Food Waste Intelligence

Food waste prevention matters now more than ever for foodservice bottom-lines. Lower traffic, unpredictable production levels, new service styles, all combine to put added pressure on already narrow margins–and increase the likelihood of food waste.

Restaurants deal with two primary costs: food and labor. In the current foodservice environment, kitchens have to get truly creative in order to meet the financial obligations of the business. Labor cost is and will always be a struggle to get a handle on. Too much labor and money is wasted, not enough and your business and customer satisfaction suffers.

As foodservice operations reopen from COVID-19 shutdowns, it is widely anticipated that service volumes will be reduced at the onset and increase slowly over months. While it may be assumed that less traffic leads to less food waste, a new Leanpath analysis shows just the opposite: on average, low volumes actually lead to higher levels of food waste relative to food purchases.

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-w...

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.