Two good questions to ask are: What is the least popular item on your salad bar?  What’s the most popular?

Least Popular: What doesn’t sell?  Why?  The change of seasons is often the catalyst.  Crunchy items and lightly dressed compound salads are most popular in the warmer months.   Cured meats and cheeses (like antipasti salad) are more popular in winter.  Seasonal changes in produce are also likely culprits.  Example:  tomatoes in the middle of winter are out of season and tend to be pale, unripe and lacking in taste.  Adjust for those seasonal shifts in produce when menu planning on the salad bar.

Peoples preferences also change from season to season.  They tend to crave what is available in their area at the time.  Food guides like Healthy Harvest are great resources to help plan menus with local, seasonal produce.  Check with your produce supplier or broadliner.  Most have a seasonal guide sheet or a link on their webpage that will let you know what’s available in your area.

Most popular: People enjoy these items and very often are sold out by the end of the shift.  Can you add that as a regular item on the rotation?  Or could it become one of the permanent, daily items?  Usually on this list are: roasted tomatoes, beans (black, cannellini or bean salads), poached or grilled chicken or turkey.  Other popular items are spicy croutons, bagel chips, nuts and cured olives.  Adding these items can help boost sales, too.

What about your permanent/daily items?  Have you reviewed those lately?  Are the hard boiled eggs selling as well now as they did 6 months ago?  Bacon bits? Cottage cheese?  Tastes change with new changes in the social diet.  Are people eating more protein or more carbs?  Are they interested in Asian cuisine or Latin flavors?  Ask your staff.  They are on the line every day and can give good feedback.  They hear the guests talking about the salad bar selection.  Not every guest will fill out a comment card, but a sharp staff member will overhear “cauliflower, again?” or “they never have soybeans/tortilla chips/balsamic vinaigrette”.

A little investigating can go a long way.  Tracking items that are either thrown away or saved for later can tell you about peoples eating habits.  Make some adjustments and your customers will be happy – you might even boost sales!

LeanPath coaches speak with clients on a regular basis.  Often we learn new information that can help others reduce waste and we like to share those Hints and Tips with you:

 Avoiding Pastry Waste:

1. Who’s placing the order? Put ordering in the hands of the front-line manager or Chef. Some facilities put the ordering in the hands of purchasing who may not have information to view current sales behavior leading to excessive inventory. ‘On-hand’ levels should be reviewed by front-line manager vs. inventory and daily usage ; the front-line manager/chef can then adjusted the next day’s order accordingly.
2. Keep an eye on the satellite locations to target Pastry waste. Satellite locations are often managed by hourly staff who order to a par level regardless of inventory on-hand. If the location is closed on the weekends, take into account current levels and move product around and adjust par levels down as the weekend nears.
3. Keep pastry offerings uniform for multiple uses.  Purchase the same types of pastries for catering and retail, that way if a catering gets canceled or attendance is below the guarantee the excess pastries can be moved to retail for sale. Be sure to adjust the next day retail orders to account for this extra inventory.
4. Consider alternative uses for leftover pastries.  Donation to a food rescue organization is always an alternative as is turning pastries into other desserts such as bread pudding or cinnamon roll french toast.
5. Get creative with your sales.  Look beyond the usual “Day Old” bin that could erode you next mornings sales and perpetuate the problem of having leftover inventory. Target a “Snack-Time” sale (or “Third Shift Special”) in the afternoon to capitalize on the afternoon snacker, this gives you an extra sales boost in the afternoon without having these discount items cut the next mornings sales of the fresher product. 

 For more tips, return to this Food Waste Focus blog and search the “Tips” tag and remember to subscribe to the Food Waste Flyer Newsletter.  Both contain fresh, real-world insights on food waste management from LeanPath, the experts in food waste tracking systems

LeanPath coaches speak with clients on a regular basis.  Often we learn new information that can help others reduce waste and we like to share those Hints and Tips with you:

 Avoiding Casserole Waste:

1. Review popularity on a regular basis, adjust par levels and adjust cycle menus.  If your tracking shows that waste is high on a certain type, consider making a half pan instead of a full pan of that item.  Also, don’t get cornered by your cycle menu, if the item is not popular, make a change before the next time it’s due for production.
2. Consider your merchandising, a change in vessels could be a big hit.  Move away from large pan production to individual portioning in tart style dishes.  This increases appeal (individual serving vs. slice).  It also helps give better portion control and is easier to batch cook as service dictates.
3. Focus on the seasons and key into the calendar when making the menu.  Comfort food such as casseroles are big sellers as the season turn colder. So don’t just keep the same production levels throughout the year.  As summer approaches, look at the menu and lighten the production load on hearty casseroles. 

 For more tips, return to this Food Waste Focus blog and search the “Tips” tag and remember to subscribe to the Food Waste Flyer Newsletter.  Both contain fresh, real-world insights on food waste management from LeanPath, the experts in food waste tracking systems

These are two great articles from “Food Management” magazine, April 2009.  Andrew recently blogged about these, but here are the links to the full articles.

Green Space: Scaling Back Overproduction: http://food-management.com/segments/healthcare/scaling-back-overproduction-0409/

Strategic Thinking: Always Evaluate the Cost of Doing Nothing:  http://food-management.com/business_topics/equipment/always-evaluate-cost-0409/

The same framework applies to foodservice.  If we want low wait times and broad selection, it forces the operator to have a lot of food staged all the time, leading to high waste.   If we’re willing to wait a little while, operators can prepare many items to order, without creating a lot of waste.  Or, if we prioritize waste reduction and wait time, we need to have a limited menu so the operator produces a limited range of items in sufficient quantity.

Most buffets are designed around delivering broad selection and low wait time, which means they are more susceptible to high food waste.  Is the buffet a foodservice concept who’s days are numbered as society and costs demand we reduce waste?  I doubt it -but I do think operators will be compelled to merchandise more conservatively and be creative to reduce waste.  Once they make it a conscious effort, they will find that careful balance right in between all three dynamics, wherein food waste, wait time and selection will all be reasonable.