Many businesses have come under scrutiny for what they contribute to the environment, and many have made efforts to reduce their impact on things like climate change and counteract it with eco-friendly practises.
How can food waste in hotels be reduced?
With that said, here are some ideas for hotels to reduce food waste:
Encourage your teams to participate in waste reduction
It is critical that your team participates in the initiative to reduce food waste. They may have useful information about the best ways to reduce waste.
Alternatively, you can provide educational resources and run campaigns on the premises to actively help reduce waste.
Food waste data collected in a kitchen can help drive behavioural change in the kitchen to reduce food waste.
‘ Winnow’s AI system, Winnow Vision, measures what goes into the bin and generates daily, weekly, and monthly reports for the team.
Your employees can only assist you in this mission to reduce waste if you put the tools in place to make it happen.
Read also: Causes Of Food Waste In Restaurants
Examine your current business operations to identify any issues
When it comes to your business operations, it’s always a good idea to assess what’s in place and how it might influence waste reduction efforts. For example, consider how food is stored, how it is prepared, and what happens to leftover food.
Assessing the current state of the business operations can provide an accurate picture of what changes need to be made.
Winnow’s daily, weekly, and quarterly reports provide different levels of granularity for various roles such as chefs, general managers, and operations heads. Identifying these issues is the first step toward taking action.
Read also: Types Of Food Waste In Restaurants
Avoid over-ordering stock that could go to waste with demand analysis
When it comes to stock ordering, it’s critical to make considerations, especially when it’s easy to over-order. Demand analysis is an effective way to combat this.
Take the toilet-roll-gate of 2020 as an example of unexpected demand for certain products.
The same thing can happen in hospitality at times, whether it’s a surge of bookings around the holidays or random events that influence the sale of more products in a short period of time.
Rather than having to order blindly as a business, demand analysis can help you figure out what you need as and when you need it.
Consider how you stock inventory and rotate it correctly
Taking stock inventory on a regular basis is critical to keeping the right amount of produce on hand at all times.
Regular stock checks should be performed to ensure that you are not running out of anything without informing your team; after all, there is nothing worse than being told that a dish is no longer on the menu.
Daily stock takes are sometimes necessary, but they should be done at least once a week to determine how much needs to be ordered for the following week.
Stock rotation is also important because it helps get rid of food that is nearing its expiration date. The FIFO (first in, first out) method of stock rotation can help.
Food should be stored correctly: Food should be stored correctly because the wrong temperature can ruin it if you are not careful.
It is critical for food hygiene to conduct temperature control checks and store all food in secure tupperware or containers. Some food may go to waste because it was exposed while in the freezer due to improper sealing.
Donate any leftover food to charities and community groups
Helping the local community or charities that could benefit from the leftover food on your property is an excellent way to reduce waste. It’s also a great feeling to know that you’re helping your community and those in need.
Some businesses avoid doing this for fear of providing food that has gone bad once it arrives, but this can be avoided if done correctly.
Conclusion
Each year, one-third of the food produced is wasted. According to UK calculations, the hospitality and food service industries generate approximately 18% of annual food waste, with 1 in 6 meals in hospitality being wasted.
Addressing this issue is not only a priority for sustainability, but it also benefits the bottom line by lowering food costs significantly.
Reference
- How to manage and minimize food waste in the hotel industry: an exploratory research, retreived from here
- How do hotels manage food waste? evidence from hotels in Orlando, Florida, retrieved from here
- Stimulating food waste reduction behaviour among hotel guests through context manipulation, retrieved from here
