What are the 6 Food Waste Prevention Myths? Leanpath, a food waste prevention specialist, recently released a document explaining the myths. If you have an F&B operation at your property, or even if you don’t, I highly recommend reading the document. First, the six myths, according to Leanpath:
1. My team doesn’t have time to track and prevent food waste.
2. Food waste prevention technology is too expensive.
3. Food waste is a result of poor performance.
4. My kitchen controls its food waste: we donate and compost.
5. You fix food waste once and you’re done.
6. It’s not the time. I have too many other priorities.
Below is a snippet from each of the six myth descriptions, as described by Leanpath:
1. Based on Leanpath analysis, the labor saved by cutting food waste from overproduction in half could increase a kitchen’s profitability by 4 percent to 8 percent.
2. Champions found that for every dollar spent on food waste prevention, a foodservice kitchen saw a $6 to $7 return.
3. In many kitchens, food waste is not a byproduct of poor performance, but a tool used to manage risk. Overproduction—the primary source of waste in most kitchens—is often used to manage the risk of running out of food and disappointing a customer.
4. Donation and composting only happen once a kitchen has paid for that excess or wasted food and invested labor in preparing it. Preventing food waste in the first place is the only solution that delivers environmental, social, and financial benefits—a full triple bottom line.
5. Kitchens change. Menus change. Staff change. Management and chefs change. And habits change. All those changes can lead to backsliding on food waste. Food waste measurement and prevention is an ongoing part of operating an efficient, sustainable kitchen.
6. According to Leanpath data, a typical foodservice kitchen wastes between 4 percent and 10 percent of its food purchases before that food ever reaches a diner. That doesn’t include the cost of labor wasted purchasing, inventorying, prepping, cooking, and ultimately discarding that food waste.
There are many reasons why reducing food waste is important. Another snippet from Leanpath’s document: “In its 2020 Drawdown Review, Project Drawdown ranks the importance of various solutions aimed at keeping global warming to under 2 degrees C. ‘Reduced food waste’ is ranked #1.”
