Originally published on New York Weekly
Restaurant industry vets like Paul Bulau know firsthand how much food an establishment can waste in a single day, let alone over the course of months or years. Unfortunately, restaurants are significant culprits when it comes to food waste.
Though some margin of error is to be expected within a restaurant’s food waste, there are certain steps you can take to decrease it. Not only will this save the business money and resources, but it will also reduce the establishment’s environmental footprint by keeping more waste out of landfills.
Here are a few simple strategies culinary expert Paul Bulau suggests to help your restaurant waste less food, save money, and be kinder to the planet.
Audit Your Trash
The idea of a trash audit may not be particularly appealing, but it can reveal a lot about what kinds of materials your restaurant staff and guests dispose of the most. Otherwise, any efforts to reduce waste will just be guessing games and may not yield any tangible results.
Separate your trash into a few categories. Here are some examples:
- Plastic goods
- Paper goods
- Organic materials (disposed of from guests’ plates)
- Expired ingredients (opened vs. unopened)
This way, you’ll know which direction to focus your efforts. For example, if most of your trash is expired ingredients that haven’t been opened, you may be over-ordering some products. Make adjustments to your product orders based on your findings to save money and create less waste.
Keep a Log
Once you’ve taken stock of your establishment’s garbage habits, you can be more proactive by logging your waste. This is an effort to be more aware of what is thrown away and when such excessive waste can be avoided.
“Have your staff record the trash and recycle bag weights before heading to the dumpster,” Paul Bulau suggests. “You can also encourage them to report any abnormal items in the trash, such as broken dishware or prematurely spoiled ingredients that may have been improperly stored.”
This information will allow everyone in your kitchen to get involved in the waste-reduction effort and make more conscious choices on an individual level.
Always Follow FIFO
Most kitchen staff will know the FIFO method, or “first in, first out.” This means that the items purchased first and closest to their expiration date should be used over identical items with some time left.
If you haven’t already established FIFO compliance in your kitchen, do so immediately to reduce food waste right away. “When storing items, ensure the “first in” item with the earliest expiration date is “first” on the shelf and easiest to reach,” Paul Bulau explains. Though organizing items according to FIFO may take some extra time, it will be worth the money and waste you can save.
Make Sure Your Kitchen Preps Efficiently
Much of the food waste generated by kitchens comes from prep cooks and chefs improperly preparing their portions. Take the time to check how your kitchen staff is preparing meat, veggies, and other organic materials to see whether they’re wasting usable cuts. This alone could decrease food waste significantly.
Cut Back Your Food Waste and Boost Profits
If your kitchen creates too much food waste, you could be overspending on your product orders and wasting valuable profit. Take the time to manage your food input and output and watch how your business expenses dramatically shift.
About Paul Bulau
Paul Bulau is a culinary entrepreneur, business founder, and company owner/operator known for operational success, collaboration, and team development.
After earning a degree in Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management from the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, Paul launched, grew, and sold his first business. For the past 25 years, Paul has served in several management roles with a premier, on-site restaurant company.