Proven food waste solutions for Healthcare
Because complex food and nutrition departments need an easy answer to food waste
Healthcare foodservice operators have a broad customer base–patients, visitors, and employees–and demanding nutritional needs. With so many demands it’s easy to lose track of food waste, unless you have an automated, turnkey solution. Leanpath’s first deployment over 15 years ago was in healthcare. We have driven out food waste in hospitals ever since.
Reid Health
St. Luke’s Medical Center, Boise
Healthcare systems can take control of their food waste
Food waste makes up about 10 to 15 percent of a hospital’s daily solid waste production, according to Practice Greenhealth. That means a 200-bed hospital generates over 650 pounds of food waste every day. Based on Leanpath data, most foodservice segments see overproduction driving about 50% of their food waste. But In healthcare, it’s even higher: 65% of the weight of typical healthcare food waste is from overproduction and a whopping 77% of the food waste by value. Leanpath cuts that in half, and when you stopping purchasing and prepping food only to throw it out, you save money on food purchases and make your labor more efficient.
Meet your sustainability goals
As an industry, healthcare organizations have embraced sustainable missions more than many. The challenge is deciding where to focus a hospital’s efforts. Preventing food waste should be at the top of the list because when you prevent food waste from happening, you are addressing many of the planet’s most pressing environmental concerns. When you stop buying food just to throw it out, you stop wasting the water it took to grow that food, you stop wasting the energy it took to prepare it, and most importantly, you reduce your kitchen’s carbon footprint. And all of these sustainability metrics are tracked and reported in Leanpath.
Gundersen Health System
Gain efficiency regardless of service delivery method
Healthcare foodservice often applies a number of different service delivery methods, from patient room service, to retail to traditional cafeteria style buffet lines. All rely on production sheets. But how do you know if production levels are accurate or if they are being properly followed? By tracking food waste through every service delivery method, you ensure you are producing as much as you need, but no more. This increased efficiency drives fast ROI on Leanpath service.
Providence Regional Medical Center
Preventing food waste in senior living
The foodservice operation at Mt. San Antonio Gardens, a retirement community in California, is run by Sodexo, and serves 1,500 covers a day with buffet and tableside service. The kitchen team, led by General Manager Jack Forrest (center), began using Waste Watch Powered by Leanpath to track and prevent food waste in 2020. They’ve already prevented 56 percent of their food waste.
Increase efficiency and invest savings
Palomar Health reduced their food waste 54%. “Our goal overall is to reduce waste and become more efficient in our kitchen production – that will allow us to focus on more innovation and more quality.”
Keep your team focused on the "why" of food waste prevention
Aramark Regional Executive Chef Damon Mangano oversees the food and nutrition services at this large healthcare system running 11 hospitals. By focusing on the cost benefit of food waste prevention, he’s been able to keep his team focused, leading to a 50% reduction in food waste.
Create a culture of food waste prevention
Tracking food waste with Leanpath since 2007, Swedish First Hill hospital has developed system-wide best practices and led to deep cuts in food waste: a 53 percent reduction in food waste by value and a 40 percent reduction by weight.
Meet sustainability goals and more
Ten years ago the Martinsburg VA Medical Center began tracking food waste with Leanpath. They have prevented 330,000 pounds of food waste, developed a robust donation program, won numerous awards and recruited top talent because of their innovations.
Know where to focus your food waste efforts
Reid Health created a team to share ideas on reducing food waste based on Leanpath data. The results? A 53% reduction in food waste
Automatic reporting that keeps the team informed
Gunderson Health Systems cut its waste in half with Leanpath. “The staff saw instant results—they could see the ups, the downs, the gains…they could see they were making a difference.”
Share these resources with your culinary team
and get started preventing food waste today
Let’s chat
In a brief call, a Leanpath food waste expert can help you understand the problem of food waste, create a custom review of what you can save by preventing food waste in your kitchens and discuss the best Leanpath solution for your operation.
