How to Avoid Food Waste in Hotels and Restaurants

Do you own or run a Hospitality Business? And do you know how much money are you putting in the bin? 

There is a staggering statistic that 70% of the Food Waste produced by Hotels and Restaurants is actually avoidable. While we are putting food in the bin there are millions of people starving in other countries but for this piece we are going to move away from the human side of this problem, and look at it from an angle that motivates the majority of business owners: Cost Savings!

Stop throwing your money in the bin 

Putting food in the bin is quite literally the equivalent of putting your hard-earned cash in the bin. Of all waste types, this absolutely applies to food waste because of the many elements you have to factor in; 

1. You have purchased the raw produce at a cost. 
2. You have stored at your premises in fridges and freezers and therefore using energy that also costs you money.
3. You have then cooked it, using energy as well as staff wages to add to that cost. 
4. And then when the food comes back from your food service areas, or when it is spoiled in your fridges, you pay money for your waste company to take it away. 

What an absolute waste! Forgive the pun. 

In Ireland there is over one million tonnes of food waste disposed of each year. Around 1/3 of this comes from households.  

There are 3 types of food waste: 

• 60% is Avoidable food waste- Plate scrapings, leftovers, gone off fruit and veg and passed its date perishable. 
• 20% is Potentially Avoidable food waste– things like bread crusts, potato skins 
• 20% is Unavoidable food waste– general rubbish such as banana skins and chicken bones 

If I was a hotel or restaurant owner, this would be something I would not let pass me by, no matter how busy I am, no matter how difficult it might seem to sort out this issue. For example, if your staff were taking money out of the till and putting it in the bin, would you not stop everything you are doing and find out why this is happening? 

The real cost of food waste 

Food waste, has an estimated cost of €3 per Kg. If you want to find out the real cost of your food waste, gather all your waste bills for last year, ask your waste company to send you the weight of your food waste for 2021 and multiply the total Kg by €3. That is the amount of money your business is putting in the bin. 

In the last 5 years I have been working with Hospitality owners and I have seen some businesses throwing over €150,000 in their bins. The worst part is that it is estimated that 70% of the Food Waste created by the Hospitality Industry is actually avoidable, which means these business owners could have saved themselves thousands and thousands of euros.

So what is the cost of your own food waste? And with statistics like the above, would it not be worth it to find out? 

How to Reduce Food Waste at your business 

Watch your food bin! A fortnight ago we discussed waste in general at businesses and ways in which the hospitality industry can work towards reducing waste on site. One of the key actions as you'll remember is watching your bins at different times of the day and different days of the week. This allows you to find out what item is the most disposed of for each food service and take action to either abolish it from your menu or reduce its use.  

What else can I do?

• Revise your portion control. Are you serving too much food? Do you offer different size portions on your menus? 

In April we got the chance to speak with zero waste chef - Conor Spacey about how best to design a sustainable menu at your restaurant as well as the our current food systems and supply chain.

If you missed out - watch the full recording here - Conor Spacey Q&A

• Create a good stock rotation system within your kitchen. 
• Compost as much as possible! 

Do you want to learn more about how you can manage and reduce food waste at your business? Check out our Green Manager programme - designed to upskill and prepare members of the Hospitality industry to become Sustainability Managers of the future, learning how to measure, manage and reduce the waste, energy and water of your business!

Or email us on [email protected]

Thank you for reading today!

 The FSG Team 💚