Easy Ways To Cut Food Waste Inside Restaurant Kitchens

There are several ways hotel restaurants cut down on food waste, including reducing the size of the portions, stop offering free bread and butter, and using technology to monitor food waste for the kitchen staff.

Stop offering free bread and butter

The Red Tavern, located at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco in Portland, decided to reduce the amount of waste serving bread and butter. They charged a small fee for bread and butter instead of offering it for free. They found that they used 22.5 fewer pounds of dough each week and 65 fewer pounds of butter. These items often end up in landfills and produce greenhouse gases. Other ways the restaurant stopped wasting bread was to use leftover bread in bread pudding and making French Toast.

Reduce & Reuse uneaten food

Many hotel restaurants give food away to local charities to reduce food waste. However, many hotel kitchens can reuse fruits and vegetables by pickling them for use in cocktails, and cold-pressed juices. Also, hotels like Fairmont Hotel in Washington D.C. cut down food waste by reducing buffets and switching to single plate meals. Their chefs work with meeting planners and composts uneaten food to turn it into fertilizer.

Measuring food waste with tech

Trash cans and recycling bins are an essential part of a good recycling program for a hotel restaurant. By adding tech like Winnow and Leanpath, hotel restaurants can further reduce food waste. These tools measure and monitor food ingredients used in cooking, reducing food waste by 50 percent. The Winnow system has smart technology that attaches to the food trash cans or recycling bins and measures and calculates food waste.