If you run a restaurant or are thinking about starting one then you’ve probably thought about what to do with all that food that goes to waste on a daily basis. Restaurant food waste management is a key tool in the running of your establishment and ensures the proper and safe management of this inevitable waste.

1. Performing a food waste audit

In order to grasp how to handle the food waste management at your restaurant it is critical to first have a thorough understanding of the levels of waste you’re currently producing. To understand what food waste collection you need to incorporate into your restaurant start by dividing your food waste into two groups, pre-consumer and post-consumer.

Pre-consumer includes waste that was created in the preparation stages such as peels, roots, vegetables and bones as well as food that was not prepared properly. Basically, any food that never left the kitchen can be considered pre-consumer waste. Post-consumer waste is any and all waste incurred after a patron has dined such as unfinished meals and materials used to provide takeaways like polystyrene containers and plastic cutlery.

Once you have an idea of how much waste is being created in your restaurant on average you can use this to make informed decisions on how to go about your restaurant food waste removal.

2. Stock your kitchen smartly

Once you’ve completed a food waste audit you’ll be able to see what types of food is going to waste. You can also use this information to decide on how to stock your inventory to reduce waste. For example if there are certain products that go bad before your staff are even able to use them all then you should decrease the amount you’re buying and adapt menus accordingly.

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3. Turn your waste collection into compost

If you’ve got enough space for a compost heap, it is definitely a really simple method to getting rid of a large portion of your restaurant food waste. If you’re unfortunately out of luck with enough space on your property to use your waste as compost, reach out to your local community and find out where this compost would best go to use.

4. Use your vegetable oil for biofuel

Vegetable oil in the kitchen is a problem when it comes to getting rid of this waste. These oils can become dangerous over time and pose a threat to the environment if not disposed of properly.

One of the best ways to dispose of this is to recycle it for biofuel. Clean Dot Waste is capable of collecting your excess vegetable oil and ensure that it gets recycled by the right people for biofuel!

5. Food donations

A great way to begin managing surplus food and stock is to reach out to local charities and begin donating to them so they can help those in need. This is a fantastic way to be sustainable and get involved with the local community around you.

Not only is this a highly beneficial way of waste collection, but it helps provide a lot more context and clarity on the hunger issues happening in our country as well as giving us an understanding of what we can do to alleviate the problem.

6. Is your staff involved in restaurant food waste management?

A grassroot issue with restaurant food waste is your staff itself. It’s vital that your staff are trained properly and understand how to minimise waste during prep as well as cooking. During the fast paced environment in the kitchen it’s easy to get overwhelmed and create additional waste.

7. Change your portions

If you find a lot of your waste coming from the post-consumer group, then you might want to consider reevaluating the portion sizes you offer. If people frequently don’t finish their meals or take them home then this could be a sign that your portions are a bit too large. By minimising the portions you send out of the kitchen you can have satisfied customers as well as a reduction in food waste collection.

Conclusion

To end off, restaurant food waste management and restaurant waste disposal is an important cog in the operations of any upstanding restaurant. Not only is it important for you business, but also for the environment and community as a whole. Therefore, as an integral part of a restaurant, seeking out professional management of food waste removal is an excellent idea that can take the fuss out of trying to manage this as well as the 101 other things involved in a restaurant’s operations.