From Atlanta Restaurants Back to Georgia’s Coastline

Inland Foods Partners with Shell to Shore to Expand Oyster Shell Recycling Program

At Inland Foods, sustainability has never been something we view as a trend or marketing buzzword. It’s a responsibility — one that comes with working so closely with fisheries, coastal communities, and organizations that sustain our industry.

That’s why we’re proud to partner with Shell to Shore, a Georgia-based nonprofit that collects and recycles oyster shells for use in coastal restoration projects along the state’s shoreline. Working alongside a network of volunteers, restaurant partners, and community collaborators, Shell to Shore collects oyster shells from across Georgia before curing them and returning them to the coast to help build living shorelines and oyster reefs.

These projects create critical green infrastructure that helps combat erosion, coastal flooding, sea-level rise, and storm surge, while also supporting marine ecosystems and helping preserve the communities, culture, and livelihoods so deeply connected to Georgia’s coastline.

Turning Our Delivery Routes Into Collection Routes

Over the past several months, Inland Foods has been piloting a shell collection program alongside Shell to Shore with restaurant customers along two of our in-town Atlanta routes. The idea is to use infrastructure already in place to remove one of the biggest barriers to oyster shell recycling: getting the shells from the restaurant to where they need to go.

The process is simple, even if the coordination behind it isn’t: participating restaurants separate and save their used oyster shells, and our drivers bring them back to Inland during regular deliveries. From there, the shells are consolidated and picked up by Shell to Shore, where they are cured and ultimately returned to Georgia’s coast for use in future restoration projects.

As the barrels add up week after week, so does the impact. Seeing the volume of shells collected through the program has been an incredible reminder of what’s possible when restaurants, distributors, and nonprofits each use the resources already available to them toward a shared goal.

For us, this partnership represents exactly the kind of sustainability work we believe in: practical, collaborative, community-driven, and deeply connected to the future of our coastal ecosystems.

Thank You to Our Early Restaurant Partners

This pilot would not have been possible without the restaurant teams who were willing to jump in early and help us build the program from the ground up. Fishmonger, Madeira Park, Talat Market, Tio Lucho’s, Ziba’s Bistro & Wine Bar, Bovino After Dark, and Fawn Wine & Amaro Bar (pictured below) were among the first to adapt their kitchen workflows, separate and save oyster shells, and work with our team to figure out how collection could fit into the rhythm of their day-to-day operations.

A program like this takes a lot of coordination behind the scenes — from restaurant teams making room for a new process in already-busy kitchens to our team planning shell pickups around existing delivery routes. These early partners were willing to work through the inevitable trial and error with us, helping refine the process and build a stronger foundation for the program as it grows. We’re incredibly grateful to each of them for saying yes early, working alongside us, and helping prove what’s possible when our local restaurant community comes together around a shared goal.

And none of it moves without the people quite literally moving it. Our Inland Foods drivers collect shells route by route, stop by stop, week after week — incorporating an entirely new process into their daily deliveries and championing the program along the way. We’re incredibly grateful to our drivers, our restaurant partners, and our friends at Shell to Shore for continuing to make this partnership work.

Growing the Program

As the program continues to grow, Inland Foods plans to expand shell collection across additional Atlanta routes, with the goal of eventually incorporating more out-of-town deliveries and restaurant partners throughout the Southeast.