Why is it important to reduce food waste in restaurants?

At a glance:

• How food waste affects restaurants
• Ways to manage food waste for restaurants

Food waste is a growing menace across Australia. A whopping 4 million tonnes of food waste are recorded each year in Australia, and a major portion of that waste comes from the food and hospitality business. Food waste poses challenges to environmental safety, land, air, and water pollution, and national revenue. On top of that, growing food wastage demands the excess loss of finances over operations relating to waste management.

Restaurants contribute to over 33 percent of Australia’s food waste [2] today. This means the food and hospitality business loses a large sum of finances each year through food waste. This forces restaurants to lose a considerable portion of revenue and resources. In Australia, food wastage is one of the major problems every restaurant deals with. It is high time restaurants consider tackling food wastage as an operational strategy for improved finances and operational costs.

If you own a restaurant or any other eatery, reducing waste is a responsibility you should exercise. Doing this will ensure you are playing a part in dealing with the following problems;

Environmental Issues

Food waste is a growing pollution issue today. The food restaurants are known to casually waste, which leads to the formation of greenhouse gases – the major cause of global warming. According to studies, Australian food services generate around 400 thousand tonnes of greenhouse gases every year [3]. This massive problem can be dealt with when food services join hands together and focus on reducing food wastage.

Many restaurants are contributing to food wastage in Australia, and they are barely aware of it. There is a huge misconception about filling lands with organic materials like food. People erroneously assume that throwing food on land helps create compost as they go back to the soil where it initially came from. When food is randomly thrown in landfills, and as it starts to lump over, it starts to degrade and forms methane gas – a greenhouse gas that forms ground-level ozone. Throwing food in a compost system and a landfill are two entirely different things.

Excess Food Expenses

In addition to all the major operational costs – mortgage, staff salary, advertisement, customer service, and others arising in a restaurant business, back-of-the-house expenses account for a huge monetary investment. Growing food wastage in restaurants means a little portion of every dollar invested in kitchen ingredients goes to vain. In the long run, this small portion of monetary loss can mount considerable financial loss for restaurants. To avoid this, restaurants should integrate the practice of reducing food wastage in their eateries.

How to Reduce Food Waste Today?

To resolve the problems arising from food waste, restaurants must understand how they can avoid it. There are several ways a restaurant can reduce food waste, and their benefits are highly appealing.

Keep up a Food Waste Journal

One of the primary steps to avoid food waste in restaurants is to keep a measure of food waste arising from kitchen operations. Merely by tracking food waste, restaurant owners can re-access food usage in their eateries and work accordingly. You can scale back your kitchen operations all while meeting customer requirements if there is excess food wastage in your restaurant. This helps to keep a tab on overproduction which cuts excess expenses going on ingredient purchases.

Develop Special Menu for Excess Foods

Restaurants should encourage their staff on formulating plans for excess food. Predicting customer demand can be hard. When there are excess ingredients in the kitchen for the day, try creating specials based on such ingredients for the coming day instead of dumping them. If the ingredient is still fresh, you should use it effectively.

Donate Excess Food

Donating excess food is beneficial in more ways than one. Primarily, it helps restaurants to manage food waste effectively. Secondly, donating food comes as a positive point in building the reputation of a restaurant. Several charitable organizations accept restaurant foods that are within use-by date, which they supply to those in need.

Avoid over Stocking

Overstocking leads to increase food wastage. Restaurants should only stock food items that regularly go into their menus. Others are just deemed as waste. Buying items in bulk saves you some dollars in upfront purchases, but it can invite food wastage at your restaurant. You can buy fresh ingredients in small-required portions regularly to avoid food waste.

Restaurants can effectively deal with kitchen waste and the problems arising from it by practising these food management techniques. The best burger restaurant in Georgy Hills, Milky Lane is establishing itself as an environmental friendly burger boutique where people can revel in the unique and diverse flavours of some amazing burgers available in Georgy Hills. Milky Lane burgers are known for their amazing taste and customer-friendly services where you can enjoy delectable burgers for friends and family. Let’s enjoy burgers and say no to food waste!