4 Ways your Restaurant Can Reduce Waste (and Save Money)

Your restaurant may literally be throwing away money. Many food service owners do not realize the impact that wasting food has on their bottom line. Over one third of the world’s food supply is wasted annually, amounting to a global profit loss of $750 billion and 133 billion pounds of food.

But profit loss is not only the only factor to consider when it comes to food waste. Restaurants also have to pay large fees to haul away trash, which piles up in landfills and is environmentally harmful. For this reason we’ve developed the below list of simple ways for you to reduce and prevent food waste and ultimately, save your restaurant money.

• Track your Waste:

In business, we track our finances, we track our inventory, we track our staff, but all too often we forget to track our waste. In order to minimize food waste and ensure proper and efficient disposal, it’s important to note what, when and how much food is being thrown out. Tracking food waste allows you to pinpoint operational inefficiencies, which can lead to smarter purchasing decisions and reduced hauling/disposal costs.

“Improved waste tracking and analysis can help restaurants and food service producers generate more than $1 billion in profit through lowered food purchase costs” –ReFED

BioHiTech’s Digesters are a solution that food service operators can use to track their food waste. The digesters, along with it’s cloud platform and Cirrus app, allows managers to see how much food waste is disposed as well as when and who is disposing it to make changes based off this information. The real-time access to this food waste data makes it easier to make quick adjustments.

• Make Data-Informed Changes:

When looking at your operations, always consult the data first. Analyzing food waste data is integral to making informed decisions from what to exclude from your next purchase order, or where you should change your menu.

Data can also help you monitor your inventory as well, helping you be aware of what food you dispose of before it is used.

• Donate:

Before disposing of any food, donate unsold, usable foods to charities, food banks and other organizations for those in need. This will help your local community and reduce food waste significantly.

• Educate:

Teach your employees how to reduce waste and implement company policies for proper waste disposal and tracking. An effective and out of the box way to empower your employees to be accountable for waste volumes and appropriate disposal is through gamification. Location by location competitions specifically can be an effective (and fun) tactic.

It’s equally as important to educate your customers and consumers. By providing information on how to reduce food waste at home and tips for buying smart, you can help make a positive environmental impact even after the food leaves your business.