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The Secret to Reducing Food Waste in a Commercial Kitchen

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Food waste is a serious problem in the United States. Approximately 141 trillion calories worth of food is wasted in the U.S. each year. That’s enough to feed 530k people for an entire year. Furthermore, 25 percent of the total freshwater used in agriculture is attributed to the production of food that eventually goes on to be wasted. 

And that’s just the big picture perspective. If you drill down and look at individual commercial kitchens, such as yours, you’ll find that you’re wasting thousands of dollars per year on food waste. Fixing this problem could lead to better profits and/or more opportunities for people in your community to leverage the resources that are available.

Tips for Reducing Food Waste in Your Kitchen

Food waste is one of those facts of life in a commercial kitchen. However, we shouldn’t be okay with the idea of just throwing away food. And with a little intentionality, we can reduce food waste and be more resourceful stewards of the food we have in our possession. 

Saying you want to reduce food waste in your kitchen and actually doing it are two totally different things. So let’s stop speaking theoretically and get practical. Here are several suggestions that could work for your commercial kitchen.

  • Adopt JIT and FIFO Methods

When it comes to buying inventory, the just-in-time (JIT) method is largely considered to be the most efficient option for commercial kitchens. As the name suggests, it involves buying ingredients and supplies on an as-needed basis (depending on demand). 

In order to make this system work, you need strong connections with nearby suppliers who are able to deliver goods when needed quickly.

From an efficiency standpoint, we recommend using a first-in, first-out (FIFO) method of using ingredients. With this approach, you use the items that are placed into your cooler or pantry according to the order in which they were placed.

So, if you have one bag of flour that was put into your pantry on 5/1 and another bag that was placed in the pantry on 7/1, the bag with a 5/1 expiration date gets used first. This sounds obvious, but if you don’t have a formal system in place, it’s easy for the last item that was placed in storage to be used first (simply because it’s the most accessible).

  • Optimize Food Prep Processes

Much of your food waste problems can be eliminated if you’re just smart about how you optimize food preparation processes.

As FSR Magazine explains, “Cross-contamination is one of the ways that food can become unusable during preparation. If raw meat is stored near vegetables or cooked meat in the fridge, bacteria from raw meat can get on vegetables or other foods, leading to unsafe consumption and food that must be thrown away.”

One of the best ways to deal with this is by separating all food storage and food preparation areas. This includes using different cutting boards, knives, and utensils for different food prep areas. 

  • Put Leftovers to Good Use

No matter how smart you are about inventory and food prep, you’re still going to end up with some excess food. How you handle these leftovers will determine how much food waste you have.

For one, you need a good, properly functioning commercial freezer to help you store leftovers that are able to be reused in the future. For anything else that can’t be frozen, get creative with daily specials and a la carte sides.

  • Serve Smaller Portion Sizes

If you notice that most of your food waste comes from leftover food on customer plates, then this may be a sign that your portion sizes are too large. Don’t be afraid to cut back and focus on quality over quantity. Most customers won’t even notice.

  • Start a Food Recycling Program

At the end of the day, there will always be some waste. Thankfully, there are plenty of local organizations and nonprofits that partner with commercial kitchens to collect leftovers and scraps. Depending on the type of food and the organization’s goals, this food may be turned into compost and/or utilized in soup kitchens.

As a note, there are strict laws governing the re-use of food in restaurants and commercial establishments. And if you choose to donate unused food to charities, you need to make sure that you’re abiding by both state laws and the rules set out by the charity. You can learn more on the USDA.gov website.

It’s impossible to have zero percent food waste. However, you can go from throwing away thousands of dollars worth of waste each year to becoming a much more efficient steward of the resources you have available to you.