Around the world, at least 1.3 billion tons of food is lost or wasted every year in fields, during transport, in storage, at restaurants and in markets. In rich countries alone, some 222 million tons of food is wasted, almost as much as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, between 30 and 40 percent of food produced in the U.S. goes to landfills. To combat this, the Obama administration last year announced a national goal to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030.
Food-and-beverage operations can cut food waste, help feed the hungry, help the environment, make guests proud and save money.
Katie Laning Niebaum, vice president of communications and media relations for the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C., calls food waste “one of the most important opportunities restaurants have to decrease our environmental footprint and address hunger in America.”
The association is part of the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, which works to increase the amount of food sent to the needy and decrease waste sent to landfills. A solution, Niebaum said, “will take some time and help from everyone: restaurateurs, policymakers, recyclers, composters and waste haulers. No one company or entity can do it alone, but we are committed to working within our industry to make progress.”
Each year, the National Restaurant Association surveys professional chefs on which food, beverages and culinary themes will be trendy on restaurant menus. In its 2015 and 2016 reports, environment sustainability ranked Nos. 3 and 6, and food waste reduction ranked ninth and 19th, respectively.
Restaurateurs can save on operating costs by focusing on food-waste reduction. Companies that participate in food-donation programs are eligible for tax credits, the association notes.
“We always say that you can’t manage what you don’t measure,” Niebaum said, “so if you aren’t accurately tracking and measuring what’s coming in and what’s being thrown out, you can’t build a waste-reduction strategy.”
In addition to the good that saving food does, such efforts have proved to serve as a powerful marketing tool that wins consumer praise and loyalty.
“Today, more and more consumers want to support restaurants that align with their own values,” Niebaum said. “And one of those values is the idea of reducing waste, whether it is waste of resources, packaging, or the most important restaurant ingredient: food.”
Chefs share tips for reducing restaurants’ food waste
There are several ways savvy restaurants can cut food waste.
“As a chef, I always dedicate a minimum of 30 minutes per week at the dish station and encourage my front-of-the-house partners to do the same,” says Mark Sandoval, executive chef at UNLV. “It is educational to see what comes back from guests’ plates, as well as what your staff throws away.”
Being in Las Vegas, Sandoval says, means many diners are visitors and may not be able to take leftovers with them.
“Any time we throw food away, we are essentially throwing away money,” he said.
A simple way to save food is asking customers if they would like lettuce, onion and tomato served with their burgers. “If not, don’t waste it,” Sandoval said.
Chefs should also control portion size, Sandoval said. To avoid waste and maintain consistency, only the most skilled person on the staff should be portioning proteins.
“Proteins are the highest cost of all ingredients in the restaurant,” Sandoval said. “If a skilled person is not able to keep up with the demand, it may make financial sense to purchase pre-portioned proteins. Pre-portioned proteins have no waste and are consistent, but cost more per pound. When you factor in the labor cost of a skilled butcher, plus scraps, it may be a wash.”
One of the most important tasks a chef performs is ordering, which Sandoval says should be done daily to ensure freshness and avoid waste.
“Over-ordering can really hurt one’s food cost,” Sandoval said. “If it goes to waste, you are throwing away money. Many vendors are breaking cases, more now than ever. In many cases it makes more sense to order a few pounds vs. a case. The cost may be higher to break a case, but you don’t end up throwing the product away down the road.”
On the other end of ordering is receiving. All products that have been ordered must be checked in when delivered.
“If protein products are out of temperature, they should be rejected,” Sandoval advises. “If the product is not good, or not at its peak of freshness when delivered, it is not going to get better in your refrigerator.”
Smaller portions in the earlier courses may lead to guests ordering dessert, which is typically less expensive to produce. That means more money for the business.
Lastly, Sandoval suggests finding ways to use everything.
“Here at UNLV, we compost all food waste because we don’t always have the ability to use scraps,” he said. “In many restaurants, scraps are utilized in stocks or other applications, a practice every chef should utilize.”
Robert Ansara, who owns Ricardo’s, a Mexican restaurant that has operated since 1979 in Las Vegas, offers a variety of suggestions for saving food. Among them:
• Engineer menu items to use ingredients more effectively
• Plan and design the menu so items have broader appeal
• Control portions where possible
• Purchase ingredients in quantities that match production
• Log waste
• Compost
• Donate to food banks when possible
• Use leftover raw ingredients for family-style staff meals
• Prepare smaller quantities of items such as gravy, sauces and chilis.
Sandra Kapoor, a professor at the Collins College of Hospitality Management at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, urges restaurants to donate food to food banks, food pantries and food-rescue programs.
She also advises food-service operations to repurpose food before it spoils. For example:
• Restaurants can use day-old bread for toast, croutons and bread crumbs for meatloaf and meatballs, or to coat foods before frying
• Apples, pears or peaches reaching their quality expiration point can be used for sauces, pies, cobblers, crisps, breads, cookies, bars, cakes, ice creams, sherbets or smoothies
• Tomatoes can be used for soups, juices and sauces; potatoes for soups and tops for casseroles
• Zucchini and carrots can be used for cakes, cookies, breads, bars and soups; meat and poultry for soups, casseroles and stews which can be frozen for later use
• Eggs reaching their quality expiration point can be cracked, whipped, and frozen for later use.
The chefs all agree that there are plenty of ways to save food; all that’s really needed to get started is recognition of the problem and determination to do something about it.