Overproduction

One of the biggest drivers of food waste in hotels and restaurants is overproduction, especially when food is served buffet-style. The following tips can help to avoid preparing too much food.

• Anticipate demand and track trends: Plan smart menus based on the reservation forecasts.
  • Consider the number, demographics (age, nationality) and past food choices of guests.
  • Keep a board for staff with a note of bookings, forecasted weather and special events.
  • Keep a folder with records of covers and other information for functions such as graduations, communions etc. Refer to these records the following year to inform menu planning, food ordering and preparation.

• Food to order: Establish a just-in-time production instead of preparing large quantities in advance to avoid waste generation from over-preparation.

• Smart Menu planning: Design new menus with food waste reduction and packaging reduction in mind.
  • Give your customer the right amount of choice. The more items there are on the buffet or menu, the greater the number of ingredients and the higher the potential for waste.
  • Design the menu so that fresh and perishable ingredients can be used in a variety of different meals. This reduces the range of ingredients needed and the risk of ingredients going unused.
  • Offer a “specials” menu: an excellent way to use up surplus ingredients while adding variety to the everyday offerings.
  • Offer a surprise menu at a discounted rate. This provides a great opportunity to use up food that may not be selling that day, while giving your customer a chance to try something new.

• Regularly analyse your food offer to see if it still fits to guest preferences.

• Keep batches of pre-prepared staple food such as pasta, potatoes and vegetables as small as feasible. Although cooking an extra batch now and then takes staff time, frequently throwing leftovers away is costly.

• Turn leftovers into turnover: Common examples of this include bread into breadcrumb and vegetables into soup. Get creative with this. Specials are the perfect opportunity to repurpose food. Reward staff in the kitchen who come up with popular specials and reward service staff who sell those specials to guests.

• Choose to prepare and serve some desserts that keep for several days rather than mainly creamy desserts with shorter shelf-life.

• Special tips to reduce overproduction for buffets:
  • Avoid displaying too much all at once. Instead, put out less of each and top up as demand dictates.
  • Use smaller plates and bowls, especially at the end of the buffet.
  • Use flat and separable containers which allow you to adjust the amount of food presented.
  • Separate mixed items when possible to give guests choice while maintaining freshness.
  • Display foods horizontally instead of piling for items like breads and pastries.
  • Where possible, use single portions towards the end of the buffet.
  • Facilitate communication between service and kitchen staff to communicate the status of buffet supplies and allow for a la minute replenishment, especially in the second half of a meal-time.
  • Offer as much show or front cooking as possible to enable more control by staff.
  • Closely monitor the amount of food that is put out on the buffet.
  • Avoid fresh fruit and vegetables as buffet decoration or garnish. There are other decorative materials (oil, pasta) which do not need to go into waste bins.
  • Analyse your buffet by taking a picture protocol of leftovers at the end of a mealtime and discuss together with your team how to reduce the leftovers without compromising guest satisfaction.