According to figures from FoodSave it is estimated that food and hospitality sector businesses throw away £10,000 worth of food a year. You have to pay for the disposal of this waste so therefore, reducing this waste can lead to significant financial as well as environmental savings.

Waste comes from one of three areas

1. Spoilage – This is produce that has gone off or has somehow become contaminated and cannot be used.
2. Prep – As the name suggests this is food waste that occurs as part of preparing food, eg. vegetable peelings and meat trimmings. It also covers mistakes in cooking and also food that has been prepared but never served.
3. Plate – This is food that has come back from from the customer, either as a complaint or they were unable to eat it all.

In order that you can reduce your waste you firstly you must measure it. In order to do this you will need to measure it over three or four days. You will need to have a bin for each of the three waste areas and then weigh the waste each day.

Once you have the figures you can multiply this by the cost of removing this waste by your waste contractor.

Now you are in a position to look at ways of reducing this waste and to come up with an action plan. Once your action plan is in place your should regularly repeat your measuring exercise and monitor the results.

Here are a few tips on how to reduce your waste

• Build awareness of food waste into your staff training
• Plan Monday’s bar menu based on Surplus Items form the Sunday Roast.
• Offer menu items in different size portions.
• Reduce the plate size.
• Offer “Doggy” Bags or Boxes. If you get printed Bags and Boxes then they also become an advertising medium for your business.
• Consistent Portion Control is important. Have a check list for each menu item and a Picture so that the kitchen staff know how each dish should be served.
• Have a menu that can be easily changed. A “Specials” board is good for this as you can put items that are slow moving on them.
• Have a seasonal menu
• Continually Rotate Stock using the FIFO (first in First Out) principle. Put new stock behind old stock.
• Do regularly inspections of fridges and stocktakes to make sure ingredients are used up before they spoil.
• Monitor the sales, so that you can identify slow moving dishes. Then rework your menu.
• Consider installing a food digester.

There are loads more ideas, why not share them with us, and we can all help reduce the amount of food waste that our industry produces and make it more sustainable.