Approximately 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted worldwide yearly due to poor control of waste in restaurants. Are you doing a proper job in your restaurant? You could be losing thousands of dollars a week because of it.
What types of waste can be found in your restaurant?
Purchasing: purchases are a fundamental process for any restaurant. Supplying the restaurant is a key factor in the operation, but it can also mean significant losses if it is not done correctly. By not carrying out a good planning or correct method of purchase, you can purchase more than you need or purchase a product in poor condition.
Storage: one of the important tasks when shopping is to check the merchandise thoroughly, check the expiration date and see that the food is in good condition. Once you do this, store and organize it according to its lifetime. It is also necessary to consider the temperature of each product for its correct storage to prevent it from spoiling.
Preparation: while the cooks are in the process of preparing the dishes, some food is wasted due to incorrect preparation methods, many times this is an issue of lack of training.
Service: in most cases, your clients tend to leave leftovers on their plates. This is normal. However, if the quantity being left is constant and in larger quantities, this could be an indicator of poor portion planning for the dish. The proper amount of food served is imperative; it will lead to lower costs and higher sales.
TIPS to reduce the waste?
Take control of your purchases. It is important to have a record of your suppliers, the day the order is made, the day of the delivery and the state in which the merchandise was received. Keeping track of this will help you a lot with your inventories.
Determine a maximum and minimum stock. This will allow you to control your inventory and know when to make purchases and how much to order to prevent over and under purchasing.
Standardize your recipes. It is important that you have control of all the processes that are done in your kitchen. Standardization is one of the most important aspects to control waste.
Prioritize perishable products. It is important to be aware of your inventory and manage it accordingly- FIFO (First In, First Out).
Think outside of the box. Use raw materials that can be a waste in some dishes’ preparations or that are about to spoil, such as wine or fruit to make other dishes or drinks. For example, if you have a mango that is about to spoil, make a drink with it or use it in a dessert, this will turn your losses into income.
Properly store your products. It may sound very logical, but sometimes we do not stop to give the necessary care to each product, so it tends to decompose faster. It is important to consider the storage conditions of each type of product and the temperature at which it must be to have an adequate lifetime for production.
Create compost as waste control. Converting organic waste into compost allows this waste to return to the environment in the form of nutrients for the soil. This reduces food waste that ends up in landfills and creates nutrient-rich soil to grow more organic produce.
The reduction of waste is possible if the reasons for the waste are known, and joint actions are taken to manage it accordingly. To avoid waste in your restaurant, it is necessary to learn how to manage it. The solution is simple; design and implement structures for your business. This refers to the activities that must be carried out to make efficient use of the necessary supplies to purchase, store, utilize and prepare the dishes, so that it generates the least amount of waste.
It is important to know the waste that occurs in your restaurant, how much is generated and how you can manage it. If it is possible to identify and measure the amount of waste generated, it will be easier to determine the measures to reduce it. If you need advice to turn your business around with strategies and structures that provide control of your waste and the tools to manage it moving forward, let us know. Let us help!
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