Tips for food wastage that you can easily implement in your kitchen

One third of food produced globally for human consumption is lost or wasted, which amounts to approximately 1.3 billion tons per year. Food waste’s formidable economic, environmental and social impacts have been recognized at the highest levels of global governance. Everyday restaurants around the world throw away tons of food while death due to hunger still persists. 

The percentage of food waste in fast-food restaurants is about 9.55 % and in restaurants with full service 11.3 % of the total amount of purchased food. Cost of food for the preparation of meals is the second largest expense in the restaurants industry, right after personnel costs. This data confirms that you can reduce these costs by almost 10%. Do you have enough reasons to organize your restaurants waste management? Your goals are to reduce, reuse and recycle! What actions can you start with?

1. Take ownership - identify responsible people for reducing food waste
2. Start with yourself - change your behavior and create a system around managing waste
3. Recycle everything that can be recycled

Top tips to reduce food waste in your restaurant

1. Change your menu:

   Identify the restaurant menu items that usually have the most leftovers and consider reducing the portion size of these menu items. This way, not only do you reduce the quantity of restaurant waste, but also reduce the food cost of the dish. 

2. Make purchases wisely:

   Ingredients often go to waste because you cannot use it before the end of its validity period. Consider the purchase of ingredients in smaller packages.

3. Store fruits and vegetables properly: 

   With proper storage of food, you can extend the time of use. Proper storage includes cleaning fruits and vegetables and storing in a suitable container, in the appropriate place with the obligatory labels with date of storage.

4. Regularly rotate food in the fridge:

   Set the food that should be used first in front of the food that is stored newly. A very convenient way of storing food in the refrigerator is the rule “right to left”. New foods always store on the right side of the fridge, while existing food is moved further to the left. When you take the food for preparation, use the reverse order “from left to right.” This way, your food will always be fresh, while food waste will be reduced.

5. Conduct inventory in the restaurant regularly:

   With the help of restaurant software, you can conduct inventory in a fast manner. You will have insight into the daily-consumed goods, and accordingly identify the need for new purchases in a proper time, not to soon not too late. Some restaurant software give you the ability to correct your stocks and to record expenses, in cases where the goods have to be disposed of as a waste due to improper storage, expiration date or other. If you are doing inventory checks often, you are avoiding the creation of unnecessary goods that often results with spoilage of foods and big financial losses.

Some great results you can expect:

1. Reducing food cost and increasing your revenue
2. Improving foodservice practices in your outlet
3. Positive impact on employee morale
4. Positive impact on the environment

(1) Data issued by the study of University of Arizona