Adding Up the Cost of Food Waste to Restaurants and Landfills

Curious and hungry, patrons arrive at your restaurant expecting fresh culinary creations on your menu; with the emphasis on fresh.

Inevitably, dishes are prepared that go unsold; a common problem even for restaurants offering a limited menu. Often these dishes must be discarded. By the very nature of a commercial restaurant vs. a private kitchen, patrons are not interested in eating whatever you have available to serve. Thus, we have a food waste issue that is ongoing for most restaurant managers. 

While your operation carefully evaluates your purchasing system, have you considered how much it costs to throw food away? By example, a 50-pound carton of cabbages may cost $10. But to throw it away, it can cost you one-third of that or more.

1.3 billion tons of food is wasted annually worldwide.

The process of dumping waste food into large garbage containers, periodically dumping it into an outdoor container, and paying to have it taken to a landfill is a dirty, sometimes dangerous, and…