Wasted food is an accepted by-product of the restaurant industry. However, although it is somewhat inevitable that you will waste food, it is possible to reduce that waste considerably. Bokashi Bran® suggests seven great tips to help you keep your kitchen waste to minimum.
7 Restaurant Waste Reduction Tips
It’s quite simple to turn your restaurant into a low-waste or zero-waste establishment if you just take heed of the following seven handy tips. Read our blogs for more waste reduction advice.
Tip #1: Give Uneaten Food to Staff
As long as leftovers are safe to eat, your staff will be very happy to take some home or eat some while on a break. At the end of the night, if you have food that hasn’t sold, you might as well share it out among the staff.
Read Next: Responsible Food Waste Management for Commercial Kitchens
Tip #2: Use Perishable Foods Quickly
Most high-quality restaurants use farm-to-table produce to ensure fresh and superior dishes. It’s important to remember that these foods have a short shelf life as they contain no preservatives, so make sure to use them quickly.
Tip #3: Store Your Foods Carefully
Make sure that your refrigerators and freezers are well maintained and always kept at the right temperatures. Follow proper guidelines as to how you stock your food in the fridges (make sure meats are kept on the lower shelves, for example). Failure to monitor your food storage can lead to major health and safety problems, and you will have to throw out food that is not stored at proper temperatures.
Tip #4: Donate Surplus Food
Some seven million South Africans are going hungry. You can help alleviate their hunger by donating food that is past its prime but still safe to eat. You could drop off surpluses at a homeless shelter nearby, for example, or you can work with companies such as Food Forward SA.
Tip #5: Make Creative Use of Leftovers
Certain leftovers can very easily be reused in new dishes if you get creative. The head chef at Greenhouse in Constantia, Cape Town, for example, challenges his team to create a new dish with leftovers every week. His wastage campaign is inspiring the industry to approach food preparation and waste differently.
Tip #6: Recycle Cooking Oil as Biofuel
We all know it is not safe to reuse cooking oil in food preparation, but it isn’t even safe to dispose of it down the drain or in your trash, as it becomes carcinogenic. There are companies, such as Scope Oils, that collect old cooking oil and recycle it into biodiesel.
Tip #7: Compost any Food You Can
The great thing about organic waste is that it can be composted, returned to the earth and used to grow more food. With solutions such as Bokashi Bran®, almost all food scraps can be turned into highly effective and fertile compost.
Make Bokashi Bran® a Part of Your Strategy to Reduce Your Restaurant’s Environmental Impact
If you are serious about reducing your kitchen waste and need a convenient and effective system to help you do so, make a Bokashi Bran® food waste system an important part of your solution. Contact us for more information or to place an order.
Now Read: 10 Ways the Hotel Industry Can Reduce Their Environmental Impact
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