Abstract: There is disclosed a method of eliminating waste in the delivery of a metered amount of bulk food from a manufacturing outlet to a customer in a delivery area. One or more stand-alone micro-retail units may be sited at outdoor locations in the delivery area and may each comprise a weatherproof housing sheltering multiple food silos. Each food silo may store an intermediate capacity of the bulk food item and be configured to dispense the metered amount through a silo output and through a food dispenser. A refill hatch may be disposed in a wall of the housing above and for each silo, connecting to an inlet of the silo. A vending interface of the retail unit may alert the manufacturing outlet, by a level indicator, of a low storage level of the dry food item and thereby trigger a delivery of the bulk food in an intermediate bulk compartment.