How to cut your food cost by 10% by reducing food waste

According to the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, about 85% of foods in the restaurant industry ends up in the trash. This translates to money down the proverbial drain since money invested in food doesn’t produce profit. Not all restaurants track food waste. The fact is, reducing waste is guaranteed to increase your restaurant net profit. A recent study by the Champions 12.3 coalition found that for every $1 invested in food waste reduction, restaurants can realize approximately $7 of cost savings. In addition to increasing your restaurants profits, it has multiple environmental benefits such as keeping food out of landfills, and even social benefits thanks to charities that fight hunger.

Whether you are looking to increase margins, help the planet or both, here are some ways you can start.

There are 3 types of waste found in the restaurant

• Pre-consumed Food Waste –food that spoiled, expired, customer returns, staff meals, etc.
• Post consumed Food Waste –food left on the plate by customers
• Disposables –Not Food, paper, plastic, etc

Conduct Waste Audits

Without conducting a waste audit, you will not know how much food waste you produce. While its not going to eliminate waste, you will start getting an idea of how much food is being thrown away. Get in the habit of sorting waste every day based on how you dispose of it. Separating paper, plastic, glass, food to compost, etc. Weigh and record all the different categories. You can be as granular or high level as you want to the level that you feel is manageable.
A very useful tool is an automated inventory tracking system that will help you track what’s sold and actually consumed each shift and what products sit until they go bad.

Proper storage can save you

Storing foods under the appropriate conditions is crucial for preserving quality, shelf life and for ensuring they can be used when an order comes in. Starting with your freezer and fridge, make sure the temperature is suitable for the meat and frozen foods you keep in stock. A different temperature level will be needed for vegetables and fruits.

Temperature control is so vital in food safety, quality and longevity of your ingredients. Most staff simply expect the fridge and freezers to operate as expected. Technology has come a long way to help restaurants monitor this important equipment by receiving emails and/or text messages when the temperature is out of range. It’s proven to save valuable inventory time and time again.

When receiving deliveries, pay attention to the labels of products. Check for expiration dates, lot, batch numbers and any special storage requirements.

We are all in this together

You can’t do this on your own. Get your staff onboard, from back of the house to front of the house, everyone must understand their roles and responsibilities and how it affects food cost and contributes to food waste. More often than not, your staff are encouraged by being part of contributing to the success of the restaurant and if not, at least supporting a larger cause such as helping the planet and world food insecurity.

A staff meeting or training class would help remind everyone to adhere to or introduce new recipes, portion sizes, process of food waste audits, systems, etc.

Waste is unavoidable

It is unavoidable but can always be minimized. We can start with the mindset and start instilling a waste reduction culture within the restaurant. Pay attention to your staff, customers and the data that you’ve gathered and there you will find where improvements must be made.