Food Waste Intelligence

As we all adjusted to the challenges of 2020, something notable rose to the surface in foodservice: measuring food waste was no longer just a way to cut costs and be more efficient, it became a key tool in the learning and adapting process kitchens went through as they rose to the challenge of the new normal. What a kitchen wasted was one of the few real-time data points it could use to understand what was working and what was not as volumes dropped and service styles changed dramatically. 

Controlling food waste became more important than ever. And the need for food waste intelligence was as important as always. Here are the 5 blog posts our audience found most valuable in a year full of surprises.

Leanpath is proud to announce the evolution of food waste prevention technology. Impact Suite is a powerful new set of tools that go beyond tracking food waste to actually guiding kitchens through specific actions to reduce their largest food waste issues.

Swedish is the largest non-profit healthcare provider in the Puget Sound, Washington, area. Six of its dispersed facilities utilize the Leanpath platform to prevent food waste. The healthcare foodservice operation at its First Hill campus is run by Corporate Executive Chef Zachary Schwab. First Hill typically has about 1,800 covers a day in patient services, with 600 meals a day retail and around 10 catered events. Schwab has overseen food waste reduction with Leanpath since 2007. That experience has led to the development of system-wide best practices and deep cuts in food waste: a 53 percent reduction in food waste by value and a 40 percent reduction by weight.

There are three new realities foodservice kitchens will face as they reopen that carry the risk of creating excessive amounts of food waste. In a Leanpath webinar entitled Reopen Strong, Leanpath CEO Andrew Shakman led a discussion with the Leanpath Culinary Council to explain these new realities and how to avoid the food waste lurking within them. Here is a summary of the discussion.

When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, all food waste is not equal. Based on its GHG footprint, meat waste contributes the largest amount of emissions by weight. Waste a little bit of beef, contribute a lot of GHGs.

But as a recent World Resources Institute report shows, vegetables are actually the biggest contributor to emissions behind beef and seafood, simply because of the sheer volume of vegetables wasted.