Food Waste Focus

  This fall Cal Dining launched a food waste prevention project in conjunction with Stop Waste. Using LeanPath systems Cal Dining has seen a significant reduction in waste. By the end of fall semester they achieved a 35% reduction in pre-consumer (kitchen) food waste According to Associate Director of Residential Dining, Chuck Davies “Once you [...]

Gonzaga Dining just launched the LeanPath program in July. Using LeanPath Zag Dining plans to keep food waste out the landfill and save money in the process. They even produced a video that shows employees learning about the program. This summer the LeanPath system has been embraced by a number of universities throughout the country. [...]

Starches a sticky issue When starting a tracking/prevention program, it’s often the starches that are one of the highest waste items. Why? Starches (pasta, rice, potatoes, etc.) are an accompaniment to most dishes, thus are often produced in bulk while more “expensive” center of the plate items are more closely monitored.  It’s often not till we start tracking these [...]

Over the past few years the concept of trayless dining has swept across the nation. The majority of the foodservice venues that go trayless are college and universities with all-you-care-to-eat dining operations. The simple act of removing the tray prevents countless pounds of food waste and other environmental impacts as students grab only what they [...]

No one wins when foodservice operations waste food.   Not only does the waste consume scarce financial resources and create adverse environmental impacts, it also takes food out of the system that might otherwise feed hungry people. The US Environmental Protection Agency lists “feeding hungry people” as the second highest strategy for handling food waste (one [...]

Today Sodexo Campus announced preliminary results from their food waste tracking pilot program. The early findings are strong, showing almost a 30% reduction in pre-consumer food waste as a result of daily food waste tracking. Sodexo partnered with LeanPath on this initiative. deploying LeanPath food waste tracking tools.  Eight college and university sites have been [...]

Following in the footsteps of several colleges and universities, Pomona College has launched a food waste tracking initiative this fall in partnership with Sodexo, its foodservice management partner. Pomona is participating — along with seven other institutions –  in a Sodexo pilot program to reduce pre-consumer food waste.  Each operation measures all pre-consumer food waste [...]

The campus newspaper at Cal State University Monterey Bay (Seaside, CA), recently reported on Sodexo’s efforts to track pre-consumer food waste at the main student dining center. Using LeanPath automated tracking tools, the university is developing a complete profile of the food being waste in order to drive change that leads to prevention in the [...]

Sodexo recently announced a Stop Wasting Food Campaign: Today Sodexo expands its commitment to building a better tomorrow for the planet and its people with the launch of “Stop Wasting Food”, a campaign with one simple goal: Winning student support for cutting food waste to curb climate change. It’s exciting that this campaign is rooted [...]

The problem:  Take-out customers place a unique demand on foodservice operations, requiring single-use packaging which costs operators big dollars and leads to extensive waste compared to reusable alternatives. For years there weren’t many good solutions to this problem. The good news: Some operators (specifically, those with repeat customers and warewashing capabilities) can reduce this take-out [...]