FOOD & DRINK
that what they do not take will be wasted. This is where understanding the customer is key.
It is possible to prevent waste by catering to the tastes of the customer base. Different customers will have unique preferences, which may fluctuate over the course of a week or through the seasons. Once those trends are understood, the food can be adapted and produced accordingly. Less popular dishes can be provided in smaller quantities or removed from the menu altogether.
Creative chefs and development teams then have the freedom to take the ingredients that don’t get used and repurpose them to create new dishes that the customers will love. If porridge is not a popular choice in the morning, use the oats to make flapjacks and granola, or add them to smoothies instead. This way, a caterer can satisfy all the customers while producing a minimal amount of excess food.
Vacherin has recently decided to take this a step further by trialling a ‘click and collect’ service for coffee which will soon be expanded to food service. By having customers order what they want ahead of time, food can be prepared to order, further reducing food waste.
“Just one year of food waste costs the staff
catering sector £44m and could fill The Shard 11 times over.”
“Contract caterers are in a position to
incentivise the supply chain by choosing to work with suppliers that have sustainable processes in place.”
can be, in relatively simple ways, if there is buy-in from stakeholders at every point in the supply chain.
Organisations looking to reduce food waste should evaluate their decision-making before anything has even come through the door. Contract caterers are in a position to incentivise the supply chain by choosing to work with suppliers that have sustainable processes in place. Vacherin, for example, works with suppliers of ‘wonky veg’ – vegetables that are not taken by supermarkets due to aesthetic imperfections. High quality suppliers should not only offer fantastic ingredients but those ingredients should be stored and transported with care. The fresher and better condition the ingredients when they arrive, the less likely they are to spoil. This responsibility lies with the caterer to store ingredients and prevent spoilage Creating delicious food that people want to eat is at the heart of what the contract caterer does. But this creates further challenges when preventing waste. At a lunch service, for example, Vacherin provides a wide range of choices including hot and cold food, a salad bar, healthy options, and treats. Ensuring that standards don’t slip and customers that arrive late into the service still have access to the full range of options, however, could mean
www.tomorrowsfm.com
Chef teams should also pay closer attention to the preparation process where they can make better use of the traditionally discarded yet delicious parts of vegetables. Carrot tops are peppery and make a fanstastic pesto. Pulp from making fresh juice can be used in savoury dishes like soups, stews, and burger patties to add a hint of sweetness and extra fibre.
Once teams understand where food waste is coming from, they have the power to enact change. Account managers also need to be able to communicate the importance of their work. When talking to potential clients, as an industry, we need to demonstrate that reducing food waste is beneficial to the bottom line and can lead to some of the most delicious dishes. Open communication channels between caterers and clients is vital. Spending on ethical food nearly doubled between 2010 and 2017, and caterers have a responsibility to meet this growing demand. Communicating this might mean having a sign to say that a salad bar will not be refilled in the final 20 minutes of lunch service to reduce waste or featuring a new ‘food waste recipe’ each month to encourage customers to try something new.
Reducing food waste takes creativity and detailed attention to every aspect of the supply chain – talents that good chefs exhibit in spades. Ultimately, chefs need to be given the freedom to take a lead in the food waste reduction process, for the benefit of the company and the environment.
www.vacherin.com/ TOMORROW’S FM | 25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
