My employer has a chain of franchised restaurants. They have not been tracking their food waste on a consistent basis. I would like to use an industry benchmark to assess their volume of waste in a new tracking system. Added information is always a benefit, and reducing this is a worthwhile target.
What is a normal range for food waste as a percentage of food purchases?
Answers
Hi Patricia,
I do not have APQC benchmarks on this issue --we do have procurement process efficiency--but we have research to look at.
This site below references a 2005 study from the University of Arizona. “According to a 2005 study at the University of Arizona, food waste as a percentage of the total food used is 9.55% in fast food establishments and 3.11% in full service restaurants in the United States. That may not seem concerning, but, read the study for perspective.
http://www.endfoodwastenow.org/index.php/issues/issues-restaurants
also try these sites:
http://endhunger.org/food_waste.htm
http://www.nrdc.org/food/files/wasted-food-ip.pdf
--Mary Driscoll
Patricia
Adding to Mary's list, try the National Restaurant Association. For example:
http://www.restaurant.org/News-Research/News/NRA-others-talk-strategy-at-Food-Waste-Reduction
They may be able to help with studies that can give you benchmarks for your type of restaurant.
Patricia,
I'll answer this question from a very different perspective: my days as an Army mess officer! I ran a mess hall that fed 700 soldiers at each meal. Auditors would inspect my meal count records, then weigh my garbage and convert that weight to meals thrown out. I was only permitted a variance of +/- 3%. In the military, the "audit
Thank you all for your assistance with this question. I will share the information with my team and put it to good use!
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