Is your prep person cutting off and discarding the bottom half of every head of lettuce because it\u2019s dirty? Are you tossing out boxes of spoiled or expired food you discovered in the back of the cooler? Food waste is costing your operation money, and finding ways to reduce it is easier than you think.<\/p>\n
Waste is easy to spot when you see trash cans full of excess trimming or pans of unconsumed food. Fixing the problem starts by knowing why waste is happening and making changes at the pre-consumer level. Whether yours is a senior community, independent living, long-term care or an acute care kitchen, there are some common areas to examine.<\/p>\n
Food waste prevention experts are fond of saying, \u201cYou can\u2019t manage what you don\u2019t measure.\u201d Tracking what you buy, what you make and what is left over is the best way to manage forecasting, says Robb White, the Executive Chef and Food Waste Prevention Catalyst for LeanPath. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a loop that starts with procurement and is followed by production, cooking, measuring waste, rebuilding recipe formulas, then back to procurement. Capturing that data and analyzing it matters in kitchens not mainly driven by sales numbers. \u201cThe only data points you really have are: What did I purchase? What did I produce? And what was left?\u201d White says.<\/p>\n
A great example is condiments and beverages, according to Maria DeNicola, a Gordon Food Service Business Solutions Specialist. \u201cWhat a lot of communities and hospitals do is throw everything on the tray\u2014sugar, salt, pepper, ketchup, coffee, juice, milk, teabags\u2014whether you asked for it or not,\u201d she says, \u201cIt\u2019s amazing how much condiments cost over time when you just throw out what doesn\u2019t get used.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tray waste studies can provide data to guide purchasing. If you\u2019re buying the wrong pack size of a perishable product, unused food goes to waste. Switching to one or two pre-peeled, pre-cut or pre-cooked products can reduce waste and save labour time and money, White notes, but it\u2019s impossible to know without tracking data.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s so much going on in a kitchen, chefs can\u2019t keep track of historical data without inventory management tools or recipe production systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou pretty much know your resident count every day, that\u2019s not a mystery. But without a system in place, it\u2019s hard to track how much soup you can expect to sell on a Tuesday and how to scale it up if you need to because the weather is cold,\u201d he explains. <\/p>\n
Forecasting technology increases accuracy in buying products, managing inventory, creating production sheets and overseeing the culinary team\u2019s preparation to reduce waste.<\/p>\n
A dash of this and a pinch of that quickly turns into guesswork on a large scale. Standardized recipes remove the guesswork and reduce waste. Enforcing rules about weighing, measuring and following recipes starts with the manager, DeNicola says.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost cooks just go by what they\u2019ve done in the past,\u201d she says. \u201cIf they prepared 20 pounds of vegetables yesterday, that\u2019s what they\u2019ll make today\u2014even if it gets thrown away.\u201d<\/p>\n
She recommends using production and waste-tracking data and creating an \u201cingredient room.\u201d It\u2019s a Grand Central Station for recipe preparation. Every ingredient is weighed and measured, then the chefs get a cart with exactly what they need along with meal instructions.<\/p>\n
If you increase scrambled egg production because you\u2019re running out before breakfast is done, the culprit could be the wrong scoop. If the juice portion is 6 ounces and you\u2019re filling a 12 ounce cup, you need to get glassware that\u2019s the right size.<\/p>\n
Tools factor into waste. So does training.<\/p>\n
The best knife in the world doesn\u2019t reduce waste. Being able to trim foods properly takes training, and it\u2019s time well spent for reducing waste and building team longevity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re a diligent chef, you notice when food isn\u2019t trimmed or portioned right, and you teach your team how you want things cut,\u201d White says. \u201cWhen you invest time training your people, they will stay with you and meet the needs of your operation.\u201d
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Focus on these five areas to reduce pre-production food waste. Is your prep person cutting off and discarding the bottom half of every head of lettuce because it\u2019s dirty? Are you tossing out boxes of spoiled or expired food you discovered in the back of the cooler? Food waste is costing your operation money, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":26735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,123,112,69,111,113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catering-small-business","category-hotels-hospitality","category-restaurant-bars","category-running-your-business","category-healthcare","category-university"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n