided by a grant, pays interns $20 an hour to train with chefs for 20 hours weekly. Macleish said they receive a food safety certification, and a career counselor provided by a community partner “helps them find full-time work, ideally in the culinary field.”
Macleish said 360 Eats recruits participants by simply putting a flyer on the food truck, which typically provides 200 meals for 50 to 70 people in an hour. “They’re picking up meals for their whole family.”
“Because we’re there serving in the community, it’s really easy for us to target that demographic ourselves,” he added.
However, the internship program is in flux as grants become increasingly competitive. Macleish said the nonprofit’s top supporters include the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, Community Foundation Tampa Bay and the Cities of Clearwater and St. Petersburg.
He noted that 360 Eats has historically relied on grants, with private donations accounting for about 5% of revenue. “We’re really trying to grow that in this new year,” Macleish said.
“Federal funding cuts and things are impacting the nonprofit sector as a whole,” he added. “Small nonprofits are kind of feeling the effects more … It’s becoming harder to get the grants that we typically relied on every single year.”
The unique nonprofit has made a significant impact on the area since its launch in 2020. Macleish founded 360 Eats with his mother, Ellen, a professional chef and fellow food waste activist.
He admitted that the two “had no idea what we were doing” when they launched the nonprofit, and lacked a model to follow. “I’ve looked, and I haven’t found any other organization doing anything similar to what we’re doing nationwide,” Macleish said.
Some nonprofits rescue food and deliver it to other organizations. Others prepare meals, but not from a food truck that provides a sense of normalcy and a gathering place for struggling residents.
“It just feels really cool to take an idea that had never really been done before and watch it come to life,” Macleish said. “And watch it actually work and bridge a pretty major gap in our food system.”
He noted that 360 Eats was delivering nearly 1,000 meals weekly in November, as the federal government paused food assistance benefits. The nonprofit, which has just three full-time employees, will “scale back” to roughly 700 weekly.
“That is a ton, a ton, to take on for the small team that we have,” Macleish said. “So, we really, really rely on volunteers.”
Volunteers can pick up or sort through food donations. Maleish said they can also serve meals from the food truck, which typically sets up in Clearwater or South St. Petersburg.
Cameron Macleish (right) founded 360 Eats with his mother, Ellen, a professional chef and fellow food waste activist.
Macleish began donating food scraps to local gardens for compost, ensuring no food goes to waste. “We’re really trying to activate more of the community in our work,” he said.
While the nonprofit received a grant to lease a private kitchen, Macleish said that is on hold due to funding uncertainties. He wants to ensure 360 Eats has the money to maintain current operations before expanding.
The kitchen would increase food storage and allow the nonprofit to train additional interns. Macleish is hopeful the expansion will occur in 2026, “but it’s still very much up in the air.”
He also wants to create a social enterprise that generates additional revenue. A catering service launched last year and found some success, “but it stretched us incredibly thin,” Macleish said.
Increasing the nonprofit’s fleet of food trucks is a long-term goal. Macleish noted that most people experiencing food insecurity struggle to reach assistance programs.
In addition, “very few bus lines pass by grocery stores” in South St. Petersburg, Macleish said. The nonprofit’s sole food truck delivers just two days a week and still provides 700 meals.
“Imagine what we could do with more trucks,” Macleish added. “Our meals are 100% free, and they’re for anyone and everyone. We don’t have any intake forms or requirements … We don’t set limitations on how many meals people can bring home.”
For more information on 360 Eats, visit the website here.
