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Upcoming Events
June 29
School Nutrition Association Conference "Save Money Through Energy and Waste Management."
Las Vegas, NV
July 9
National Association of College & University Foodservice, National Conference: "ABC's of Food Waste Management". Milwaukee, WI
July 9
Farm to Fork: Introduction to Food Waste Tracking
Milwaukee, WI
August 9-11
Northwest Sustainability Discovery Tour, "Waste Management Overview"
Portland, OR
What is the difference between "Diversion" & "Reduction"?
Diversion:
the act of diverting from a course, activity, or use.
In waste management, this means diverting food waste from a landfill to an
environmentally preferable alternative such as food donation or composting. You can think
of it as changing the path of that food waste. Instead of allowing it to
fester in a landfill for many decades, producing methane, the waste can be
donated or composted into a soil amendment. This is great for reducing the amount of
food waste that goes into a landfill, but you are still generating waste –
diversion makes a bad situation better but doesn't solve the core problem.
Reduction:
the act or process of reducing
Reduction is a conscious effort to prevent and minimize the amount of food waste
produced in the first place. Often referred to as “source reduction”, this
is better than diversion. Reducing or minimizing the amount of food waste
reduces environmental impacts in numerous ways. Upstream, there is less
demand on the food system and downstream less demand on processing facilities.
All along the way, there are carbon reduction benefits due to less hauling and
refrigeration. PLUS: the added benefit to source reduction? Less food
purchased = less food wasted = lower food costs!
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Profile: Jim Cooley, Executive Chef, Seattle University
Seattle, Washington
Jim Cooley is Executive Chef with Bon Appetit Management Company at Seattle University. He oversees culinary operations for five locations on this urban campus, anchored by the busy and modern Cherry Street Market.
Seattle University has been using food waste tracking tools from LeanPath to track all pre-consumer food waste for 1.5 years. He says "I always have good food cost here even with very high [product costs]. I attribute it to ValuWaste."
Read more about Jim Cooley and his team's food waste reduction success.
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Ohio Health
Columbus, OH
Baltimore, MD
Hillsboro, OR
Swedish Medical Center, Cherry Hill Campus
Seattle, WA
Low-Waste Merchandising: Smaller Vessels on Buffets Will Improve Quality, Reduce Waste and Save You Money!
One way operators can reduce pre-consumer food waste
is by reducing the size of serving vessels, either permanently or progressively
during the course of a meal service period. An item does not need to be
presented in a 6” deep hotel pan to look bountiful and appetizing to guests. In
fact, a 4” or even 2.5” will often look much better and lead to a decrease in
leftovers at the end of the meal period. This also gives the operator more
flexibility to redeploy small batches of leftovers that never reached the
serving line and gives customers fresher, more appealing product.
A notoriously high waste area to review vessel sizes is the salad bar. Start
with larger pans of lettuce and as you move through the meal period install
progressively smaller pans as demand wilts. Track the containers of proteins and
starches, what is left over? Could a smaller crock be used to reduce waste or
increase the opportunity for re-use? Remember, if you don’t put out the food you
have it for the next meal period which saves you food cost.
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Waste Tracking Helps with Employee Recognition
Employee recognition is a powerful tool that
costs little or nothing for managers to do. Employees gain great
satisfaction from recognition and this reinforces positive job
performance and, ultimately, customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, food
waste is an uncomfortable topic for many managers to raise with staff.
They don't want to sound critical or punitive, but they want the staff
to pay more attention to food waste control. There's a simple answer:
get employees engaged in the process of tracking food waste and
celebrate their involvement for being part of the solution rather than
part of the problem!
ValuWaste Advantage “Employee Recognition” reports makes it easy and
automated for operators to identify their more engaged employees and
thank them for helping to reduce waste. Only through exceptional
participation can chefs and managers get the data needed to reduce
pre-consumer waste. Recognition of the top employee participants will
show respect and gratitude and may cause others to become more involved
in the process.
Visit the Food Waste Focus Blog to learn:
LeanPath consultants post updates 2-3 times a week on waste-related topics, so sign-up for a free subscription!
Learn more about how food waste tracking can help you cut costs! Contact us for more information or visit www.leanpath.com.
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LeanPath, Inc.
10180 SW Nimbus Ave. Suite J1, Portland, OR 97223
(877) 620-6512
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