If there’s one thing that affects the bottom line of any hospitality business, it is food waste. It’s well known that a waste of food is also a waste of money yet many pubs, cafes, bars and restaurants still do little to rectify the problem. A prime example is running their commercial fridge at incorrect temperatures, leading to food going off well before it should. This leading New Zealand supplier of commercial refrigerators and freezers says regular maintenance is all that is usually required to ensure a unit continues to run at the correct temperature and keep food fresh – yet this simple step is overlooked by many in the hospitality industry. If you’re in this industry, a service check of your commercial fridge is highly recommended. The sooner, the better! But there are other ways to reduce food waste with an audit being at the top of the list.
Simply label three separate bins for the collection of waste from storage, waste from preparation, and waste from customers plates. At the end of each day, weigh each bin and record how many customers you served that day. When you compare the weight of each bin with how busy your restaurant is, you’ll get a great idea of which waste reduction strategies you should be focusing on. For example, if you’re throwing away food that has been stored but not even cooked, then you need to look at how well you are keeping perishables in your fridge or elsewhere in your kitchen. Food that is wasted at the preparation stage might lead you to rethink how you use so-called “scraps”. For example, potato peelings can be deep-fried as a snack that you can add to your bar menu, or leftover cuts of chicken breast can be cooked and put into a salad. Ask your chefs for their thoughts about what can be done in this area. Or, if you’re regularly throwing away a lot of food left on a customer’s plate once they’ve finished eating, portion sizes might need to be reconsidered.
Here are some other tips on reducing food waste:
- Ensure all staff are following a first-in, first-out system by organising your food inventory so that the oldest stock is used first. For example, a produce delivery you received on Tuesday should be used before the produce you received on Thursday. It sounds obvious, but many hospitality businesses do not make it clear which produce came in on which day. It’s up to you to label when each delivery arrived and to instruct your staff on which produce to use first.
- Overordering is another common cause of food waste. It’s not an easy thing to do when you use a manual system so an investment in some inventory management software could be a wise one.
- -Don’t be tempted by discounts for buying in bulk – the money you save at the time of purchase is money you waste when you throw stuff out.
Finally, work with your kitchen team and draw on their past experience in other hospitality businesses. They might be a wealth of knowledge when it comes to ideas for reducing food waste – you won’t access that knowledge if you don’t ask them!
