Food Waste Intelligence

The fight against food waste is not a sprint; it’s a multi-act play, and from my perspective, it’s clear we’ve entered a critical "Second Act." This current phase demands a renewed focus on practical solutions, smart technology, and the enduring business case for waste reduction. As I recently discussed in an interview with The Spoon, we're well beyond the initial awakening, but not yet at the finish line.

Based on LeanPath data, colleges and universities generate between 4-10 percent pre-consumer food waste (by value, as a percentage of food purchases). Post-consumer food waste--or plate waste--is often equivalent to the pre-consumer waste, suggesting between 8-15 percent total food waste.

We all know employees are critical to our success, influencing perceptions of our brand, controlling the quality of our food and defining the overall guest experience. But often operators struggle with staff engagement, finding it difficult to get people to tune in. This isn’t just unfortunate, it’s dangerous.

Food waste: for some kitchens, it’s considered a four-letter word. It’s a topic that people avoid talking about, even if it means ignoring an elephant in the room. For other operations, food waste represents an opportunity for them to do better, save money and help the environment.

We’ve shared with our readers that “food waste management” is one of the top 10 culinary trends for 2015 according to the National Restaurant Association (NRA) report, but as a category this is a pretty broad topic. So what do we expect to see people doing differently in 2015 as it relates to food waste management? In this month's focus article, I delve deeper into four specific trends that we are already seeing emerge across the industry, and which I believe will gain steam throughout the year.