According to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates, 30% to 40% of the food supply in the United States goes to waste each year. The restaurant industry is a significant contributor. In fact, between 4% and 10% of the food in commercial kitchens is thrown out before it’s even prepared.

If you run a restaurant, this issue may already be on your radar. With the right strategies for food waste reduction, you can save money, minimize your environmental impact, and attract eco-conscious customers.

Why restaurants have food waste

The first step in reducing food waste in restaurants is understanding why it happens. Primary drivers include:

• Over-preparation. If the quantities of preprepared foods aren’t aligned with customer demand, the extra servings are often thrown out.
• Inaccurate forecasting. Forecasting errors, which can happen due to incomplete historical sales data or unexpected changes in customer behavior, can leave you with excess ingredients that are prone to spoiling.
• Portion sizes. The food customers leave on their plates automatically becomes waste.
• Menu changes. Removing dishes from a menu leaves the kitchen with extra ingredients. Unless those foods can be used in other menu items, they’ll likely wind up in the trash.
• Inventory management. Over-ordering, ineffective labeling, or an inefficient ingredient-usage system can lead to spoilage.
• Customer preferences. Changes in customer tastes and in-store or online ordering behavior can leave your restaurant with unused ingredients.
• Special requests. When customers ask to remove or substitute ingredients in standard dishes, it creates unexpected inventory surpluses or shortfalls.
• Staff training. Restaurant food waste can happen when staff members aren’t trained in efficient food preparation, portion sizing, and inventory management techniques.
• Health regulations. Storage and cross-contamination rules may force your restaurant to throw out potentially dangerous food items. 
• Aesthetic standards. To keep customers happy, restaurants often throw out items that aren’t aesthetically appealing, such as fruit with bruises and other surface variations.
• Supply chain issues. Problems like late deliveries and ingredient shortfalls tend to throw off your restaurant operation, forcing you to make last-minute menu changes that result in wasted food.

The impact of food waste

For restaurant owners, reducing wasted food is a financial priority. After all, the ingredients you don’t use can come with significant costs. If you spend $100,000 on food and 4% of it goes to waste, you’re losing $4,000 — plus the costs of labor and storage.

On a grand scale, wasted food has more serious effects, both for the planet and the human race:

• Environmental impact. The FDA estimates that wasted food accounts for 24% of all municipal solid waste in the United States.
• Food insecurity. According to Feeding America, 44 million people in the United States are dealing with food insecurity.
• Food loss. United Nations calculations suggest that wasted food totals 1.3 daily meals for every person in the world experiencing hunger.

By embracing restaurant sustainability strategies, your business can establish a more socially and environmentally responsible operation.

13 restaurant sustainability tips to reduce food waste in restaurants 

Here’s the good news: There are plenty of things you can do to reduce wasted food at your restaurant. Even small operational adjustments can cut waste, save money, and increase sustainability.

1. Conduct a food waste audit

Assess your operation with a restaurant food waste audit. Dispose of all wasted food in designated bins and sort it at the end of each shift. Your goal is to find frequently wasted foods and identify the main causes of food waste.

Your observations can provide valuable insights. If customers rarely eat a specific vegetable side, consider revamping the recipe. If you see a high volume of spoiled food, it’s probably time to revisit your inventory management system.

2. Recycle used cooking oil

Restaurants use an average of 35 pounds of cooking oil every day. Instead of throwing out your used oil, work with an oil-collection company to transport it to a recycling facility.

Using less oil also improves food waste management. Extend its lifetime by skimming it every 15 minutes and filtering it twice daily.

3. Optimize your restaurant storage

Prevent food spoilage by optimizing your dry, hot, and cold food storage by:

• Creating a shelf-life chart
• Labeling and shelving products immediately after delivery
• Placing older items near the front of shelves
• Using perishable items quickly

4. Donate food when possible

When foods approach their use-by dates, donate them to local food banks, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters. Read up on food-donation rules first; most organizations can’t accept prepared food that’s been on a buffet line, for example.

