6 ways to reduce food waste for more sustainable dining operations
According to the United Nations, food waste generates up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions—nearly five times more than the aviation sector. Of course, reducing food waste in your dining operations is good for the planet, but it’s also good for your business given the increase in food costs over the past few years. That means it’s worthwhile to pay attention to sustainability in your dining operations, whether your focus is on reducing landfill waste or strengthening your bottom line.
Wondering where to start? Here are six practical approaches you can use to minimize food waste while still keeping your residents well-nourished and satisfied.
- Portion control is an obvious tactic, both during prep and service. Be sure your purchases match census in your community as well as what’s being served by your staff. Your staff should know what the expectations are around portions, and it should be easy for them to find the right information to do the correct service. This is especially important given the amount of turnover in senior care, and in food service generally.
- Good menu design also helps reduce food waste. Versatile ingredients that can be used across multiple dishes helps minimize waste. Those menus should include readily available production sheets and meal tickets so your staff can quickly see what portions should be prepared and served. Your dining staff needs quick access to the right information not only for sustainability, but also to ensure they’re able to work efficiently. Labor is a resource, too, and when your staff preps items that aren’t used, you’re only “feeding the trash can.”
- Technology is a key tool that should be leveraged. Implementing auto-order functions that pull information from your menu system and can tell you how many cases you need of which item can prevent ordering more than you need. This helps keep food service directors from falling into habits of ordering the same amounts regardless of census, and helps them work in a new way. A nutrition management tool like MealTracker can push orders directly to the food purveyor. The system tells you how much you need of each item, and then you can use that data to cross reference your current inventory and trim your order so you’re not purchasing anything that isn’t needed.
- Give your residents a voice by involving them in selecting menu options. If you can offer a first choice selection, and then a few options for a second choice. The second choice items are things your community can choose. For example, if they’re tired of a chef salad as an option, you can change it to something they’d prefer. It’s also a good way to take advantage of seasonal foods. This way, you can respect their preferences while reducing food waste and ensuring their nutritional needs are met.
- Monitor meal costs to flag potential waste. Your nutrition management software should let you track your cost per resident, per day. If your facility has a budget of $7 per resident per day, but you’re spending $8 or $9, that’s a sign that something isn’t running the way it should. The first thing you should look for is waste. Conducting a plate study or tray line service audit will help identify where that waste is coming from so you can take steps to fix it.
- Partner with your food suppliers to make sure your needs align with their inventory. Having a streamlined order guide and making sure whatever you have on the menu matches directly with your food purveyors’ choices helps reduce waste. For instance, an average broad-line food purveyor will have dozens of choices for bacon. Finding the one that works for you, with the best service size and quality that matches your menu helps ensure you have the right ingredients on hand to work within your budget and meet resident needs.
With industry challenges such as staffing shortages and turnover that won’t be resolved soon, it’s more crucial than ever to find ways to be more sustainable with your dining operations. By creating a culture that focuses on following production sheets, carefully reading meal tickets, and using technology to guide purchasing decisions, you can take proactive steps to reduce food waste while keeping costs under control and offering your residents satisfying meals they truly enjoy.
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Kym Brenneman
Kym Marie Brenneman is an experienced dietitian with a passion for enhancing patient outcomes through nutrition. As the Vice President of Food and Nutrition Services at Saber Healthcare Group since 2017, Kym has worked to improve the nutritional care and quality of life for residents across 130+ communities.
Kym’s leadership in developing a scholarship program for Certified Dietary Managers and managing FNS documentation has streamlined operations and improved care quality. Previously, as a Regional RD, LD, she optimized patient assessments and interventions by transitioning facilities to digital charting and training dietary staff.
Her early career as a Consultant Dietitian involved creating personalized care plans and providing therapy for complex conditions, positively impacting patient health. Kym holds a B.S. in Nutrition and Dietetics from Kent State University, graduating Cum Laude.
She is registered with the American Dietetic Association, licensed by the Ohio Board of Dietetics, and holds several certifications, including ServSafe and Level One Food Protection.
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