Leave a comment

As a restaurant owner, the health and safety of your customers (and your business) is paramount, regardless of the size of your establishment. Whether you own a cozy café or several steakhouses across the country, food spoilage can cause serious consequences for your clientele and your gross profit. Control pre-consumer food waste in your restaurant with these food waste-prevention tips.

Planning

Make it an ongoing process to evaluate your inventory and make adjustments, where needed, if it will help you to reduce wasting food and funds. Order less of an item (or cross-utilize it in another dish), if it’s not performing as well on the menu as you thought it would. This could help you avoid having to introduce price increases to compensate for food spoilage. Inventory par levels can also assist by identifying the minimum quantity of an item that you need to have on hand until your next shipment arrives. If your current stock is lower than par level, place a smaller order to bring it back up to par, without going over.

Further, train your staff to understand your inventory process. Educate them about your categories, purchase units, issue units and inventory list. With everyone on board when it comes to inventory control, you’ll be able to gain much-needed feedback from your staff about food volumes. Make it a routine to count inventory on a regular basis (daily, weekly, etc.), because the more often you take inventory, the quicker you’ll be able to identify any imbalances.

Buying

You may be tempted to buy several extra cases of fresh produce when there’s a promotion or sale. However, if you won’t be able to use it up within the week, you’ll be tossing all that food (and money) in the dumpster. Take advantage of specials only when you know you’ll be able to use all the goods that week. Or, ask if your supplier can deliver the items in various stages of ripeness so the shipment will last over a longer time period.

Receiving

Thoroughly inspect all of your food shipments as soon as you receive them, not just the items on top. If items arrive spoiled (or close to it) contact your supplier right away, and send the food back. If this issue becomes a common problem, it may be time to scout out a new vendor. If any of your items are delivered hot, pre-cool them prior to refrigerating to prevent bacteria growth. If you receive refrigerated items, ensure they’re delivered at the required temperature.

Organizing