Food Waste Intelligence

After a lengthy Covid-related break, Leanpath was pleased to join numerous colleagues, partners and food system changemakers for the ReFED 2022 Food Waste Solutions Summit in Minneapolis last week.

We would like to share our congratulations to the ReFED team for an expansive, exceptionally well-curated session that covered multiple sectors and themes (consumer change, climate, capital, DEIJ, health, innovation, etc.) while underscoring the need for urgent action to halve food waste in accordance with the 2030 United Nations’ goal.

The action focus at the summit was clear. Upon entering the venue, participants were greeted with several inspirational messages on large banners drawing from the ReFED Insights Engine and the Roadmap to 2030. One message reminded everyone that “Food waste is a solvable problem. Here’s how to do it.” Another noted, “No Time. No Food to Waste. What actions will you take to promote the key insights and learnings from the Summit?”

In keeping with that inspirational framing, below are five (non-exhaustive) key takeaways from the summit.

Your kitchen is nearing the end of a busy service and it’s been a long day. Your culinary team is short staffed. Everybody is drained and looking forward to heading home. But there’s still food to be served, and breakdown and clean up still have to be done. 

There are many food waste critical control points within a kitchen: the end of service is one of the most important. What happens in this short span of time, when staff are often distracted, can have a large impact–positively or negatively–on your food waste prevention efforts. 

The key to avoiding this excess waste is to have a plan for the end of service and communicate it to the culinary team. Here are the key elements of a waste-aware end-of-service plan.

Six years ago, recognizing the need to drive increased focus on the global food waste challenge, Leanpath partner Compass Group launched an educational campaign designating the last Wednesday in April as Stop Food Waste Day.

Coming just days after Earth Day–with this year’s theme of “Invest in our Planet”–the timing couldn’t be better, because reducing food waste is one of the single most effective levers that the world has to transform the food system. It also is key to accelerate progress toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and stem climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Today, however, it is hard to ignore the financial burden the foodservice industry, and consumers in general, are facing. Global food commodity prices hit an all-time high in March following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

Stop Food Waste Day 2022 is a good time to remember that while food waste prevention is one of the most actionable initiatives kitchens can do for the environment, it is also one of the most impactful initiatives for a kitchen’s bottom line.

Hello everyone and happy Earth Day. I'm Andrew Shakman, Co-Founder and CEO Andrew Shakman.

I have one simple thought and request for you as we collectively reflect today on the changes needed to sustain our planet.

My request: please don’t underestimate the importance of food waste.

When Earth Day was founded 52 years ago, food waste prevention was not a central concern. But this year, the newest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change references food waste 125 times.

And there’s a reason for that.

The foodservice operation at Mt. San Antonio Gardens, a retirement community in California, is run by Sodexo, and serves 1,500 covers a day with buffet and tableside service. The kitchen team, led by General Manager Jack Forrest, began using Waste Watch Powered by Leanpath to track and prevent food waste in 2020. They’ve already prevented 56 percent of their food waste.