Applied Waste Techniques

Background

The Breakfast Club is a high volume, fast turnover operation. The management team signed up to FoodSave - a campaign to help London food businesses better manage their food waste - because they suspected that their restaurants were wasting too much food. The Breakfast Club is serious about sustainability, and reducing food waste is one of its top sustainability priorities. One of the six Breakfast Club sites in London was chosen to take part in the FoodSave programme.

Kitchen food was monitored using the Winnow System to weigh and categorise all food that was thrown away. Staff found the process straightforward and informative. The system required minimal time to use, a critical factor for a high turnover establishment like The BC. The FoodSave team met weekly with The BC team during the programme to problem solve ways to reduce waste and check on progress.

Results

•     Kitchen food waste was reduced by 55%, preventing 2.5 tonnes of waste going to landfill per year
•     £5,600 would be saved on food costs annually
•     Information on plate waste informed a menu redesign, taking into account factors such as portion size and customer preferences
•     A waste hotspot was identified, achieving an 80% reduction in waste in just four weeks
•     Communication between staff improved and the team's awareness of food waste was heightened

Feedback

Taking part in FoodSave has had a hugely significant impact on our business, making us think about everything from how we order and store our food to the size of our portions. It's been a very positive experience and one that will have a lasting effect on all the restaurants.
Matt Goussaert, Executive Chef, The Breakfast Club.

Background

This self-service restaurant won The SRA's London Restaurant of the Year in 2013 and its commitment to sustainability reflects its Quaker values. Prior to its FoodSave audit - a funded project to help reduce food waste from London hospitality businesses - the restaurant was already separating and recycling food waste and in the first week of the audit, Friends House Restaurant generated just 180g waste per cover, less than half the industry average.

The Winnow System was used to quickly and easily record the types of food waste, the main sources of which were found to arise from over-preparation and from plate waste. By reviewing the collected data, the team could identify waste reduction actions. They also involved customers in reducing plate waste by encouraging them to only take what they will eat - a great way to shout about being sustainable.

Results

•     Food waste as a % of sales fell from 4.8% to 2.6%
•     Waste from over-preparation dropped by 94% after reducing batch cooking production sizes towards the end of service
•     Overall food waste by weight and value fell by 48% during the initial four weeks
•     Forecasted savings from these actions are expected to be £2,929 per year
•     The annual reduction in food waste was forecasted to be 22 tonnes

Feedback

FoodSave highlighted areas where we could reduce our waste even further and provided innovative ideas of what to do with some of our leftover food waste.
Jamie Scott, Catering Manager, Friends House.

Background

Potli brings the first Indian food bazaar experience to London. Located in the heart of W6, between Hammersmith and Chiswick, this restaurant promises a colourful Indian food experience with a menu that marries exotic spices with local produce. Potli purchases exclusively British meats and poultry, and obtains its fish and seafood from sustainable sources. The restaurant is committed to serving wholesome Indian food as a shared dining experience. Already focused on sustainable sourcing, the Potli team were keen to tackle food waste through FoodSave - a London campaign to help food businesses reduce their food waste.

All food waste was measured using the Winnow System, including inventory spoilage, preparation waste, and plate waste. The system required minimal staff time and caused no disruption to service. Having data on the amount of food waste thrown away heightened staff awareness of the issue, and meant that everyone got involved in identifying opportunities for waste reduction.

Plate waste represented the highest food waste cost for Potli, accounting for over 70% of food waste value. Through identifying the scale of the problem, the Potli team worked on a number of solutions to reduce plate waste.

Results

•     The average cost of food waste per cover fell from £1.28 to £0.92
•     Over four weeks, £1,300 was saved, equating to annual savings of £13,529
•     Food waste dropped by 1.6 tonnes per year
•     They reduced food waste by 59g per cover

Feedback

The awareness was there in terms of food waste, but to implement and see it on a daily basis in a report was eye opening. The FoodSave team was extremely supportive throughout.
Jay Ghosh, Director, Potli.

Background

Crieff Hydro is a four star luxury spa hotel in Perthshire, set in a 900-acre estate with 213 en-suite rooms and over 500 staff. The hotel is one of 8 similar, high quality hotels. Crieff Hydro has five restaurants, cafes and bars serving a wide range of full meals and snacks.

They took part in a food waste trial and installed two Winnow Systems in their main Meikle restaurant to actively monitor food waste. Reports of the data collected by the Winnow Systems were discussed weekly between the head chef and profit margin analyst to identify actions to reduce food waste from buffet operations. This provided them with the granular detail on their sources of food waste to make changes to behaviours and processes, without negatively affecting the high quality of meals served.

Results

•     A substantial reduction in the quantity and value of food waste
•     The amount of food waste per cover reduced by 31%; from 169g to 117g
•     The cost of wasted food, as a percentage of sales, dropped from 9% to 5%
•     This translates to an annual reduction of 11.5 tonnes of food waste
•     Prevented food waste savings of approximately £51,750 per year

Feedback

This has given us the wakeup call that we needed. It has shown us just how much cash we were effectively putting into the bin on a daily basis. Seeing the level of detail, down to the waste from specific components of a dish, really brings home the need to change practices and increase awareness. The WRAP trial has played a massive part in helping to change perceptions and deliver savings.
Marcus Kenyon, General Manager.

Background

As the executive dining division of Compass Group (the world's largest foodservice company), Restaurant Associates provides nearly 100,000 meals daily in the UK. Quality and efficiency are values that sit at the centre of the organisation.

Although they started from a position of good performance, Restaurant Associates were still able to reduce food waste by 50% when given access to robust management data from cutting edge technology. Measuring and tracking food waste was not a new concept to Restaurant Associates, but data collection methods were time consuming, inaccurate, and manual. The Winnow System in contrast is simple to use and allows the sites to record food waste in a fraction of the time, with assurance that all sources of waste were captured daily.

Results

•     Food waste dropped by 50% on average at each site
•     At each site, around 15 tonnes less food waste is generated per year
•     This equates to 10,000 plated meals per annum
•     Each site is saving 50 tonnes of CO₂ emissions

Feedback

The system is really easy to read and understand. It gives us an accurate view of waste in site. Chefs and front of house staff now think about waste throughout the day. For me, being able to see with detail which products are being wasted is incredible.
Ramiro Pujol, Head Chef, Restaurant Associates.

We have seen phenomenal results with Winnow. Within months of using Winnow at a site we are regularly able to cut food waste in half. Winnow is so easy to use. It takes away paper, reduces office work, and makes our teams more effective. Every team member became involved in reducing waste on site. Winnow helps us to rigorously look at our production process, portioning, and better matching our clients' needs.
James Boyle, Managing Director, Restaurant Associates.

Background

Tucked away beside the river in Richmond-upon-Thames, the Bingham is one of London's most unusual boutique hotels, or 'restaurant with rooms'. The Bingham's restaurant run by Head Chef Mark Jarvis creates natural, modern British cuisine using the finest, locally sourced seasonal, sustainable ingredients. Already focused on keeping plate waste to an absolute minimum, the team used FoodSave - a campaign to tackle waste in London food businesses - to focus attention on where waste reduction could be made in the kitchen.

Results

•     Food waste reduced by 30%
•     This equates to an annual reduction of 2.4 tonnes
•     £109 was saved in food costs per week
•     The annual savings would be around £7,580
•     53% of the weekly savings came from minimising stock spoilage

Feedback

FoodSave really helped us focus on inventory waste. We now pay much closer attention to inventory checks and have made changes such as making bread in house. The project is extremely worthwhile to take part in.
Mark Jarvis, Head Chef, The Bingham.