How to reduce food waste in your restaurant

Everything that gets thrown out in your kitchen was paid for and never sold. Waste doesn't show up on any invoice, but it does show up in your food cost. The good news: most of it can be avoided with simple habits and by checking dates in time.

Where food gets wasted

• In storage: ingredients that expire or spoil before you use them.
• In prep: trim, peels and mistakes (something burned or made wrong).
• From overproduction: what was made "just in case" and left over at close.
• On the plate: what customers leave, especially sides.

First, measure what it costs you

For two weeks, write down everything that gets thrown out: what it is, how much, why and what it cost. It doesn't have to be perfect; it has to be consistent.

It looks small, but it's about $235 a month and more than $2,800 a year. And the log tells you something more useful than the total: here, half was lost to expiration and another chunk to overproduction. That's where to start.

1. Buy the right amount

• Use par levels based on what you actually use. We explain how in the inventory guide.
• Order perishables more often and in smaller amounts: herbs, dairy, avocados, fish.
• Be wary of bulk deals on perishables: the savings disappear if you throw part of it away.

2. Receive and store it right

• Check deliveries on arrival: dates, temperature and condition. Anything that arrives bad goes back right then.
• Label everything with the received date and expiration date.
• Use FIFO: new in back, old in front, and what expires first gets used first.
• Watch temperatures and containers: a fridge that doesn't cool well shortens the life of everything in it.

3. Check dates every day

Most of what expires isn't lost for lack of use, but because nobody noticed in time. One minute every morning checking what expires today, tomorrow and this week gives you time to use it.

Doing it by hand works if you're consistent, but in a kitchen with lots of items and weekly deliveries it's easy for something to get left behind. That's why we built “Expiring” into Kitchfly.

4. Prep to what you sell

• Use your sales by day of the week to decide how much to prep. A Tuesday doesn't sell like a Saturday.
• Prep in smaller batches during service instead of one giant batch in the morning.
• Write down what's left at close and adjust the next day's prep.

5. Use what's about to expire

• A daily special built on what expires soon.
• Staff meal.
• Sauces, stocks and bases from vegetable and meat trim.
• Aguas frescas and desserts from very ripe fruit.

6. Adjust portions and sides

If plates come back with half the rice or the salad untouched, the portion is bigger than people want. Adjust it, make it optional or swap it for something they'll actually eat. You save food and the plate looks just as good.

7. Donate what you won't sell

Good food you won't use can go to a food bank or community kitchen. In the United States, the federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects businesses that donate food in good faith. What can no longer be eaten can go to compost.

How “Expiring” in Kitchfly helps

• Every ingredient knows how long it lasts. You set its typical shelf life in days and, when you log a purchase, Kitchfly works out its expiration date. If a batch expires sooner or later, you change it on the purchase.
• It knows which batch expires first. It spreads your stock across your purchases using FIFO, so it knows how much of what you have is from the old batch and how much from the new one.
• It shows you everything in one place: what has expired, what expires today or tomorrow and what's coming up, with how much money is at risk.
• It alerts you every morning by email when something is urgent. You choose how many days ahead.
• The chef sees it on the kitchen display, with the number of items expiring, to plan the day around them.
• What gets thrown out is logged as a loss, with its cost and reason, so you know how much you lose each month.
• On the Pro plan it also covers leftover prepped items.

Frequently asked questions