Hands-on solution for reducing food waste in the hospitality industry

Proven solution for up to 75% cut in restaurant food waste, without compromising quality, choice or consumer focus.

That offering quality, choice and being customer friendly requires large stocks is a widespread belief in the catering and hospitality industries. Customers want the foods they like any time of the day, and chefs want to be able to provide this too. This philosophy has led to large amounts of food wastage. In the Netherlands alone, the hospitality industry wastes an estimated 51,000 tonnes (€ 0.4 billion euros) of food each year. A novel, hands-on approach, developed by the Dutch consultancy Q-Point - winner of the Food Valley Award 2016 - allows companies to substantially reduce food waste, without compromising quality, choice or customer service.

Q-Point helps companies in the catering and hospitality industry to accurately estimate the amount of food needed, and the times when it should be available, using concrete data; for example, the average number of cheese sandwiches consumed during one lunch period. This data, together with targeted optimization of processes on the work floor - such as improved planning and linking purchasing and inventory systems - and involvement of employees enables them to reduce food waste in their client organizations.

The method has been successfully applied in zoo restaurants, where one restaurant saw their waste reduce by 75%. They prepared and served the same volume of meals, yet purchased almost 30% fewer ‘raw’ materials. The idea was initially developed for the Burgers' Zoo in the Dutch city of Arnhem; later Emmen Zoo and the Apenheul Primate Park joined in. Other partners are Wageningen University & Research and software specialist Nostradamus. The initiative brought about a mental shift in the management and staff of participating restaurants. They discovered they could offer quality, choice and great customer service, without holding large stocks.

Q-Point is now also developing applications tailored to hospitals, theme parks and company restaurants; initially in the Netherlands, Asia, Eastern Africa and the Middle East.