COVID-19 had a ripple effect globally; travel paused and hotel occupancy rates plummeted. This led hotels to streamline operations and a major area that came under the scanner was food cost, and inevitably, food
wastage.

Many hoteliers thought that removing buffets, for example, would lead to huge savings. While, the main purpose for taking away buffet counters was limiting the spread of COVID-19, it also reduced food wastage significantly.

Environment conservationists have long targeted full-scale buffets in hotels for their extravagance. They might not be off the mark; one study found that less than half of the food in a hotel buffet is actually consumed.

The buffet’s disappearance triggered other interrelated elements in the hotel business. Audits of food waste and its causes were taken up diligently; food inventory is better managed and PoS is closely monitored. All these measures have led to overall savings in food cost. While they made good progress in this area, the journey is far from over.

SOMETHING TO CHEW ON
The pandemic taught industry stakeholders new ways to reduce and control wastage. Irrespective of their size of operations, hotels need to formulate stringent regulations to minimize food wastage.

A lean and minimal mis en place while cooking and pre-portioning food in a la carte orders are some
ways to do this. Once buffet operations resume, offering live stations rather than preparing food and keeping it in chaffing dishes will further curtail wastage.

Maximum food wastage occurs in banquet operations or private dinners. Hoteliers must encourage clients to guarantee the closest number of attendees at an event, including this criterion in the contract. They can inform the client that an additional amount would be levied per guest, in the face of more attendees.

This can be a double-edged sword as people like to indulge at hotels and have a tendency to overload their plates. Hotels should go the extra mile in educating them about the scourge of food waste while outlining sustainable practices adopted to minimize it. They should also support and guide their teams on this aspect.

However, it is a fine line and part of a long-term educational process to avoid over-ordering. Fortunately, most guests now understand the dynamics of wastage and seek freshly prepared fare rather than something from a buffet. We train our servers to assist them in ordering dishes, which would suffice a group.

Many hotels have started offering half portions to single diners to reduce wastage. This works well in established markets and hopefully, will catch up in India soon.

Source