New Zealand
Wise up on waste
In a perfect world there would be no waste, in the preparation or on guests plates. This is not the perfect world, and there will always be a certain element of food waste. There are however creative ways of reducing waste and turning leftovers into profit.
Your Guests care about food wastage:
World Menu Report
Unilever Food Solutions’ second World Menu Report highlights the growing global concern with food waste when eating out-of-home.
To learn more about what consumers think about the issue of food wastage, click the link below to read the second Unilever Food Solutions World Menu Report:
Wise Up On Waste Toolkit
According to research over half the food produced in the world today is lost, wasted or discarded as a result of inefficiencies in the human managed food chain. UFS understands that reducing food waste is one of the biggest challenges for the food service industry. Food has a particularly high carbon footprint and requires considerable resources to grow, process and prepare. Many only think about disposal expenses when considering food waste, however we know for a fact that there are a number of other costs to consider when estimating the overheads of waste.
The results from researching 500+ New Zealand consumers reinforces that this is indeed a global trend:
- 82% of Kiwis believe it is important for foodservice operators to dispose food waste in an environmentally-friendly way
- 40% would pay more when dining out for a restaurant that was implementing sustainable practices
To assist foodservice operators in improving their waste management practices in their business, UFS is proud to launch the Global “Work Smart - Wise Up on Waste Toolkit”.
Click below to view the Wise Up On Waste Toolkit
Here are our top tips to help you wise up on waste:
Portion Sizes - Regularly
check plates when they come back to understand which dishes are too
heavy or too large. You may notice a lots of garnish left over or too
much sauce.
Making adjustments can help save money.
Accurate Measuring - Use scales to measure out ingredients as well as portions. Your recipe should always be the basis for your selling price.
It’s not unusual for an over-service of more than 40% to occur.
Perfect for great value seasonal items.
Accurate Ordering - Employ accurate ordering and stock rotation to avoid ingredients going out of date.
If there is a booking cancellation use ingredients on specials board.
Get Creative - Be creative with vegetable trimmings to make tasty soups. Use toast from breakfast for breadcrumbs for fishcakes, and stale brioche for bread based puddings.
Use of off cuts to create tasty starters. eg, pork and chicken trimmings can be turned into pâtés and terrines. Turn excess produce into chutneys, pickles and jams.
Dehydrate excess fruit and vegetables to create highly flavoured powders. Dry out the fruit or vegetable in a low oven and whizz through a processor. Use the vegetable powder in sauces or and fruit powders over sorbets and ice-creams.
