The world is simultaneously getting fatter as it starves itself to death.
For the third year in a row there has been a rise in world hunger, with nearly 821 million people across the globe currently facing chronic food deprivation. Conversely, adult obesity is also worsening. In 2017 more than one in eight adults, or more than 627 million people, were obese.
So how is it that populations across the world skew so wildly in both directions? The overarching problem begins with food distribution, and it ends with excessive food waste.
Waste Not, Want Not
Approximately one third of all food produced in the world intended for human consumption is lost or wasted. This equates to more than a billion tons of food that never gets consumed each year, at an economic loss of $940 billion. Locally, the Australian Government estimates food waste costs the economy $20 billion each year.
To paint an even bleaker picture, food loss and waste is responsible for around 8% of annual greenhouse gas emissions; if it were a country, food loss and waste would be the third largest emitter after China and the United States.
Here’s the kicker though: there is literally enough food produced in the world to feed everyone. In fact, according to a report released by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the scale and pace of food production wouldn’t need to increase to feed an extra 1 billion people by 2030.
Food Lost Is Profit Down The Drain
Fortunately, experts are working on viable solutions to this global problem. A recent report prepared on behalf of Champions 12.3 specifically addresses the problem of food waste in the catering industry and provides a proactive framework for tackling it.
Through interviews with experts in the catering industry the writers of the report discovered that food waste is not typically measured as part of a caterer’s standard operating procedures: foodservice operators don’t usually factor it into their profit and loss statements. Further, even when information on food waste is gathered, the information isn’t always communicated back to food service teams and thus no one is held accountable or responsible for the lost inventory.
In order to determine whether a reduction in food waste might have a financial benefit for caterers, the researchers analysed food waste reduction efforts from 86 catering sites across six countries. Within the first year of implementing such a program the researchers found that 64% of the sites surveyed recouped their investment. Within two years that figure had increased to 80%. On a day to day basis, the average site saved more than 5 cents on every dollar of cost of goods sold (COGS) by reducing food waste.
Let’s Get Practical
After conducting this analysis, the researchers interviewed managers at the sites to determine what actions they took to reduce their food waste. Five key action points were identified that you might consider implementing in your own food business.
1. Measure
The most important step is to keep a record of food that is thrown out. This allows you to identify not only how much, but where food is being wasted. From here you can prioritise hotspots to tackle and begin to monitor progress over time.
2. Engage staff
As with all major operational changes, success can only be achieved by getting staff at all levels of the business to ‘buy in’ to the initiative. Kitchen and service staff are probably the most acutely aware of how much food is wasted in your business, so with the right guidance they can be extremely effective at reducing food loss. Some ways you could provide guidance include daily staff meetings, casual conversations or formal training.
It’s important not to give the impression that staff are being blamed for wasting food, as this can kill any enthusiasm your staff might have. Instead, concentrate on rewarding staff where reductions in waste are made and be open to suggestions from them as to where you might be able to improve things.
Of course, staff turnover can often be quite high in the hospitality industry so it’s also vital that food waste prevention is stressed as a part of the culture of your business and included in standard training and operating procedures.
3. Start small and get creative
Every business is different so there’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution to reducing food waste. Try a pilot project where you engage a small number of staff and then gradually expand the scope of the program as staff get more confident in the process. From there the financial benefits will start to become clear.
4. Reduce overproduction
Take a look at your menu items and try to single out any that are consistently under-consumed. By simply reducing the amount of such items produced you can prevent waste without negatively affecting the customer experience. Again, engage with staff and encourage them to nominate dishes that are not consumed in large quantities. This has the added benefit of reducing the amount of fresh produce you’re purchasing on a weekly basis as you reduce the amount of food that gets discarded at the end of a shift.
5. Repurpose excess food
No matter how diligent you are in monitoring the amount of a menu item that is consumed, you’ll find yourself at times with leftovers and potential wasted food. When that does happen, it’s important to have a ‘Plan B’ for how to safely re-purpose this food. You might, for example, take unsold or leftover meat from a breakfast menu item and incorporate it into a lunch or dinner dish.
Another way to cut back is to consider making use of elements that would typically go straight to the waste bin. Try using peels, seeds, skins or bones to make soup stock instead of buying it, and you could potentially add value by introducing new dishes onto your menu.
Finally, while it doesn’t have a specific financial benefit, donating edible leftover food to organisations like OzHarvest can help disadvantaged members of the local community (Oz Harvest recently announced that it will have delivered its 100 millionth meal by Christmas 2018).
Just Do It
Hopefully by now you’re considering how you might save money by reducing waste within your own food business. So where do you start? The researchers for Champions 12.3 close with a handy three point action plan that can help you kick things off:
Target: Targets set ambition, and ambition motivates action.
Measure: What gets measured gets managed. Start to measure food loss and waste and monitor progress toward achieving targets over time.
Act: Action is what ultimately matters. A key success factor for action is management engagement.
Reducing food waste isn’t something you’ll be able to master overnight, but with the tips above you should be able to get started right away. Before you know it you’ll start to see the financial benefits and, who knows, maybe feel a little bit better about your place in the world at the same time?