Food Waste Focus

A key part of pre-consumer waste reduction is tracking and categorizing your waste daily. Like reconciling the cash drawer, you can’t just do it every so often and assume that it’s the same every other day. By tracking daily you will begin to identify day-of-the-week trends. Following are a few lessons learned from LeanPath clients. [...]

Laramie County Community College (LCCC) began using the LeanPath System in late August 2012 to track all of its food waste across dining, daycare, catering and the coffee shop. LeanPath sat down with Chef Rueben Sandoval to hear about how they’ve been using the system to reduce food waste. Tell me a little about your [...]

Looking for creative ways to cut down on food waste? Our field trainers share some best practices from the LeanPath community. Transform batch cooking into made-to-order. Too often, batch cooking means “one or two big batches.” This always leads to food waste because you can’t match production to demand. Cook in smaller portions, with the goal of [...]

Northern Arizona University (NAU) began using the LeanPath System in late June 2012, installing automated tracking systems in both of their dining halls. LeanPath sat down with executive chef Timothy Cunningham to learn more about their experience with the system and changes they’ve made to reduce food waste in their kitchens. Tell me a little [...]

Chef Jared Prows has been executive chef at St. Mary’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Grand Junction, Colorado, for three years. St. Mary’s Hospital is part of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System (SCLHS), a non-profit, faith-based system with 16 locations. They currently utilize the LeanPath Food Waste Tracking System at seven [...]

Last month I had the opportunity to write an article that appeared in the December issue of Food Management Magazine. The article, entitled Steps to Cut Pre-Consumer Food Waste, spoke to many of the strategies our LeanPath clients are practicing each and every day to significantly reduce their environmental footprint and boost their bottom line. [...]

In Part 1 of this series, I explored the merchandising pressures that many times equate to more food waste. In this second article of the series, I’ll look at food safety protocols and how these critical requirements interact with food waste reduction efforts. Before going any further, I want to make one thing clear: food [...]

Most foodservice operators throw away 4-10% of the food they purchase before it even reaches a plate. What are the drivers behind all of this waste? When we took a closer look, we uncovered some of the common pressures. In this article, I’ll take a closer look at one of them: merchandising. More is better [...]

Ongoing, consistent food waste tracking is the best way to identify opportunities, make adjustments and reduce food waste. However, a good first step on this path to prevention is a food waste audit. Typically conducted over a short period of time, an on-site audit involves weighing and tracking all waste to get a “snapshot” of [...]

Have you examined your packaged entrée waste lately? If not, it’s probably time to take another look. Here are a few tips from the LeanPath coaches to get you started. Review production at each site. If you have multiple satellite operations review them separately to best determine their product mix. A one size-fits-all production approach [...]