Food service providers work tirelessly to deliver the events and audiences they serve with exceptional experiences. With a focus on efficiency, these industries must look beyond the conventional ways of dealing with tasks such as food waste management. Utilizing the efficiency of one centralized disposal site in each kitchen, building, or floor not only reduces the movement of food waste but also heavily reduces the concerns of cross-contamination, pest control, smell concerns, or use of plastic bags. It also addresses the compliance requirements to divert food waste from landfills and find more sustainable disposal options.
Steps to Reduce Food Waste in Food Service
Food service can generate up to 63 million tons of food waste per year in the U.S. alone,* much of which is sent to processing in landfills. During many buffet-style events, overproducing and providing abundant choices can lead to excessive food wastage. When possible, food service operations should re-examine portion sizing and better understand diners’ “eating profiles” to mitigate food loss during events.* Ensure your staff is educated on the issue of food waste during food service and encourage a reduction of waste whenever possible. Replacing deep buffet plates with shallower ones that are refilled as necessary gives the same feeling of plenitude, with much less wastage.
Reduce Food Waste with the ORCA
Measuring actual food wastage is the first step to reducing it, enabling you to quantify current losses and the scale of savings you could make. With the ORCA, you can see where excess wastage is occurring and start to design it out of your processes. Traditionally, food waste costs a food service business three times: in the cost of the unused raw ingredients, the time and resources of preparing and handling the food and the waste generated, and finally in disposing of it. With the ORCA, you can reduce them all, generating less food waste and then scrapping the requirement for food waste collection.
Talk to our food waste experts today to learn how you can save costs and reduce your environmental impact with ORCA.
