How to Use a Food Waste Log to Cut Costs and Maximize Efficiency

You know how important it is to keep on top of your food costs. That's why you conduct regular inventory of your stocktake and keep a close eye on your COGS. You have recipe cards that guide kitchen staff in making consistent menu items with exacting detail and appropriate proportions.

You've got your inventory totally under control.

Or do you? Have you established a process for logging food waste?

A 2017 Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report found that between 4 and 10 percent of food purchased by restaurants becomes pre-consumer waste, meaning that it's thrown away before it reaches your customers.

Think about how much you're spending on food, one of your biggest expenses, and then think about throwing 10 percent of that money away. Essentially, that's what you're doing.

But if you implement a food waste logging system, you can track exactly where food is slipping through the cracks and make changes in both your kitchen and your FOH to reduce the amount of wasted food.

Start by creating a food waste log.