70% of the Food Waste produced by Hotels and Restaurants is actually avoidable

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 blog I am going to move away from the human side of this problem, and talk about what most motivates business owners: COST SAVINGS.

Stop putting your money in the bin

Putting food in the bin is literally the equivalent of putting your hard earned cash in the bin. More so even, than any other waste type. You have to factor in the following elements:

1. You bought the raw produce at a cost
2. You stored it in your fridges and freezers using energy that also cost you money
3. Then you cooked it, using energy and 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, well, it is a similar thing!!

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 2018 and multiply the total Kg by €3. That is the amount of money you business is putting in the bin.

In the last 3 years I have been working with Hospitality owners and I have seen some businesses putting over €150,000 in their bins. The worst of it is, that it is estimated that 70% of the Food Waste created by the Hospitality Industry is avoidable, which means, these business owners could have saved themselves €105,000 per year.

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?

Reduce Food Waste at your business:

1. Watch your food bin! At different times of the day and different days of the week, find out which is that one item you dispose off the most and take action to either abolish it from your menu or reduce it’s use.

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

3. Create a good stock rotation system within your kitchen

4. Compost as much as possible!

If you want to find out more about Waste reduction in general at your business, and reduce your waste bills, check out our Green Business Online Programme or give us a call so we can arrange a visit to your business.

If you want to get started straight away, here is a click list of actions your business should consider HERE

Raquel