It can’t be denied that producing food waste is a part of running a restaurant. In fact, the past years, specifically 2016, the Australian food service industry produces over 250,000 tonnes of food waste every year and generates approximately 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gasses annually. This isn’t surprising considering that most cafes and restaurants admit to throwing away around 120 grams of food for every plate that they serve, which can easily add up especially for businesses that serve numerous customers every single day.
However, while some types of food waste is unavoidable, it’s important to note that restaurateurs can take some steps to significantly reduce the amount of ingredients and plated food that they waste. If you own or manage a restaurant business, explore this guide and find out how you can cut down on food waste.
Why Avoiding Food Waste Is Important
Many entrepreneurs consider food wastage as part of the business and believe that it’s not something that has to be fixed. However, if you’ll take a closer look, you’ll see that wasting food can actually be detrimental to your business and should therefore be minimised as much as possible.
For one thing, food waste can cost your business thousands of dollars per year. Wasting 120 grams of food per plate might not seem like it’s a big deal, but if you add it up on a montly or quarterly basis, you’ll see that you’re actually throwing away money that you could have used to buy new kitchen equipment, market and advertise your business, or even open another branch. By reducing food waste, you’ll see a huge increase in your savings, and you’ll have more funds to grow your business.
Another reason to cut down on food waste: it allows you to do your part in reducing pollution and protecting the environment. This won’t give you peace of mind knowing that you’re doing your best for Mother Earth—it will also give you a unique selling point that will help you effectively market your business and grab the attention of eco-conscious customers that are looking for like-minded restaurants to support.
What You Can Do to Reduce Food Waste
Cutting down on food waste might seem like an impossible task. However, businesses take many steps that will help them reduce their food waste without spending a lot of time and effort. We’ve listed some of these steps below:
1. Invest in the Right Refrigeration Equipment
Properly storing ingredients and other food items is impossible if you don’t have the right refrigeration equipment. Because of this, you’ll want to inspect every fridge, freezer and cooler that you have in your commercial kitchen and check if it’s functioning as designed. If you have a piece of equipment that’s not working as efficiently as it should, have it repaired by a trusted technician ASAP or consider replacing it with a newer and more effective model.
2. Making Proper Temperature Control a Priority
Buying the right refrigeration equipment isn’t enough—you must also ensure that they are set at the correct temperature. This way, you can create a storage environment that prevents the growth of bacteria and other harmful microorganisms and ensures that your food won’t spoil too quickly. Freezers, for example, must be kept below -18°C, while fridges should be set at 1-4 °C. Hot and cold holding areas should both be kept at safe temperatures to prevent food spoilage (above 63°C for hot holding units and below 8°C for cold holding equipment). Another way to prevent bacteria growth is to cool hot food as quickly as possible and reheating food at least 70°C for two minutes.
3. Keep a Close Eye on Your Stock
It’s incredibly easy to waste ingredients if you don’t keep track of what you have on hand. So, if you’re not yet doing so, start keeping a detailed record of the foods that you have in your storage areas. Specify the type of ingredient, take note of its use-by or best-before date, and write down the amount that you have on hand. Once you’ve completed the list, put it somewhere that you and your employees can easily see and make sure that it can be quickly edited when something changes in your inventory.
4. Rotate Your Stock the Right Way
Teach your employees about the First In, First Out (FIFO) rule, which consists of putting new stock in the back and using older ingredients first so they can be consumed before they go bad. Of course, you must ensure that every person in your team follows this rule.
5. Take Note of Use-By Dates
A large portion of food waste is caused by restaurants throwing out expired food. Fortunately, while you can’t stop ingredients from spoiling, you can take some steps to properly manage your stock and avoid wasting food and money. Implementing the FIFO system is a good place to start since it helps you ensure that older stock won’t go ignored and unused. If you decant products into smaller containers, make sure to label each container with the use-by or best-before date so your staff can use the food before it goes bad. You can also assign a staff member to check use-by dates on a daily basis and update your records accordingly.
6. Avoid Buying Too Much Food
It can be tempting to bulk-buy when something goes on sale. After all, who doesn’t want to take advantage of discounts and save a large amount of money? However, it’s important to remember that you’ll be saving money only if you actually use all of the ingredients that you purchase. To avoid wasting food and money, make sure to purchase only the ingredients that you know your restaurant will be able to use before it goes bad.
Reach Out to Our Team
Food waste might seem like an unavoidable part of running a restaurant, but you can take the right steps to minimize the amount of food that you waste and save your business more money. If you need more tips on reducing food waste, or if you’re ready to replace your refrigeration equipment with newer units that can help prevent food spoilage, make sure to call HE2020. We have a wide range of commercial freezers, fridges, and other equipment that are designed to keep foods at the ideal temperature and prevent them from going bad quickly. Get in touch with us and let our team help you find the ideal refrigeration equipment for your business.