Sneaky Waste Update: How to reduce condiment waste?
We received several great questions and comments from our recent blog on “Sneaky Waste”! Thank you to everyone that submitted their ideas and comments. Over the next few weeks we will continue to share these with you.
One question in particular got us thinking is what to do about condiment waste. We think of condiments as either a component of our great service to the guests (“We have special dijon ketchup!“) or as a necessary evil (“Just how many artificial sweeteners do really need to carry?“). However you perceive condiments in your operation – most of us agree that these ‘free’ items can be expensive to the operation. Just like napkins – people tend to take more of these than they really need, mostly in your retail setting, and just throw away the unused items. But what do you do about condiments on your patient line?
Question: “We are evaluating condiments on patient trays (sugar, sugar sub and Mrs Dash). We found high waste with these items and are evaluating how to reduce the waste. We have a restaurant style spoken menu but currently do not ask patients for orders on condiments.“ How do you reduce in a situation like this?
Suggestion 1: Add/list these items on the menu. This could help you to reduce the amount of items you carry – (only Equal and Splenda, only ketchup/mustard/mayo), which would help to reduce the amount of dollars tied up in inventory. This option might be a little more time consuming because you would have to add this extra step to your patient line. But – you would get a very accurate accounting of the condiments used, and volume per daypart.
Suggestion 2: Instead of automatically adding these condiments to each tray, have a container of each item on the tray carts. When the trays are delivered – the server/attendant can ask the guest if they want sugar/Mrs. Dash, etc. The condiments can change for each service – jelly and butter for breakfast or ketchup/mustard for lunch – for example. This might save more labor time than having to add these items to a menu and having patients pre-order. But – it might be less accurate than the option above. However, it will greatly reduce the amount condiment waste on the line.
We hope that these ideas will help you reduce waste in your location. And just maybe…this will start a discussion on reducing waste in other parts of your operation.
Do you have any suggestions on reducing condiment waste in your operation? Send me an e-mail: jhancox@leanpath.com
Thank you!
