Food Waste Intelligence

When food is delivered to a kitchen’s backdoor, it has one cost: the food cost. Once it enters the kitchen, it starts getting saddled with labor costs. Unloading, storing, prepping, cooking, plating, serving, disposing. It’s a basic model that every chef and manager understands, but it’s important to keep it in mind when we talk about the impact food waste prevention has on labor.

Food Matters Live caught up with Leanpath’s own Tom Mansel after we were awarded the group’s Sustainability Initiative of the Year Award.

In my years coaching chefs on how to prevent food waste, again and again I see three food items being wasted when they should have been repurposed.

A lot of chefs just aren’t sure what to do with them.

The big three are vegetable trim (broccoli stems, cauliflower cores, carrot peels, onions skins, etc.), fruits (whole and trim), and starches (rice, beans, potatoes, grains). It’s probably not a coincidence that none of these are high-priced proteins, which can sometimes be the only focus of a kitchen’s food waste prevention effort. To prevent trim waste before it happens, consider a knife skills refresher course, and once you improve those skills, turn to repurposing.

Repurposing is key to cutting the financial cost of food waste - labor cost - and inventory loss caused by food waste. Here’s how to tackle the big three by putting them to use instead of putting them in the bin.

 This is a recurring feature where Leanpath Executive Chef Robb White examines real food waste images from Leanpath 360s and shares insights based on what he sees.