Waste Watcher Profile - March 2010
Felipe Delgado, Executive Chef
Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, MD
About Felipe Delgado
Chef Felipe Delgado serves as the Executive Chef at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, a 560-bed medical center with catering, retail, and patient foodservice operations. Originally from Ecuador, he’s been with Johns Hopkins Bayview for two years.History with Food Waste Tracking
Chef Felipe and his team began tracking food waste in April 2009 using an automated touch-screen tracking system from LeanPath. The system generated reports that showed which pre-consumer food items were wasted most and why. After reviewing this information with his Stop Waste Action Team (SWAT), Chef Felipe decided to focus first on reducing the amount of soup waste in his operation because many gallons were going into the garbage from overproduction every day. He and the team set a specific goal and, after two months, they were able to reduce soup waste by 30%.Results
Chef Felipe’s overall goal was to reduce waste and food costs; he’s posted steady progress and has reduced waste overall by double digits. He reports that having data about waste created “immediate impact” and that the tracking process is “very good” and that wasting less food reduces not just food cost, it also avoids staff spending time preparing items which are not needed.Recommendations
His advice for chefs new to food waste tracking is to be consistent with the tracking effort and review your reports so you have information to address “any financial issue and correct it.”
