(Hint: It's more than just the cost of the food getting trashed.) Wasted food is wasted money. As a foodservice operator, you are very aware of this connection. But we’re not just talking about the cost of the food that you’re throwing away. Food cost is certainly a major factor, but it doesn’t stop there—you’re paying for that “waste” many times over. In fact, five times by our calculation. Here’s the cold hard truth about the cost of that pan of rosemary chicken headed for the waste bin:

* Content for this article was provided in part by the short film Wasted, by Karim Chrobog. Watch part 2 of the film here. If you had to pay a fee for wasting food, would you cut back on what you throw out? South Korea bet on the answer being a resounding "yes," which is why it is now the country with the world's strictest food waste laws.

You measure your foodservice operation’s health by looking at a range of key metrics: quality, safety, sanitation and profit. But what about food waste? Is that on your daily “scoreboard” as a measure of success? For most, it’s missing.

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.

When you’ve done all that you can to prevent waste, the next best option on the EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy is feeding hungry people. And when one in six United States citizens receives food assistance, it's as important as ever to do our best to ensure excess edible food makes it to a hungry person instead of a landfill.