The business case for monitoring food waste

Seven hotels in the Mediterranean took part in the Futouris project “Reducing Food Waste”, which was carried out together with United Against Waste e.V. and aimed to significantly reduce food waste in the 11 hotel restaurants. After initial awareness raising and training among the employees of the participating hotels, they separated food waste in the hotel kitchen, sorting it according to the areas of storage, production, overproduction and plate waste. Using a digital waste analysis tool, the food waste was systematically recorded and analysed to identify reduction potentials in the different areas.

The major challenge was identified around the “all-you-can-eat” concept, which leads to excessive overproduction at buffets as well as above-average food waste on plates. Training sessions with hotel staff and round table meetings were held to develop practical solutions that could be implemented in daily operations. Hotels were required to implement three waste reduction measures in their daily operations for the summer season to reduce food waste.

The project results are convincing: The participating hotels have significantly reduced food waste through implemented measures such as smaller containers or life cooking stations. The top result was achieved by a hotel that reduced food waste during lunch by 61.5 kilograms, a 40 percent reduction. One participating hotel saved about €26,500 during the summer season due to lower costs for food purchase and waste disposal.