Restaurants and Foodservice

Restaurants and Foodservice

Total Surplus Food  in 2023 by Restaurants and Foodservice


See more in the Insights Engine
See more in the Insights Engine

Optimize The Harvest

  • Encourage produce distributors to create innovative purchasing models, such as whole-crop purchasing, to ensure full utilization of product grown.
  • Establish advance purchase agreements with local growers to secure necessary products while helping farmers prevent overproduction and food loss.
  • Source ingredients made using circular economy principles, such as products crafted from upcycled or surplus ingredients.

Enhance Product Distribution

  • Encourage distributors to use technology innovations that streamline product movement, such as intelligent routing, temperature monitoring, and early spoilage detection.
  • Partner with local suppliers, food hubs, or surplus recovery networks to streamline inventory distribution and redirect excess food to alternative markets.

Refine Product Management

  • Employ dynamic pricing options for end-of-day sales, such as late happy hours or using markdown alert apps.
  • Implement technologies to improve demand forecasting and minimize overproduction.
  • Alter client-supplier contractual obligations that generate waste and overproduction (e.g., contracts that stipulate that all hot dishes must be available for the full-service period).
  • Utilize innovative packaging and storage solutions to extend the shelf-life of perishable products and reduce the need for over-purchasing.
  • Improve inventory labeling and storage practices to maximize freshness and shelf life.
  • Use smart scales and predictive analytics to optimize just-in-time cooking, ensuring enough food is prepared for service while minimizing overproduction.
  • Implement automated kitchen systems to minimize human error and reduce waste by enabling precision plating, as well as accurate food preparation and cooking.

Maximize Product Utilization

  • Implement low-waste menu design solutions, including smaller menus, product repurposing, and whole-product utilization.
  • Use left-over ingredients through in-house repurposing practices and consider partnerships that seek large-volume byproducts (e.g., citrus peels, coffee grounds, etc.) as input source for upcycled products.
  • Design or implement standard training curriculums and incentive structures to encourage best practices and adherence to solutions like careful trimming, menu design, and food safety.
  • Partner with upcycling companies to transform kitchen byproducts into new ingredients, creating opportunities for menu reintegration, co-branding, and storytelling around sustainability.

Reshape Consumer Environments

  • Discourage plate waste by reducing portion sizes and/or offering customers flexibility in portion sizes, sides, and à la carte options.
  • In buffet and cafeteria settings, introduce techniques to encourage people to take smaller portions, such as trayless dining, smaller plates, and pay-by-weight pricing.
  • Incorporate signage, menu design, and staff training to educate and encourage customers to take only what they need, reducing leftover waste.
  • In K-12 food programs, encourage less waste through offer versus serve, share tables, menu design, and longer lunch periods that occur after recess.
  • Highlight dishes made with upcycled or ‘imperfect’ produce to normalize food recovery efforts and engage customers in sustainability.
  • Provide easy, eco-friendly takeout options to encourage guests to bring home leftovers instead of letting food go to waste.
  • Provide discounts for customers who finish their meals, opt for smaller portions, or bring their own reusable containers.
  • Set up well-labeled composting and recycling bins in dining areas to encourage customers to properly dispose of food waste and packaging.

Strengthen Food Rescue

  • Establish relationships for collection of extra food for donation, either directly with organizations or through matching software solutions.
  • Coordinate across the sector to develop shared economies for idle assets, such as cold storage and transportation, to expand access at lower cost and resource impact.
  • Scale existing donation programs through enhanced communication between food donors and food banks, and implementing coordination and matching software solutions.
  • Implement staff training curriculums regarding donation liability protections and donation best practices, such as storing and packaging procedures.

Recycle Anything Remaining

  • Collaborate with systems players to demonstrate demand for feedstock, generate consistent inputs, and incentivize investment in recycling infrastructure.
  • Partner with local waste hauling companies that specialize in waste diversion services to ensure that food scraps and other waste are properly recycled or composted.
  • Partner with vendors that provide onsite digesters or other food waste management units, along with services to responsibly handle any byproducts, ensuring they are diverted from landfills, sewer systems, and wastewater treatment plants.
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