Food Waste Intelligence

Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center has partnered with technology provider Leanpath in a new effort to reduce its food waste by 50 percent.

The hotel’s food waste reduction goal aligns with parent-company Marriott International’s corporate-wide goal of cutting food waste in half by 2025.

The 417-room hotel located inside Schiphol Amsterdam Airport has a large food and beverage program with two restaurants, a bar concept and 32 banquet rooms. Its close proximity to the airport can lead to unpredictability in the number of diners it serves on any given day, which can lead to overproduction as kitchen staff prepare for service. According to Leanpath data, overproduction is the leading contributor to food waste in foodservice and hospitality kitchens.

Controlling this food waste is important for environmental, social and financial reasons.

“Sustainability is key,” says Sheraton Amsterdam Food and Beverage Manager Pim Van Het Reve. “But it’s also about how much money we throw into the bin. Over the last year food prices have been rising and I needed another tool to reduce my food cost. That’s where food waste prevention comes in.”

One-third of the world’s food production goes to waste every year, with a quarter of that waste coming from the foodservice industry, according to United Nations’ figures. The financial cost of this waste is estimated at $1 trillion annually. If food waste were a country, it would rank third in greenhouse gas emissions.

Recognizing this impact, Sheraton Amsterdam partnered with Leanpath, whose food waste tracking devices allow high-production foodservice operations to understand what food is being wasted and why. Leanpath's analytics platform identifies high-impact opportunities for food waste reduction and sets automated goals to break a large food waste problem into manageable wins. On average, kitchens cut their food waste in half with Leanpath, leading to significant financial and environmental savings.

This new effort to reduce food waste is in line with other sustainability initiatives the hotel has undertaken. In September, it partnered with a local brewery to produce beer from its excess bread, mainly from its breakfast service. The beer, Gouden Brood, is sold exclusively at the Sheraton Amsterdam.