It’s no secret that Americans love to go out to eat. Choosing take out or driving to the nearest food drive always sounds better than working in the kitchen for what seems like hours. Luckily, for those times that a good burger or pizza sounds too delicious to pass up, there are still opportunities to help the world’s poor as restaurants adopt new policies of corporate social responsibility.

Restaurants everywhere are catching on to the notion that they can adopt a policy of corporate social responsibility and use their position in society to help people who are in need. According to an article in AdWeek, Millennials are civic-minded and have more recently demanded that companies and corporations be civic-minded as well by giving back to society. Millennials want to create change, take responsibility for the world and help those who are unable to help themselves.

The 2015 Cone Communications Millennial CSR (corporate social responsibility) Study found that 9 in 10 millennials would drop one brand and replace it with a more socially conscious one. Furthermore, 62 percent of millennials would willingly take a pay cut if it meant working for a socially responsible company. Millennials are dedicated to staying socially responsible in all areas of their lives.

Many people know of clothing brands and large corporations that are donating sums of money or have a one-for-one philanthropic model with clothes, shelter and other essential items. In a similar way, there are now many restaurants that are donating food to hungry people all over the world.

Some major brands, including Panera Bread, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Yum Brand restaurants and Zambrero donate to charitable causes specific to eradicating hunger worldwide. Some restaurants name the charities they are working with right in their mission statement. For example, Malawi’s Pizza serves “pizza with a purpose,” has a Meal for Meal Exchange program and has sent 923,859 meals to orphans in Malawi since its inception.

These are only a few options. The good news is there are many more corporations that care about good causes. Staying educated on corporate social responsibility is the most efficient way to be up-to-date with which corporations are making a difference because those are the ones that should maintain support. The more demanding consumers are of socially responsible corporations, the more they will appear and, as a result, Americans can begin taking more responsibility for those in need everywhere.

– Emily Arnold

Photo: Flickr