Commercial kitchens

How commercial kitchens can reduce food waste?

Food waste has always been a major issue which starts from kitchens. From household to commercial kitchens high volume is wasted on a daily basis. Almost $680 million tons of food is wasted in restaurants. In the hospitality and foodservice sector, restaurants produce 22% of the total food waste.

  • Ordering Food
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    Usually, commercial kitchen owners buy a lot of food at once and stock up to avoid the hassle of frequently buying. Well, this may be convenient for many but this is not an effective way to reduce food waste. 

    Some foods specifically produce and perishables do not last as long as non-perishable items. For example for commercial kitchens buying a lot of bananas is financially savvy but this is not a good option as a good amount of bananas will not last longer than a few days and will get wasted. 

    Contact your vendors to deliver your products on weekly basis also inquire them about sale offers or bulk ordering. 

  • Use the FIFO method 
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    Pay attention to your food storage system for the best quality and freshness of food. Each ingredient should be stored properly with labels. Use the FIFO method which means first-in-first-out to consume old products before moving to new ones. 

  • Preparing Food
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    Portion control in commercial kitchens is an important step towards food waste. Commercial kitchens use scales to measure the correct portion amount before serving meals. With proper portion control, less food will be wasted. 

    Avoiding Cross-contamination is another way to reduce food waste. For example, if raw meat is stored near vegetables, bacteria from raw meat transfers to those vegetables or other products, which results in bad food quality. 

    For commercial kitchens, it is also recommended to keep their storage and food preparation areas different. Also using separate cutting boards and knives can prevent cross-contamination which also reduces food waste.

    Pay attention to your food storage system. Frozen foods should be stored at 0 degrees Fahrenheit to maintain their quality. 

    Recycle Menu Items

    Most chefs and kitchen staff are trained to reuse uneaten leftover foods. When planning your menu keep leftovers in your mind. Leftover chicken breast can be used to make the pie. Analyze your sales cycle. Remove the dishes not liked by customers and replace them with some other.

    Donate uneaten food

    At the end of the day donate food to charity organizations or feed your employees. Ask your employees to take food for their families in doggy bags.

    When thinking about reducing food in your kitchen may seems overwhelming. At the start, it may not even worth it. It will easier to hire a team of employees to look into this matter. This way there will be a group of employees to reduce food waste and keep the whole process simple.

     

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