Food Waste Intelligence

The University of Rochester in New York State has 14 dining locations operated by the contract management firm Harvest Table Culinary Group. The program has been run for 16 years by Senior Executive Chef Tony Pignagrande.

The university began tracking and preventing food waste with Leanpath in 2017, leading to a reduction in food waste of 46 percent, and helping the team achieve two corporate goals of conserving resources and reducing carbon emissions.

Sodexo has deployed Leanpath at over 200 sites across the UK leading to the prevention of 280 tonnes of food waste, in line with its pledge to cut food waste across its organization by 50 percent by 2025. That puts Sodexo ahead of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal to halve food waste globally by 2030.

Reducing food loss and waste contributes significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Sodexo's focus on food waste forms part of the organization's commitment to reducing its carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2025, supporting its journey to a net zero world.

September 29 is the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. Leanpath is proud to have played a role at the United Nations in creating this designation, now in its second year.

In recognition of this important day, Leanpath CEO Andrew Shakman offers a state of the global food waste fight in this two-minute video. Between one-third and one-half of global food production is still lost or wasted. At Leanpath we understand that the fight against food waste is winnable. We see it every day in kitchens around the world. 

But now is the time for broader action. Watch Andrew’s video for more.

Preventing food waste—actually stopping it from being created in the first place—is the most financially and environmentally effective solution available to foodservice organizations. But when edible excess food still occurs and can’t be repurposed internally, donation is the next best thing. 

Leanpath Trackers have always allowed users to identify excess food going to donation. And to provide better insights into those donation activities, we are excited to announce the release of the new Leanpath Donation Dashboard. The Donation Dashboard is a streamlined view of your donation data, displaying key information about your operation’s excess food generation, and its available now for Leanpath users.

In the foodservice industry, the use of plastic sometimes can’t be prevented. Much of the food we purchase and utilize in our operations come packaged in plastic and we use plastic in the operation to preserve the food we purchase and serve. But plastic waste is one of the fastest growing problems for the environment. It is estimated that by 2050, the weight of plastic in the ocean will surpass the weight of fish.

With this in mind, it is important not only for individuals to reduce their plastic use, but for foodservice operations to lead by example by reducing the amount of plastic generated in the workplace. Many large companies like Starbucks, IKEA, and Disney have already committed to eliminating single-use plastic waste in the near future, and we expect many others will follow suit.

The good news is that by preventing food waste, you can also reduce plastic use. And many of the habits Leanpath clients have developed to track food waste can be used to track and prevent plastic waste.

Here are five tips to help reduce plastic waste while at the same time reducing your food waste.