Halfsies is a social initiative that aims to tackle three issues – food waste,obesity and starvation. The US-based company set up a programme thatinvites restaurants to partner with it and offer half portions of selected disheson their menus, identifying them with the Halfsies logo. When a customerchooses to order one of these dishes, their portion size is cut down, yet theystill pay the full amount. The difference goes towards fighting hunger -predominantly in local communities but also in developing countries.

A while back we wrote about the ‘Half for Happiness’ campaign in Brazil,where a supermarket chain sold half portions of fruit and vegetables fora similar cause. The great thing about these ideas is that they put the issuesin question at the forefront of the consumer’s mind and offers them the choice tomake a difference right at that crucial point of decision-making, be it duringfood shopping or ordering in a restaurant. We hope to see the campaign takeoff when it launches in Austin and New York this year.