Act

Following these simple steps could help increase profit:

• Check – Brief your team to check your stock regularly and purchase only what you need.
• Frequency – Investigate if you could order less but more often to save on storage space and keep food fresh.
• Suppliers – Order meat and fish cut to specifications – to save prep time and leave less food to throw away.
• Just-in-time - Work with your suppliers to arrange just-in-time deliveries so you only order what you know will be used.

Well organised storage increases efficiency and avoids unnecessary food waste. Some good tips for storing:

• Label items with purchase and use-by dates (if applicable).
• F.I.F.O. First in, first out! Store new items at the back to ensure older items are used first.
• Store food as soon as it is delivered. Avoid overloading the fridge or freezer.
• Use airtight containers or vacuum packing to keep already prepared food fresh for longer.
• Revise shelf/storage plans frequently to ensure they reflect your menu.
• Consider using frozen, dried, bottled or tinned goods as alternatives to fresh ingredients where quality is comparable.

Visit the WRAP website for more guidance on labelling.

Too many choices can be overwhelming for customers and reducing your SKUs can really help increase efficiency.

Review your menu with our Menu Planning slides which you can find here.

Case Study

The Airport – a busy pub in Manchester Airport – found that 88% of their waste was coming back on customers plates. By making simple menu changes – such as serving ‘naked” burgers without buns unless requested they saved nearly £3,000 in the first four weeks alone! Read the full case study here.

Clever Ideas to Revive Your Menu

• Explore ways of using the same ingredients for different dishes.
• Employ cooking methods for making the most of meats, fruit and vegetables and herbs.
• Be creative by using leftover ingredients and offcuts.

Do Something Special & Offer:

• Chef or lunch specials to use excess ingredients.
• Garnishes and side orders by request to give customers
  the choice of what and how much they want to eat.
• A range of portion sizes.

Getting your staff excited about protecting your profits and our planet couldn’t be simpler.

We recommend ALL staff start with the Cost Savings Skills Course to give them the key information they need on why we need to act and how to get cracking with tracking in just fifteen minutes.

Our posters, gifs, videos, printed materials, guides and explainers will help get everyone on board either in person or via comms and social media. Our People, Planet, Profit on-demand series offers in-depth, practical advice from industry leaders.

Webinars available include Skills for the Future, Serving Net Zero and Plate Waste.

Our bank of case studies provide real-life examples of the savings and benefits of measuring and reducing food waste.

Inspiration can come from anywhere and everyone should have a voice, so make sure your Champion has regular staff meetings to capture valuable ideas during the process and is given the appropriate authority and support.

The Food Waste Reduction Action Plan is a great tool for capturing ideas and making sure tasks are completed.

Reach out and show the team as well as wider staff / senior management team why tackling food waste is a planetary and profit-saving priority with this editable Business Case Presentation.

Free Training with becoming a champion E-learning 

Knowledge is power! The Guardians of Grub: Becoming a Champion e-learning course is ideal for individuals and organisations committed to taking action through learning and food waste measurement.

The course:

• Has five levels, with a certificate for each completed
• Includes resource toolkits including tools, templates, how-to-guides, podcasts and webinars
• Guides individuals and businesses through every stage of reducing wasted food across operations from kitchen to supply chain and menu design
• This course takes you or your business’s skills to the next level to make a positive difference to you, your profits and the planet. To find out more or to take part, contact guardiansofgrub@wrap.org.uk

Keep an eye on the weight of your “Plate” food waste container. The goal is to get this as close to zero as possible whilst keeping customers happy. Common sources of food left on plates are sides like chips, bread and vegetables.

Measuring your plate waste provides great intel on whether your portion sizes are appropriate. Consider offering a variety of portion sizes for appropriate dishes. Encourage front-of-house staff to chat to customers about your efforts to reduce food waste. Get them to guide customers to the right dishes and portion sizes to match their appetite, and find out what customers think about the portions you serve.

For more inspiration, our Plate Waste webinar is packed with insights and real ideas for tackling plate waste.

Case Study

The Ship Inn in Cumbria, cut food waste by a massive 67% by offering
smaller portion sizes, particularly of chips, and putting out smaller portions of sauce. You can read the full case study here.

How can I reduce leftovers

1. Offer portion size options
2. Offer side dishes as options or by request
3. Offer take away “doggy boxes” routinely to all customers with edible leftovers

81%* of the UK population care about the climate crisis and 32%* see a link between food waste and the environment.

Wasting food feeds climate change: every kilogram of food wasted has a carbon and environmental impact.

Setting a food waste reduction target gives a sense of purpose and structure, allowing you to build a food waste reduction action plan as part of your Net Zero journey. It also enables you and your business to contribute towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030, the Courtauld Commitment 2030 and the UK’s Food Waste Reduction Roadmap.

The FSA Consumer tracker shows that after Food Safety, the next most important issue to 57%** of your customers is food waste.

This means your work to reduce food waste is a great opportunity to talk to customers about what you’re doing to protect the environment and help tackle the climate crisis. And protect your profits too.

You don’t have to wait until customers walk through the door to get them excited about what you’re doing. Harness comms and social media - there are tonnes of resources on the website, including a bunch of social media goodies here.

For more inspiration, our Serving Net Zero episode is packed with insight on how tackling food waste can help you reduce carbon, cost and meet customer expectations

Encourage customers to take home your food & enjoy it later

Get staff on board by explaining why you are working to reduce plate waste.

• Speak to your local Environmental Health Professional about the options available for customers to take food home.
• Investigate options for takeaway containers. Encourage customers to bring their own, or provide them yourself, offering them to every diner with edible leftovers as standard practice (making sure they are new and food grade).
• Label the container with storage advice and your branding to remind customers about food safety and to promote your business.
• Find out more from the Food Standards Agency and CIEH.

What to do with surplus food

So you’ve done everything you can to prevent wasted food. But if you’ve still got surplus that’s fit to eat the next best approach is redistribution.

Consider working with a local or national food redistribution organisation.

Doing the right thing will make you feel good and could have a positive impact on your local community.

Here are some useful links:

• WRAP’s Food Surplus Network.
• The Sustainable Restaurant Association redistribution guide gives you all the information you need on redistribution organisations for hospitality and food service.

Food waste collection

For food that’s unfit to eat, find out from your local waste management contractor if they offer recycling collections.

For more information on how to ask your Waste Collector to provide you with food waste data, click here for a useful guide.