Plate to Profit: The Hidden Value of Food Waste in Hospitality

Reducing your food waste isn’t just ethical, it’s one of the fastest and lowest-risk routes in the hospitality sector to improving your margins. Within the industry, tight margins and rising costs can still be balanced with the greener expectations of guests and diners.

At Brown Recycling, we’re fully committed to sustainability, and we work with hospitality sites across Staffordshire, Cheshire and the Midlands. This gives us a front-row seat to what works, what doesn’t and where the hidden value sits for hotels, restaurants, pubs, cafes and any other venue with food on the menu. 

From plate to profit

When it comes to waste, it costs more than just the bin. Factor in the purchase price of ingredients, preparation through labour, energy, storage and compliance, and then add in disposal costs. 

So, wouldn’t it be better to view it like this? For every kilogram of food you can avoid wasting, the more you protect your margin.

There are hidden savings to be made in every business by following a smarter segregation system to cut down your disposal costs. This allows you to get better data on when and where waste is happening, and with that information, you could adjust your menu and your staffing decisions.

How will this impact your guests? They’ll see the following benefits:

• Fresher menus
• Fewer pest and odour issues
• Cleaner facilities overall
• A strong sustainability story

Quick wins that pay back fast

Now let’s turn that into a strategy you can really implement. Here are four ways that paying close attention to food waste can help you lower costs and increase profits:

1. Menu engineering – You can trim back spending on low-selling items, find ways to repurpose any trimmings and focus on versatile ingredients that work across multiple items.
2. Portion sizes – If you offer different size options and add-ons, you can ensure your guests get the best portion size for them. If you’re giving people overloaded dishes that come back with leftovers that you have to waste, it’s a chance to recalibrate.
3. Prep and storage discipline – Keeping accurate date labels and vacuum sealing where appropriate can minimise any unnecessary waste and reduce your purchasing costs.
4. Segregate the food at source – Use dedicated, lidded caddies with some simple signage to make finding the right ingredients easy. That way, nothing gets overlooked, contaminated or spoiled, which means less to throw away.
   

Food waste data is your friend

Waste auditing may not sound exciting, but it holds huge potential. Through a simple bin audit, you can review what is being wasted, where and when, helping to inform your business decisions.

Consider tracking other KPIs too, such as plate waste per guest, so that you can check you’re getting portion sizes right. From checking the percentage of spoilage to how much of the purchased weight of your food gets over-trimmed, eventually you’ll fine-tune your operations.

Don’t forget to benchmark where you are now to compare with. You can then convert avoided kilograms of waste into a monetary value that keeps you and your team motivated in your efforts.

Partner with trusted food waste professionals

At Brown Recycling, we provide more than just food waste recycling. Our tailored proposals and audits can help hospitality venues of all sizes go beyond compliance. 

And, when you choose us as your dedicated partner, you can rest assured that we’ll provide everything, from the correct bins that allow you to segregate waste in line with Simpler Recycling regulations to transportation to anaerobic digestion facilities. Whatever food you do have will be recycled and put back into use to help create a circular, closed-loop system.

Learn more about internal and outdoor bins, collection schedules and how we dispose of your food waste to help you meet your sustainability goals by talking to our team. Contact us today and let’s get started on creating a customised food waste plan for your hospitality business.