Food Waste Flyer from LeanPath

How to Reduce Catering Food Waste

Catering orders typically increase during the holiday season, making this the perfect time to focus on reducing catering food waste. Changes you make now will benefit your operation year-round, especially as catering growth returns in 2010. Whether you offer buffet, banquet, off-premise, or drop-off services, you have a big opportunity to save food cost by reducing pre-consumer food waste.

1. Slay the Myth: “It’s Already Paid For – Waste Doesn’t Matter”. Some well-intentioned staff members may believe their hands are tied controlling food waste because the customer paid upfront for a “guaranteed” guest count. In most cases, our customer actually hired us to provide a super catering service (e.g. dinner for 100 with a certain menu) and will defer to our judgment on the best way to purchase, prep and serve that meal. Be confident in your judgment - based on your experience there are usually ways to control waste while still meeting the guarantee. Ask questions at catering meetings about the needs of the group, including gender, generational, and demographic preferences. Adjust production lists and prep sheets based on what you learn (and prior history, if it's a repeat customer).

2. Adjust Production "Pad" Factors by Tracking Overproduction Waste. Many operations use a standard percentage "pad" factor in every order. When unexpected guests show-up this calms the nerves of your production staff. But are you using the most accurate factor? Should it be 3%? 5%? To find out, track your overproduction by item. For example, track how many extra portions of steak or fish are left; how many pans of potatoes; how many deserts? Ask staff to write this down at each event (download a tracking sheet) and then you can assign a dollar value to each wasted amount. Build a spreadsheet and determine whether you could reduce your production "pad" factor from 5% to 4% and still meet demand. Try the new "pad" level and monitor results.

3. Implement Creative Batch Production Procedures. Batch production allows you to match food supply and demand. While some believe it cannot be used with fast-paced or off-premise events, anything's possible when you get creative. For example, if a buffet event is on-premise, prep but don’t fire every item. Design a menu that accommodates short firing cycles for some items and fire to need. If the same event was off-premise, explore making a small percentage of the menu available at expo stations, cooking to order. Single-piece production is the most efficient form of batch production and it can work if most of the menu is available in bulk. For banquets, it may be possible to pre-plate 75% of the meal and hold 25% for final firing & plating based on demand.

4. Keep an Eye on the Edges. While meals justifiably take center stage as we try to reduce waste, don’t forget catering items around the edges: brewed premium coffee, pastries and bakery items at breaks, and snack items (pretzels, chips, popcorn) which might expire.

5. Avoid Bottled Water at On-Premise Events. Not only is it unsustainable, but bottled water costs lots of money. Look at refillable, reusable water solutions when on-premise (companies such as Aquahealth and Natura provide good options and water pitchers work, too). Off premise, consider chilled bulk dispensers instead of bottled water.

Catering waste represents a big opportunity to save money – it just requires a little attention, training, and measurement to cross the finish line.

LeanPath offers automated food waste tracking tools that allow you to record and report on food waste by catering event order number and client name. This can help you build a history of waste and reduce it in the future. Contact us to learn more.

See & Hear from LeanPath:

January 15, 2010

Association for Healthcare Food-service, LA Regional Meeting. "ABC's of Food Waste Management."

UCLA Med. Center

Los Angeles, CA

March 19, 2010

Foodservice Consultants Society International 2010 National Conference, "Emerging Trends in Food Waste Management"

Minneapolis, MN

In Print

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies Magazine, Redefining Foodservice Waste Management: What's Next.

What is "Food Rescue"?

Food Rescue: the practice of safely retrieving edible food that would otherwise go to waste and distributing it to those in need.

Why is this important? 90% of low-income households with at least one child under the age of 12 use food pantries and soup kitchens and also participate in the School Lunch Program. At least 20% of America's food goes to waste each year, with an estimated 130 pounds of food per person ending up in landfills, which is about $31 billion. But the real story is that roughly 49 million people could have been fed by those lost resources. (Source: USDA)

Consider participating in a food recovery program in your operation. For more information, contact Food Donation Connection.

Profile: Jennifer Bargisen,

Executive Chef - Banquets, MGM Grand Conference Center

Las Vegas, NV

Chef Jennifer Bargisen has been with the MGM Grand for the past four years and has 17 years experience working in the US and internationally. She has dedicated the past eight years primarily to large volume and 5-diamond operations. Chef Jennifer is actively engaged in sustainable operational practices focusing heavily on consumption habits and patterns.

