Minimizing Food Wastage: Sustainable Practices for Restaurants
According to the Green Restaurant Association, one restaurant can produce between 25,000 and 75,000 lbs of wasted food per year.
Food waste isn’t just bad for the environment; it’s also a waste of money. The good news is that there are a few ways you can reduce food wastage in your restaurant that customers won’t even notice. This article aims to highlight practical strategies and insights that can help you cut down on food waste while maintaining the quality and consistency your customers love.
Serve Smaller Portions
Portion control isn’t just a tactic for people on diets. It can also help restaurants reduce food wastage.
Oversized portions are one of the biggest drivers of wasted food in the restaurant industry. According to Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab, diners leave 17% of their restaurant meal uneaten, on average. If you’re telling yourself that goes into doggy bags, stop. Cornell also found that more than half of edible leftovers don’t get taken home.
That means step one is probably reducing the size of your portions. Take a few weeks to audit the plate waste data, broken down by dish. This will help you determine what the ideal portion size would actually be.
You should also consider different portions of the same dish for lunch versus dinner. People tend to eat less at a mid-day meal, and it’s more complicated to take home leftovers from their lunch break.
Portion control is a good first step because it’s low-hanging fruit. It’s easy to implement without making deeper changes, as is often required with menu planning.
Make Changes To Your Menu
Between 4 and 10% of the food you purchase is wasted before it even reaches the consumer, often through food spoilage.
One way that restaurants accidentally waste food is by planning their menu around dishes but not ingredients. When most food items get put into multiple dishes, you’ve hedged your bets against spoilage. You can get the benefits of ordering in bulk while minimizing food wastage.
Another way to adjust your menu for reduced waste is to give customers more choices, especially when it comes to sides. This ensures they only end up with food that they’re more likely to eat rather than something that just came with their meal.
Give to Those in Need
Food rescue operations that cater to restaurants and retail operations are increasingly common across the country. Some offer regular pickup for your convenience. Look for options near you.
Even if you don’t have any specialized organizations in your local area, non-profits like shelters or food kitchens may be able to take ingredients or completed dishes off your hands. It’s a better end than the dumpster.
Don’t Lose Sight of Food Safety
As a restaurant manager, you have a lot of competing concerns to worry about at once, and you have to juggle them all. For example? You can allow your sustainability efforts to compromise the safety and health of your guests.
That’s why it’s a good idea to earn your Food Safety Manager Certification and renew your training every few years. You’ll reinforce your understanding of food safety issues, regulations, and techniques, learn how to keep your customers safe and happy, and still reduce food waste!
Our ANAB-accredited Food Safety Manager Certification course includes online proctoring for your national certification exam. That means you can complete the entire process from the comfort of your own home! Enroll today.