This strategy benefits the community and keeps food out of landfills. It can also help your restaurant earn tax credits.

5. Give leftovers to employees

When an item doesn’t sell or the kitchen prepares too much, offer the extras to employees. It’s a great way to boost morale and keep quality food out of the trash. Just make sure to follow food safety practices to protect workers — don’t let food sit out too long, and always package and store it safely.

6. Consider composting

Composting is an eco-friendly way to dispose of food scraps that are left over from food prep or customer meals. If space and health department rules allow, invest in a commercial composter or build a traditional compost bin. Then, donate the compost to a local farm or community garden. Alternatively, send scraps to an industrial composting company.

Compostable organic waste includes:

• Food and vegetable scraps
• Coffee grounds and paper filters
• Paper tea bags
• Eggshells (crushed)
• Shredded paper and cardboard

You shouldn’t compost cooked food, meat, dairy products, or oils.

7. Reduce portion sizes

A high volume of customer food scraps can indicate that your portions are too big. Reducing sizes enables diners to finish the entire meal, which maintains satisfaction and reduces wasted food.

Another solution? Offer popular dishes in multiple sizes so customers can order according to their appetite.

8. Staff training and awareness

When your employees are aware of the need for food waste reduction and educated about solutions, they can become active participants in the process.

Train the team in:

• Standard portion sizes
• Low-waste food preparation
• Safe and efficient food storage
• Inventory management systems
• Communicating portion sizes and allergens

9. Flexible menus and menu engineering

A flexible menu enables your restaurant to adapt to changing stock levels. Instead of wasting excess food, you can use it in a new dish or a modified menu item. Use regular menu engineering sessions to understand the margins for each recipe variation so your chefs can make decisions that maximize profitability and reduce waste.

10. Better inventory management

Efficient inventory management is one of the best ways to reduce wasted food. When you forecast accurately and order just enough food to meet customer demand, it’s easier to reduce overstock and spoilage.

Ways to improve restaurant inventory management include:

• Using inventory management software that integrates with your POS system 
• Training your team to retrieve foods on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis
• Assigning inventory tasks to specific employees

11. Seasonal and local sourcing

Reduce your restaurant’s reliance on long-distance food shipments — and insulate the business from supply-chain disruptions that drive restaurant food waste — by sourcing from local suppliers. The shorter distance allows more frequent deliveries, which enables you to increase food freshness and quality while keeping inventory levels low. Local sourcing also makes it easier to create seasonal menus that keep customers coming back.

12. Encourage customers to take leftovers home

Gentle persuasion can motivate diners to take home their leftovers. Ask servers to:

• Bring sustainable to-go containers to the table automatically
• Speak enthusiastically about the enhanced flavor profile of leftovers
• Recommend the best reheating strategies

13. Create daily specials with surplus food

Use extra ingredients as the basis for a daily special. Customers love to try new dishes — especially when they come with a small discount. To streamline the kitchen workflow, create a list of recipes that utilize inventory staples. When a surplus arises, chefs can simply choose the most appropriate dish.

Grubhub for Restaurants is committed to driving sustainability across the restaurant industry

As a trusted delivery and mobile ordering platform, Grubhub is taking action to boost sustainability and reduce wasted food. When you sign up with Grubhub for Restaurants, you’ll gain access to features that include:

• Quick menu edits. Remove dishes easily when an ingredient runs out or you switch seasonal menus.
• Promotions. Offer discounts to move inventory before it expires.
• Virtual restaurants. A delivery-only virtual restaurant gives you the freedom to adjust your menu and food-prep process to reduce waste.
• Tech integrations. Grubhub technology enables accurate ordering and reduces errors.

Every action in the restaurant industry helps reduce food waste. Whether you embrace composting or food donation, your efforts can cut costs and benefit the environment. And if efficient delivery is part of your sustainability plan, Grubhub can help. To learn more, get started with Grubhub today.