How to Reduce Food Wastage & Maximize your Business Profits?
In order to increase your profit, waste management plays a major role in any food and beverage business. There are a plethora of ways in which controlling wastage leads to prosperity. Even though many businesses generate some revenue, they never emphasize extreme waste management strategies. According to studies, in the UK around 6.6 million tonnes of food are wasted by the British in 2018 which can be used in many ways. Generally, the basic methods are followed in many food and beverage outlets, however, they never focus on the 5%. Well, I mean the food which goes unnoticed in many cases or due to casual behavior. This can be prevented, and this article will majorly discuss various strategies that can boost your restaurant's profitability. The final part of this article will explain that 5% which act as a dominant type.
1. Know your Customers:
In many cases, businesses do not know whom they are serving, which often leads to wastage. Firstly analyze your guests' preferences, it might be your banquet guests, a restaurant dine-in, food delivery, or even outdoor catering guests, etc. For instance, if there is an incentive function at your hotel and the client asks for an international menu for 100 PAX. Go ahead and ask the type of guests being invited -their nationalities and any special dietary requirements and preferences. In that way, you can save a lot of food wastage where you can focus on something, rather than preparing a wide range of international food which is not suitable. If most of the guests are Italian, then it's obvious that you should focus more on Italian dishes along with others. This is because if you have prepared lasagna for 100 guests and only 50% of it was consumed, it's a waste and you get your money. But it could be prevented by analyzing your guest PREFERENCES and could generate profit from the rest 50% of the wasted lasagna. Hence, customers are your greatest assets who can determine your profitability.
2. Portioning:
More and more restaurants tend to measure food using hands or other inconsistent equipment which seldom leads to unnoticed dominance in quantity. So it is imperative that you use a certain type of measurement equipment such as small, medium, and large ladle, etc. These strategies not only make the dish consistent but also satisfy the customer every time they visit and eventually generate profit. Guests do not expect different quantity and quality every time they visit. Hence it is essential to emphasize consistency in the recipe and portioning. In many cases, bartenders and beverage servers are the most consistent because they MEASURE as opposed to food handlers.
3. Be Open-Minded:
Always remember that you can use your waste in many different ways considering it as a profit. It's also good to buy sustainable fish or meat and use the leftover to make incredible stocks. Many restaurants tend to dispose of the bones, head, etc of the meat which can ruin your Profitability. These are considered to be GOLD in Successful restaurants because they make stocks out of them which act as a base for almost everything sauce. More essentially finding a way to convert the waste into profit will make your restaurant resilient. This is because the owner or manager always has a solution and able to deal with foreseeable challenges that others don't focus on. Moreover, successful organizations always "CHANGE" and adapt to economic development, change their menu, change the decor, and many other factors to deal with the flexible approach of customers.
4. Technology is your Friend:
Well, in the 21st century almost everything depends on how well you use technology. Ask yourself these questions:
Am I using technology only for marketing and promotion? Or Am I using it to optimize profit and retain guests?
An obvious statement is that your restaurant can even be extremely successful without digital marketing if you just have the right people, the right product, the right facilities, and the right location. Because WORD OF MOUTH is the best way of marketing. However, you can always use technology in many different ways and not only for marketing. In this scenario, technology is your friend when it comes to waste management. There are many waste management software and modern techniques you can use to monitor food wastage. For example, Emirates flight catering uses an AI-enabled food waste management system to effectively reduce the wastage of food. The name of AI is Winnow Vision - surprisingly it can act as your restaurant's Gold Digger. On the other hand, it's not only for profit but also to save food, control food cost, and live a sustainable life.
5. Embrace Leftovers:
As a food and beverage business, there can be minimal waste of food which you can further convert into opportunities. Certain leftover food can be labeled and put in a freezer or chiller for further use. I would recommend a FREEZER because it doesn't spoil very soon. I even spoke about the benefits of a walk-in freezer during a crisis in my article: How can you Prepare your Restaurant to overcome Future Crisis & Remain Resilient? in hospitalitynet.com/ LinkedIn which you can consider. For instance, if you have ordered too much food because it's Christmas, make sure that you manage your inventory. Eventually, people use the new products at the beginning and forget to use the previous ones. This is a major loss because of poor inventory management.
The most important reason is because of the lack of organized work. In a restaurant, everything starts with good organizational strategies where labeling and technology will be your keys to success in the 21st century. Furthermore, food theft is a major issue that restaurants face and this is what I call one of the 5%. Many also call it a secret killer of every business. For instance, one of the most common theft which I have noticed is eating bananas and other useful leftovers in a professional kitchen to be honest. The main issue is that if 1 person does it today, tomorrow the number multiplies. And the misconception is that people don't realize that it's a theft and a business. This can be avoided by effective employee training and by making them understand the objectives of a food business. Moreover, a person with a good attitude will follow the training procedures and others don't, hence it is also essential to hire people by analyzing their attitude and passion rather than knowledge and skills.
Any food and beverage business requires something truly good to be successful. It may be food, location, decor, entertainment, etc. The fundamental thing is to focus on these customer-centric strategies and then focus on marketing. Food waste is the secret killer of every restaurant. More importantly, it's about finding a way to reduce different types of food waste, by which you can identify your secret killers and remain resilient. There are different types of things in that 5% which takes effort to analyze problems and solve them depending on the respective food and beverage business. If you want to increase your business profitability, I recommend you read other articles of mine that will give you an insight into food costing, menu engineering, post-covid-19 strategies etc.
The article was written based on research and by analyzing real-life situations to help a food & Beverage business maximize profits and remain resilient.
