Measure

We recommend that you use four containers and download the labels:

• Preparation - Food that is thrown away during preparation, such as offcuts.
• Spoilage - Food that’s damaged or out of date, such as vegetable spoilage.
• Plate Waste - Food that is left on plates such as chips and garnishes.
• Other - Other types of food thrown away, such as food that is ready to serve but not eaten, e.g. over production, buffet.

Case study 

Biagio from Café Rouge explains how easy and helpful it is to measure each food waste stream to identify hot spots.

So you’ve got your containers labelled. Now you need to start measuring food waste by choosing a review period.

We’d recommend a weekly cycle over 4 weeks making sure you get a mix of busy and quieter days. Simply weigh each of your containers at the end of each service and record wastage on your 7 Day Tracking Sheet.

Then at the end of your review period, plug the numbers from your tracking sheet into our Food Tracking Calculator or Unilever Food Solutions’ free Wise Up on Waste online tool.

The Food Tracking Calculator tracks food thrown away / wasted over a 4 week period. The Week 1 data is your “baseline” data (i.e. before you make any changes). Your potential savings in cost, kilograms and estimated carbon equivalent will be calculated on what you record as thrown away in that week. The Week 4 data is then used to show you what impact the changes you have made could have on your business if maintained.

Once you’ve identified where food waste is coming from, you can work with your team to tackle those hotspots using the information and tools in this guide. Help keep your profit margins healthy, and feed people not bins!