Chef Jennifer's overall impression of automated food waste tracking (using LeanPath's ValuWaste System) is that it has been "integral in quantifying consumption and waste patterns." Identifying these patterns leads to "decreased usage, production, waste, and overall inefficiencies." At the same time, it has "truly allowed [her] to have data to support ordering patterns and guest consumption expectancies"

The ValuWaste System has been in place at the MGM Grand Conference Center for the past four years. Her initial expectations have been “exceeded because LeanPath has been instrumental in understanding our specifications and individual requirements.”

The MGM Grand Conference Center has been able to reduce food cost due to their use of ValuWaste. Chef Jennifer reports the highlight of waste tracking is getting "solid data" that shows "what customers are consuming" that supports "calculated ordering adjustments."

Her advice for new managers starting waste tracking: "Embrace the idea of placing dollar values on the waste produced in order to improve on your inefficiencies."

(View/print this profile)

Jennifer Bargisen

Executive Chef - Banquets, MGM Grand Conference Center

Welcome new LeanPath customers!

Bayhealth Med. Ctr, Kent General Hospital

Dover, DE

Bayhealth Med. Ctr, Milford Memorial Hospital

Milford, DE

Northwest Hospital & Med Center, Univ. of Washington

Seattle, WA

Georgia State Univ., Freshman Hall

Atlanta, GA

Mercy Med. Center

Des Moines, IA

Portland State Univ., Student Union & Ondine Residence Hall

Portland, OR

Pacific University

Forest Grove, OR

Merchandising Practices that Reduce Pizza Waste

Bountiful presentation is attractive and helps drive sales, but with a little bit of ingenuity it does not have to be wasteful.

Consider adding mixed "½ and ½" pizzas to your mix as closing time approaches. For example, half cheese/half veggie, or half pepperoni/half sausage.
As the end of the service period nears, making ½ and ½ pizzas allows you to keep your display looking great and preserves a full range of choices for your guests.
From a waste perspective, you avoid placing an entire pie of one variety out just to sell one or two final slices.
Bonus: This method also allows you to test new pizza varieties without the risk of dedicating a whole pie to the new toppings!

Using Goal Reports to Measure Improvement

Having a goal helps you turn data collection into action. Without a goal, your tracking effort might feel similar to pressing the accelerator in your car while parked in neutral - you aren't going anywhere.

Make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound).

Then use a ValuWaste Advantage 4 Goal Trend Report to track your progress specifically for that goal. Review your progress weekly, celebrate achievements with your team and move onto the next highest item once you have controlled the first one. You will see waste reduction and food cost savings quickly with this approach!

Enlarge Image

Soup Waste Reduction in Arizona

LeanPath customers in Arizona tracked 2,764 lbs of soup waste YTD in 2008.

In 2009, they have tracked 2,055 lbs - a reduction of 25% year-over-year.

Congratulations to these customers!

New Resources

The US EPA has recently updated their popular Food Waste Management Calculator. It’s a great tool for all sizes and types of foodservice operations. The calculator is free, can be downloaded to your computer and is very easy to use. It’s a Microsoft Excel file and you only need to add a few numbers to find out your potential cost savings.

The EPA calculator estimates the cost competitiveness of alternatives to traditional food waste disposal, including source reduction, donation, composting, and recycling of yellow grease. Specifically, it develops an alternative food waste management scenario based on:
* Your waste profile;
* Availability of diversion methods
* Preferences
* Compares cost estimates for alternative disposal scenarios v. current practice

The EPA Calculator reinforces that environmentally and socially responsible food waste management is cost-effective for many facilities and waste streams.

The more you know about your current waste management costs, the more accurate the calculator’s estimate will be, but default values are provided for many variables.

You can download the calculator directly. Or, visit the EPA site for other tools for understanding, tracking and measuring food waste.

Download a reference guide on waste management

Want regular updates on waste trends?

Read the Food Waste Focus Blog!

Food Waste Focus is an educational, non-commercial blog about food waste authored by the LeanPath team. Regular postings keep readers updated on food waste news, commentary, and waste reduction ideas. Sign-up to have blog updates e-mailed to you.