Running a restaurant business needs a lot of dedication. You need to handle your employees, balance your finances, and order ingredients on time. Wastage of food is an increasing issue these days. As per estimation, almost 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted worldwide, 40% of which belong to the food businesses. If you know the ways to reduce food waste in your restaurant, you can help the environment and save your business money in the long run.

Here’s How to Reduce Food Waste in a Restaurant

1. Preserve food properly

Ensure that your fridges and freezers are run at a suitable temperature. Make sure to store low-risk foods always on higher shelves than high-risk ones and keep storage areas tidy and clean. Food preservation under suitable conditions is required for storing their quality and hindering bacterial development – both of which can cause food waste.

2. Abstain from over-purchasing stock

Make sure to only buy the ingredients that are useful for your business. You can purchase in bulk if the supplier offers a good deal, but it can leave you with more than the food you require.

3. Control temperature

For food safety, good temperature control is required because it prevents the development of dangerous pathogenic bacteria. Moreover, it means that food waste has less possibility as the food cannot spoil. This incorporates cooling hot food fast, heating food again to the appropriate core temperature, preserving high-risk food in freezers and fridges, and hot or cold holding at a secure temperature.

4. Compost food waste

Consider composting food scraps you cannot use. It’s a viable option for your eatery. A few food businesses utilize compost from their kitchen for enriching the soil in veggie and fruit gardens or as a natural fertilizer that is used for landscaping. Composting food waste also lowers your waste removal bill and environmental effect by removing waste from the landfills.

5. Donate food

In case you have products that are still good for consumption but you cannot use them for a reason, feed needy people in your area. You can easily use those unsellable leftover foods to good use. Sometimes, food banks also come to your place and get food for free and you can donate them for charitable activities.

6. Offer meals to your employees

You often have a small amount of food that you cannot sell. Since charity entities have strict rules about what they can and can’t accept as donations, you may end up having enough leftover meals and cannot donate it. Ask your restaurant staff members if they want to get it for dinner. Provide them meals for free. A free good meal will reduce food waste and increase employees’ loyalty and happiness. Hopefully, the aforesaid tips will give you some ways to reduce food waste in your restaurant. You will certainly have some waste, but if you recycle and follow the above-mentioned tips, you can lower waste in your restaurant. Contact Sattvik Foods to know more about handling food waste and recycling in your restaurant