Food waste reduction: Everything you need to know

The solutions to avoid creating food waste often correlates with the location that the food is wasted. In developed countries like the US, food is considered a nearly unlimited resource. As a result, there are exacting retailer standards on the shape and size of food, meaning there is lots of waste at the agricultural level: Reports show that 25 per cent of apples, 20 per cent of onions and 13 per cent of potatoes grown in the UK are still wasted on cosmetic grounds. Strict aesthetic standards for food and lavish buffets are a part of the reason 40% of food waste in the USA comes from consumer facing businesses. 

In developing countries, poor infrastructure and efficiencies along distribution lines means that a lot of food loss occurs at this stage. By expanding the cold chain - a temperature controlled supply chain - in these areas, an estimated $270 billion could be saved.

From an environmental perspective, food waste reduction targets have been set in accordance with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), halving food waste by 2030.  

There will need to be significant food waste reduction roadmap for this to be achieved across the hospitality industry. 

On a national basis, countries like Denmark have become leaders in food waste reduction. Over 300 locations across the country have labels in their windows that indicate they are actively taking measures to reduce waste.

Movement is happening on a  corporate level as well. Some of the largest companies in the industry are driving this change. For instance, Compass Group - one of the largest contract catering businesses in the world - have created an annual Stop Food Waste Day to help awareness of the global food waste crisis. 

In the hospitality industry, Winnow estimates that at least $100 billion in food waste goes to waste each year. The best way to prevent food waste is through digital solutions that help kitchens to monitor and ultimately monitor their waste. With the data in hand, Executive Chefs and their kitchen teams can reduce food waste in half.

In an interview with Winnow, Fabrice Blondeau, the managing director of F+B Consulting International, stated that digital tools are the optimal solution to reduce waste in commercial kitchens.

To improve this process further, Winnow launched an artificial intelligence product - Winnow Vision - to automate food waste management. This means that that digital solutions fit seamlessly into kitchen environments, and ensure that kitchen teams save time and reduce food costs. For more information, head over to our product page.

In the next section, we look at practical examples of businesses around the world cutting food waste.

Food waste in hotels and casinos

The food and beverage (F&B) facility in hotels and casinos are similar in the sense that for both businesses, the F&B operation contributes a minority percentage of overall revenue. This has meant that traditionally less focus has been spent on optimizing the food operation. 

However, as staff costs rise around the world and food costs look to follow in many regions, hotel food waste has emerged as a key trend for the world’s largest hotel chains. 

This is especially true in luxury hotels that serve one or more buffets each day, and often boast several restaurants across their grounds. Across a portfolio of hundreds of hotels, reducing food waste by over 50% can make a significant difference to the bottom line. For instance, Winnow is helping AccorHotels in properties in Asia Pacific to cut food waste and save an aggregated $880,000.

Reducing business food waste within global corporations

Staff canteens are another significant area of food waste. Each day the caterer only has a rough indication of how many members of staff will be eating. This is particularly true in urban areas where staff have many other lunch options, making it very challenging to prepare food and minimise waste.

Nonetheless, by tracking the waste trends on a daily and weekly basis, staff canteens can considerably reduce waste and align the savings with broader company goals.

Technology giant SAP are one company that are reaping the benefits. With the help of the daily insights on waste food, the team was able to save 10,000 meals in 3 months and is now rolling out to other offices across Germany.

Reducing food waste in schools and colleges

Reducing food waste in schools and across university colleges has similar problems (and solutions) to catering facilities in staff canteens and other catering facilities.

However, there is another angle to reducing food waste in school cafeterias. There is the element of education that can be combined with any food waste practices taking place. Schools can educate students on the scale of food waste, what governments around the world are doing about food waste, and the solutions to tackle the issue.

Reducing food waste on cruise ships

Food waste reduction on cruise ships is particularly important because unlike typical large restaurant operations, cruise ships do not have waste collection services when they are out at sea. Instead, cruise ships rely on their visits into port to dispose of their food waste responsibly.

This is a financial consideration as the waste collection fees at ports can be very high, however cruise companies are also at risk of legal fines if they dispose of food waste at sea.

Cruise companies also have an incentive to reduce food waste because of the high carbon footprint from the sector. With thousands of people on a single ship, reducing food waste by 50% saves thousands of tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). Read more about the trends in cruise sustainability on our blog.