Food Waste Intelligence

In December of 2015, the U.S. joined nearly every other nation on Earth in approving the language underpinning the Paris Climate Accord – a landmark moment of global collaboration toward addressing the very real threats of climate change stemming from the build-up of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.

Yet earlier in June, President Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the Accord, thereby joining Nicaragua and Syria as the world’s only non-supportive countries.

At LeanPath, we respectfully disagree with the President’s decision to exit the Accord.  Here’s why:

Food waste reduction starts with prevention—preventing the food waste from happening in the first place is the clear optimal solution from a social, environmental and economic standpoint. And the first step in prevention is measurement—understanding exactly how much food is being wasted and why, so you know where you’re starting from, can identify opportunities for improvement, and can easily track progress over time.

In the ReFED Report, A Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste By 20 Percent, waste tracking and analytics is listed as one of the most effective solutions for food waste prevention by waste diversion potential. For foodservice institutions and restaurants, there is a very compelling reason to act, as we know that “what gets measured, gets managed.” And automated platforms, such as LeanPath, make it easy to track waste, collect detailed data and photos, and take action on your biggest opportunities for prevention.

Food waste prevention efforts have a proven and strong ROI—as much as 10x or more—over a relatively short period of 6-12 months. However, a common challenge many organizations face is how to fund the effort to start, since an upfront investment of time and resources is required to achieve the positive bottom-line impact.

Here we offer 5 tips to spark some creative thinking for your upfront program investment.

For organizations of all sizes:

LeanPath Leaders Meet with FAO Representatives

Earlier this month we traveled to Italy with a multidisciplinary group of graduate students from the University of Pennsylvania’s Organizational Dynamics program as part of a collaborative educational effort to address global food waste. 

Great knife skills--most chefs have them. Knives are the tools of our trade and when put in the hands of skilled craftsman, it is a beautiful thing to watch. I remember watching Iron Chef years back and witnessing Iron Chef Sakai peel an apple with a chef's knife that still amazes me to this day. The years and years it took to acquire that skill is impressive. Knife skills are the fundamental building block of any chef's career. It's the first thing that is taught to students in culinary school and it takes years to become proficient with a knife.

Why are knife skills so vitally important?

• Because people eat with their eyes first and food cut precisely has strong visual appeal.
• Because food needs to be cut uniformly to cook evenly.
• Because proper portioning drives cost and consistency.
• Because safety is top priority--a cook that doesn't know how to handle a knife is a danger to the kitchen and his/her own fingers!
• Because improperly fabricating meat, poultry, fish, or seafood can cost the restaurant  a lot of money!
• Because food that is not prepped properly leads to preventable waste--it is like purchasing product and throwing perfectly good food in the compost bin. 

I can’t count how many times I have walked into a kitchen to see a prep cook just lop off the tops of tomatoes, zucchini, strawberries, and carrots; or haphazardly trim the rind from melons or citrus fruits, without any thought as to how to get the best yield from that product, let alone the amount of waste they are generating. This trim waste just gets thrown into the compost bin and then out the back door it goes--it’s crazy!

Most chefs assume that the cooks they hire have the necessary skills to prep and fabricate product. In many cases, this is not the truth. Cooks need to be properly trained to prep and fabricate a wide variety of produce, meats, poultry, fish, and seafood. It is essential not only for a chef to be concerned with the cost of the avoidable food waste, but also the impact this waste has on the environment as all the resources used to bring that product into the kitchen have also been wasted.

So what can a chef do to improve the knife skills of the kitchen team and reduce the amount avoidable food waste?