Each year, approximately 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted worldwide. And the food service industry is the most affected by this problem. Whether it is in the collective or commercial catering, food still consumable that could have been offered to charities or given to employees nevertheless fills the garbage cans... The figures of food waste are alarming!
Fortunately, the restaurant industry is increasingly aware of this and is making changes to reduce its negative impact! By reducing waste, your restaurant can not only position itself as a committed establishment and contribute to change, but also save money on inventory management.
Discover 8 ways to reduce waste in your restaurant and enhance your establishment's commitment while limiting your losses!
What are the solutions to fight against food waste?
Fighting against food waste only brings benefits: the optimization of your costs, the image that your restaurant reflects and of course the safeguarding of natural resources.
Here are some concrete solutions to help you fight against food waste!
1. Avoid over-consumption: offer different menus
Why not start by reviewing the menus you offer?
By optimizing these, save money by buying your products in bulk, reduce the ratio of your items in stock and reduce food waste due to spoilage.
Another idea is to offer reduced menus, daily specials or to have a regularly changing menu. Many alternatives are possible!
Here are some other concrete examples to inspire you:
- Reduce your recipes to 2 or 3 different appetizers, entrees and desserts instead of offering many dishes in your establishment that are more difficult to store and manage.
- Offer a menu of the day or dish of the day, which highlights your seasonal products. This allows your regular customers not to get tired of your menu, and to reduce waste by buying and cooking fresh products!
- Why not offer an anti-waste menu or dish? Be original and reduce food waste in your restaurant. Seduce your guests who are sensitive to this cause. It could be a homemade fruit pie with fruit ordered in excess, a ratatouille with unused vegetables from the day before or improvised tapas with food ordered in excess. It's up to you to be creative every day!
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2. Optimize your inventory and supply chain management
Make smart purchases and plan ahead
Planning and smart purchasing are other effective strategies for reducing your restaurant's waste. By purchasing ingredients in this way, you ensure that they meet your establishment's demand and are not overstocked.
Implement effective inventory management
Reducing food waste requires effective inventory management. To prevent food from going bad, it must be stored properly. Implementing a system to accurately forecast food orders, whether manually or using digital technology (e.g., predictive ordering technology), provides more accurate data and better control of your kitchen, ultimately resulting in less waste (and more savings).
Use short circuits
To avoid wasting food, why not reduce the steps involved in sourcing your food? You can, for example, buy your fresh fruits and vegetables from a nearby farm, from a small producer selling his products at the market, or even, if you can, have your own vegetable garden or chickens for your eggs. This originality could allow you to attract new customers, but also to retain your current guests.
To go further on customer loyalty: 5 tips for building customer loyalty in the restaurant business
3. Say no to expired food
One solution to avoid wasting your food is to use apps like KitchenPal. Its goal? Say goodbye to your jar of fresh cream or your butter plate that has been spinning in the fridge! These apps are there to help you avoid this kind of waste.
Their use remains simple. You just have to register your products and their expiration dates. To do so, you just need to scan the barcode of the items and the app will automatically retrieve the data! And that's it: you just have to consult the application daily to check your goods.
For each food item recorded, you can mark whether you used it before the end date or whether you threw it away. This creates a "waste report" that shows for each month the percentage of products thrown away.
Of course, marking each date manually takes time, but in the long run, it's an investment since it allows you to save money while doing something important for our planet.
4. Use anti-waste applications
How about combining :
- waste reduction,
- new source of income,
- new customers,
- and a better reputation for your restaurant?
Applications such as Too Good To Go have been created and are there to offer you all these advantages! Their goal? To save unsold food! Their principle? Connect consumers, but also restaurant owners in search of more affordable dishes and ingredients.
Here is how the Too Good To Go platform works:
- You offer your unsold goods on the application at low prices;
- Users order the dishes of their choice and pick them up directly at your establishment.
What do you earn?
- Money that you would not have earned, because you would have had to throw away those commodities;
- You are introducing your restaurant through the app to customers who might never have come!
- And above all, you are doing something for the planet.
These foodtech applications are therefore a great way to attract new customers while turning your unsold goods into regular income
5. Offer the doggy bag to your customers
It seems rather obvious, and yet, the doggy bag method is one of the simplest ways to avoid food waste! It has been made mandatory in France in July 2021.
This solution allows guests to take their uneaten leftovers with them. Not only does this allow them to finish their meal the night or the next day by reheating it, but it also offers you the advantage of not throwing away food that has not been used. Even if there is no guarantee that customers will finish their meals at home, the doggy bag is still the most feasible solution for restaurants!
Our tip: print your restaurant's logo on the container to bring your brand to your customers!
6. Donate your unsold goods to associations
Have you ever thought of donating your unsold food to local associations?
Whether they work to help the homeless or are food recovery programs, there are many! These actions will help those in need in your community, and will greatly reduce your food waste. In addition, your restaurant will enjoy a positive reputation and attract more diners as more and more consumers are sensitive to food waste.
Donating food to charity is more sustainable than throwing it away. Institutions can now easily donate unused food to many organizations. Why shouldn't you?
7. Involve your team
Another point, which should not be neglected, is to involve your team!
- Designate one or two food waste reduction "champions." These staff members play a critical role in bringing food waste reduction to the forefront of operations.
- Empower your entire team by raising awareness! Discuss food waste and its impact on the environment during daily meetings, training sessions, casual conversations, and especially during new employee onboarding.
- Celebrate your team's successes when they achieve their goals. Participating in reducing waste is an important contribution to a global cause.
8. Turn your food into compost
Finally, if you can, compost your natural waste instead of throwing it in the garbage. All foods, except meat, fish and dairy products, can be reused, including fruit and vegetable peels, old baked goods, cereals, coffee grounds and tea bags! This reduces the amount of food waste that ends up in landfills.
The positive impacts of the law against food waste
The 2016 anti-waste law came about with the goal of reducing food waste in restaurants. What about the results of the latter? Well to tell you the truth, they are pretty conclusive!
Only 18 months after its launch, the momentum is taking hold and the first results are conclusive: the food collected jumped from 36,000 tons to 46,000 between 2015 and 2017. This represents no less than 10 million meals!
And it has even inspired other countries to follow suit, such as Italy, Finland and Peru!
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Is food waste a cause close to your heart? Contact an Innovorder consultant and find out how digital technology can effectively help you limit your food waste by improving your inventory management!
