In the hospitality business, we often underestimate how much food gets thrown away every day. It might seem manageable in the moment, but when we add up the monthly or yearly totals, the impact is huge — both economically and environmentally.

From our own experience, we’ve identified that food waste in restaurants comes from three clear sources: food spoilage, unfinished customer plates, and over-preparation in the kitchen.

Food waste can occur at different stages of preparation and service. One of the most common causes is excessive preparation — cooking more food than necessary, which leads to unnecessary waste.

Why is food waste so common in the hospitality industry?

There are many reasons this happens:

• Inaccurate demand forecasting
• Low inventory rotation
• Lack of insight into real customer preferences
• Unstandardized kitchen procedures

One of the biggest mistakes we used to make was over-preparing “just in case”, without real control over demand patterns. This not only led to waste, but also increased operational costs.

Over time, we’ve learned that reducing waste is not just about sustainability — it’s about business efficiency.

Strategies that have worked for us to reduce waste

We’ve implemented a number of practical steps to cut down on food loss and improve profitability:

1. Smarter purchasing and demand forecasting

Using tools like the Purchasing Module for Hospitality by Controliza, we can adjust purchases to actual demand. This helps us avoid overstocking, which reduces spoilage.

2. Real-time inventory tracking

Thanks to systems like Stock Control for Hospitality, we keep a close eye on expiry dates and usage rates. This allows us to act before products go to waste.

3. Constant review of recipes and portion sizes

We regularly review our recipes and plate portions to ensure we’re not serving (or preparing) more than necessary. This helps prevent waste both in the kitchen and on the table.

The role of technology in food waste management

You can’t reduce waste without accurate data. For us, the Predictive Module by Controliza has been a game-changer. It helps forecast demand based on historical data, weather, day of the week, and even local events.

Thanks to this, we’ve significantly reduced over-preparation and improved the profitability of each service.

We also rely on Big Data for Hospitality to spot consumption trends. This helps us tailor our menus and reduce low-rotation items, cutting down on food that would otherwise go to waste.

What benefits do we gain by reducing food waste

The benefits are clear:

• Lower operating costs
• Better use of raw materials
• Happier customers (no overly large or wasteful portions)
• Reduced environmental impact
• Stronger brand reputation: customers value sustainable practices

Reducing food waste isn’t just an ethical move — it’s a smart commercial decision.

Conclusion: every gram counts

In the day-to-day management of a hospitality business, we’ve come to realize that every gram of wasted food is lost money. That’s why reducing waste became as important to us as increasing revenue.

Once we identified that food waste mainly came from spoilage, leftovers, and excessive preparation, we took action. Step by step, with better processes and the right tools, we turned food waste from an invisible issue into a measurable, controllable variable.

We’re still improving every day, but without a doubt, cutting down on food waste has been one of the smartest decisions we’ve made as a team.