Kitchen Waste Management- From a restaurant’s perspective

The restaurant business is one such business that has got a special connection with people; it’s customers. In one way or the other in every person’s story, there will be a restaurant that stands out. Food makes people happy. Good food gives people memories. Restaurants that serve great food have always stood close to people’s heart.

Running a restaurant is always a complex ordeal. You need to hire the right cook and supporting staff to give the best possible experience for your customers. While it remains a daunting task, restaurants across India has risen to the challenge to find the right team for themselves. But one area where the Indian Restaurants still struggles is Kitchen waste management.

Food waste disposal is something that our entire subcontinent generally tend to turn their backs on. So it is only natural while taking all the steps to ensure higher revenue and profit margins, India restaurateurs often ignore Kitchen waste management. 

There are two aspects for a good kitchen waste management approach; 
1. Ensuring minimal waste generation,
2. Recycling and disposal of generated waste.

Why you should think of Kitchen Waste Management?

The answer is simple:

• Not managing kitchen waste will cost you money and hurt your profits
• Improperly treated kitchen waste poses a great threat to the environment.

Here is a list of Kitchen Management Techniques that can start applying in your restaurant:

Educate Your Staff

In every process human participation is quintessential. So when you are establishing a kitchen waste management system for your restaurant, be sure to educate your staff about and make them understand why it is important and necessary. A good kitchen food waste management in India requires the participation and cooperation of all your staff.

Perform a food waste audit

Food waste auditing is a great way to understand the major problem areas of Kitchen. Only by identifying the causes of food waste generation you can devise a method to reduce it. The best way to keep a count of how much waste is generated is by managing a waste sheet. Thus a waste sheet should consist of the name of the ingredient wasted, the reason for wastage, the quantity of the wasted material and the cost of the item. You must also consider the waste generated at customer tables. This is generally called the post-consumer waste or the food the customers pay for but don’t eat. This could be for any reason, either the quantity was too much, or a kid refused to eat the item ordered by the mother or, they expected a different type of dish while ordering, hence left it untouched at the table.

Reduce the Generation of food waste

Now after the food auditing you will know the area on which you should focus to reduce food wastage. Food waste can be classified into Pre-consumer waste and Post-consumer waste. Pre-consumer waste is the waste that is generated before the food even reaches the customer’s table. Post-consumer waste is every other waste that comes after the food leaves the kitchen.

Tips to control Pre-consumer waste

1. Managing Inventory
2. Managing Storage
3. Find a use for leftover food
4. Vegetable peels can be used as fodder for animals.

Tips to control Post-consumer waste

1. Serve the right portion to your customers. Define a portion with careful planning,
2. Scarp menu items that are not performing well.
3. Insert a proper description of items on the menu so that the customer knows what to expect.
4. Encourage consumers to pack the excess food items to their homes.

Use a good waste processing system.

Now you have done what you can do to minimise food waste there will still be a lot of food that will be wasted. It has to be processed. This is where you employ the use of technology. You can find a good Food waste Converter that suits your restaurant. SE Organic waste converter machine from Solwearth Ecotech is a perfect choice for all restaurants from small scale to large scale. SE Food Waste converter processes your kitchen waste to produce water and soil enrichment powder as a byproduct without creating any sort of foul smell. It takes less than 24 hours to process your kitchen waste and takes only very small floor space. A good Automatic organic waste converter will help you solidify your Kitchen waste management policy.