The management of unsold orders and left-over from preparation in local restaurants to control food waste

Abstract

Wasting food is an important global sustainability issue for food operations, as it generates huge amounts of waste. Although food service businesses generate a massive amount of wasted food, they have gained less emphasis in the literature than household, operations, and generators of food waste. The aim of this research is to investigate different practices of managing food waste. Between 30 March and 30 May, six interviews and thirteen questionnaires were conducted with owners and managers of local casual dining restaurants in Sheffield, using a mixed method qualitative and quantitative research method. In the respondents’ opinion, the study revealed that the volume of food thrown away in the restaurant industry is not large, with most of it being food wasted during dish preparation, and vegetables are likely to be the most discarded food items in restaurants. To achieve a maximum reduction of unsold meals and leftovers during the preparation phase, greater emphasis must be placed on such management practices such as using portion control, fresh items, and quality control, implementing a rotation system, educating staff on the importance of reducing food waste, labelling production dates, donating surplus food to charitable organizations, composting food waste, improving inventory management by using similar ingredients as well as creating new dishes using ingredients that are left over from the week by hosting a weekly event and cooperation between food service establishments and charitable institutions. According to the study, owners and managers of local restaurants are reluctant to officially engage in such cooperation because of excessive paperwork, logistical difficulties, and the amount of leftover food being typically little.