Did you know that one of the largest food waste streams is Singapore and the amount of food waste generated has grown by around 20% over the last 10 years?
It is common for many restaurants to overstock their ingredients for fear of running out. However, ingredients often get tossed due to excess stock, especially if they have deteriorated or are expired. If your restaurant learns how to optimize ingredient usage, not only will you be able to save on business expenditure, you will also contribute to conserving the environment.
1. Reducing food wastage at your outlet
Anticipate the demand for your dish and business
Before each week starts, it is a good habit to check the number and size of upcoming reservations. This routine will help to ensure that there are sufficient ingredients on hand. To forecast demand more accurately and anticipate the quantity of ingredients required, you can analyze sales reports and customer behavior on the backend of your POS system.
Avoid overstocking of food and keep a stock inventory
Overstocking results in wastage of unused ingredients and puts unnecessary pressure on your business to move the entire inventory. It may be enticing to stock up on your ingredients if your suppliers provide you with discounts, however, using an inventory management system helps to ensure that you do so prudently.
For example, iCHEF has an in-built inventory feature in the POS system that can easily manage inventory and ingredients for F&B businesses. Ingredients recorded in the POS system will automatically be deducted with every order sent to the kitchen and it provides a real-time record of the quantity and monetary value in your storage. Besides that, iCHEFs’ POS system will give off an inventory warning to identify items that are running low.
Store food correctly
Proper food storage prevents spoilage and ensures your raw ingredients are usable for longer. Keeping chilled food at the correct temperature is vital as it prevents pathogenic (cold-loving) bacteria from growing which may result in food poisoning.
Check your fridges and freezers regularly! Your fridges and freezers should be running at the right temperature required for your ingredients. For example, chicken meat has to be frozen at -18 °C to ensure maximum freshness of the poultry.
Practice the First In First Out (FIFO) rule
FIFO, also known as First In First Out is a method that most F&B businesses use to keep track of inventory, ensuring that older foods are used before the freshly arrived ingredients. Each time the suppliers deliver your ingredients, label them with the date on the packaging. Remember to set a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for your staff to place your older stocks at the front in your storage to ensure that these stocks will be used first. With this system in place, the older stock will be prioritized and used before its expiry date.
Donate unsold and excess food to charity organizations
More charity organizations are encouraging F&B businesses to donate their excess/unused ingredients to the needy in Singapore. Some of these charity organizations are Food from the Heart, The Food Bank, and Giving.sg.
F&B businesses can contact food distribution organizations to make arrangements for their donation of unsold or excess food. For example, Food Bank collects and accepts all dry, packaged food items like canned food (Canned tomatoes, granola, and more). As long as these packaged foods are unexpired, unopened, and with at least 1 week of shelf life, they will be accepted.
You might be wondering, “ What about those excess fresh ingredients that I have on hand, can I donate them?”
The answer is “YES, you can!” The Food Bank takes in cooked food, fresh pastries, vegetables, meat, and dairy products from F&B establishments. These food ingredients are then delivered to the beneficiaries within the same day for consumption.
2. How to make money from ingredients that would otherwise be discarded
Turn excess/old ingredients into a new dish
Excess ingredients are an opportunity to get creative and try out new ideas. Put up these new dishes as “Specials” and see how customers respond to them – if they are popular, you might even want to make them part of your regular menu. Older ingredients that may not look as presentable can be used in different ways.
For example, leftover/older mushrooms can be blended up and turned into mushroom soup. Unsold cookies can usually be paired with ice cream as a new dessert and priced slightly higher than the ice cream or cookie individually. If the cookies are getting slightly soft, you can crumble them and use them in tart crusts or as crumb coating for cakes. Toasting the crumbs in the oven will make them crunchy again.
Don’t forget to give your new dishes a catchy name and description to intrigue customers and entice them to order, and also remind all your staff to recommend the specials.
“Happy hour” concept
“Happy hour” concepts in your F&B business can not only help to clear older ingredients, but also drive business during slow periods. For example, some cafes and bistros offer tea sets from 3-6 pm, where you upsell a slice of cake (normally priced at $6) for $8.50 with a cup of tea/coffee, which usually has a low food cost. You can also use this concept to move menu items that a lower order rate by offering a discounted price or free starters with alcohol orders (since alcohol typically has a higher profit margin).
Sharing platters
Customers tend to spend more per head when purchasing a platter meant for sharing – these starters are usually ordered in addition to one main per customer, and platters can be priced higher than individual starters while including only half of the usual starter portion.
For example, a normal starter portion of grilled prawns may contain 8 prawns ($22), and a basket of hot wings, 9 chicken wings ($16). A platter might contain only 4 grilled prawns, sausages, wedges, crispy chicken skin, 5 hot wings, and 3 dipping sauces ($59). Similarly, Fika did a Christmas sharing platter for $69. The platter consists of Swedish meatballs, stuffed mushrooms in chicken, gravlax, pickled herrings, assorted sausage, vort bread, roasted potato mash, and cheddar slice. Fika does not have to order additional ingredients because these components are already on the regular menu.
Customers are willing to pay for platters because they are able to sample several dishes in one sitting!
Using similar base components for multiple dishes
When planning your menu, bear in mind the versatility of each ingredient that you will be using in your dishes so that you do not overstock your ingredients.
For example, many restaurants use potatoes as one of their base ingredients for their mains as they are very easy to pair with any meat/seafood. In this case, potatoes might run out fast and you can buy more potatoes from your suppliers without having the fear of wasting them. You could be using potatoes as a side to go with your chicken chop dish - And you could use the same potatoes for another dish like a potato salad or fish & chips.
3. Why should F&B businesses be concerned about food wastage?
Food wastage is a rising problem in the F&B industry. It is often that we see F&B businesses throw out ingredients or dishes simply because they don't meet perfection. As noted by The Straits Times, the cost of food has been rising and it is exacerbated by movement controls because of the pandemic. Now, more than ever, sustainability should be a priority and this direction has to come from the head of the F&B outlet.
All in all, customers tend to notice and support F&B businesses that advocate sustainability through their actions. For example, there are Facebook groups, pages created by pro-sustainability folks, who recommend cafes, bubble tea, kiosks that allow them to use their own reusable containers/cups. With that, let’s make a change and play our part in upholding these food wastage practices and earn money out of it!
Caroline Yap is the editor and intern at iCHEF Singapore. She manages iCHEF Club, a growing community of F&B owners in Singapore – organizing events, an online newsletter, and the F&B Entrepreneur Bootcamp, the only regular workshop on opening a new restaurant in the country. In her spare time, she loves drawing, painting, and creating new visuals. Her love for Korean food runs deep such that you can spot her at any famous Korean Restaurant in Singapore.
