LONDON—Hilton, Accor, Marriott, Mandarin Oriental, and IKEA are among the hospitality groups collectively saving more than $100 million per year in food costs by reducing kitchen food waste, enabled by AI-powered tracking technology from Winnow.
Winnow is an AI food waste technology company that equips commercial kitchens with connected hardware and artificial intelligence to track what food is discarded, when, and why. The data enables kitchen teams to adjust production, improve planning, and reduce overproduction. Winnow’s technology is deployed in thousands of kitchens across nearly 100 countries.
Why Food Waste Matters to the Hospitality Industry
Food waste is one of the hospitality sector’s most persistent and costly operational challenges:
- Global food waste represents an estimated $1 trillion in economic loss each year (source: UNEP).
- $147 billion is attributed to surplus food in the U.S. foodservice sector alone (source: ReFED).
- Most commercial kitchens waste 5 percent to 15 percent of food purchased.
- Kitchens that measure food waste typically achieve reductions of over 50 percent.
How Winnow Works
Winnow’s system combines connected hardware with AI to generate actionable data for kitchen teams:
- Capture—Food waste is recorded at point of disposal. Winnow’s latest innovation, Throw & Go, enables completely touch-free capture, making data collection faster and easier in high-volume kitchens.
- Analyse—The AI identifies patterns in what is wasted, when, and why.
- Act—Chefs and kitchen managers use the insights to adjust menus, resize portions, and improve production planning.
Savings are calculated by establishing each site’s baseline food waste level and comparing it with performance after Winnow is installed, adjusting for changes in demand—such as sales volume and covers—to ensure results reflect genuine operational improvements.
Operators Achieving Results
- Hilton achieved a 26 percent reduction in plate waste during their Green Ramadan 2025 initiative across 45 hotels in 14 countries. A total of 4.7 million meals were prevented from being wasted annually.
- Accor is saving one meal every four seconds with 200+ hotels using Winnow worldwide.
- Guckenheimer achieved a 64 percent reduction in food waste since 2022, saving the equivalent of nearly 1 million meals annually (announced 2025).
- Mandarin Oriental achieved a 36 percent reduction in food waste across four pilot hotels in first six months. They’re now rolling Winnow’s AI solutions out to 40+ hotels.
Quotes
“This milestone is a tribute to the chefs who are making food waste reduction part of how they run their kitchens every day. They are the ones designing menus, rethinking processes, and leading their teams to cook more consciously. Our role is to give them the data to make that easier.”—Marc Zornes, CEO and Co-Founder, Winnow
“Reducing food waste is both a moral imperative and a strategic opportunity for our industry. Through our partnership with Winnow, we’re empowering our chefs with the insights they need to reduce waste and lead change in kitchens around the world. These chefs are preventing 4.7 million meals from being wasted each year.”—Emma Banks, Vice President of Food & Drink Strategy and Development for EMEA, Hilton
“At Accor, reducing food waste is a key lever in our journey towards more sustainable hospitality. Through our collaboration with Winnow, we empower our chefs with data-driven insights to make conscious decisions every day.”—Coline Pont, Chief Sustainability Officer, Accor.
Environmental Impact
- 28,000 tons of food waste prevented per year.
- Equivalent to two meals saved every second.
- 122,000 tons of CO₂e emissions avoided—equivalent to removing 28,000 cars from the road for a year (source: EPA)
- For every ton of CO₂e Winnow produces, its clients save 82 tons (as of 2025).
Regulatory Context
Food waste measurement is also becoming a legal requirement, not just a sustainability choice:
- The EU has proposed binding targets to cut food waste by 2030, aligned with the global goal to halve per-capita food waste.
Spain passed legislation in April 2025 requiring hospitality businesses to implement food waste prevention plans, with enforcement beginning in 2026.
