For many businesses in the hotel and catering industries, the biggest monetary loss is food waste. BY reducing food waste you save money don’t forget its not just the cost of the food but also there is the cost of waste disposal. By saving money you increase your bottom line and thus increase the chances of many successful years in business.
There are lots of ways that an independent stocktaker can save your business money. In this blog post we share our top tips on how you can save money by reducing food waste;
- Make sure you check food deliveries. Check that no stock is damaged or has short use by dates. Ensure it is kept at the correct storage temperature so it doesn’t spoil. Don’t just check your food delivery to ensure what you have ordered has arrived, instead check it is stock you can use.
- Your customers will agree that quality is better than quantity. Keep an eye on your portion sizes. If plates are constantly coming back into the kitchen with lots of food left on them then check your portion sizes. Research found that over 25% of all diners will leave food at the end of their meal. This will often be salad, vegetables, bread or chips as they see it as an extra part of their main meal that they don’t ‘need’.
- Contact local charities that you can donate leftover food too. While this won’t help improve your bottom line you can get some great PR out of it, you are doing things for your local community and you will be helping people who are in need.
- It is important to anticipate demand, but you need to do this with care. Large batch cooking can be a great way of speeding up food preparation, but not if there is no demand for the food. Batch cooking can save time, but it may not be used before it goes out of date. Therefore it wastes money, food and your time too.
- Do you find that salad and chips are often left on the plates for some meals? Why not take them off as part of the meal and offer them as sides. Offer the meal at a cheaper price as the ‘sides’ are not included, then the diner can choose if they want to chips or salad, or not.
- Think before you chuck it. There are some ways you can use leftover food. For example if you have animal bones these can be used to make gravy. Your vegetable peelings can be used in a stock or day old bread can be used for croutons or breadcrumbs. Look at ways to turn your leftovers into useful food in your kitchen.
- Engage your staff in the process. Think about offering an incentive if they come up with a way of reducing the food waste.
If you are looking for ways to save money in your restaurant or hotel business, call us. We can review your business and recommend ways to make huge savings. With many years experience as stock takers in the catering industry, we know we can help your business.