Why Does Food Go To Waste In Restaurants?
It’s our mission to eliminate food waste and build a better food system for everyone. That means we talk a lot about food waste on farms and in our homes, but have you ever wondered how much food goes to waste in restaurants? While the majority of food that goes to waste happens in our households, consumer-facing businesses like restaurants account for about 40% of the food waste in the U.S. each year. When you dig into the stats, as with other types of food waste, it’s sobering enough to make you either want to set down your beer or order another.
For every meal served at a restaurant, about half a pound is wasted, either in the form of scraps from prep or leftovers on the plate. Sadly, when a restaurant can’t use food, it almost always goes to waste. An estimated 84% of unused food in restaurants ends up thrown away, contributing to even more harmful methane emissions in our landfills. In total, U.S. restaurants waste between 22 and 33 billion pounds of food every year.
Restaurants waste food for a variety of reasons, many of them quite similar to why other businesses like grocery stores waste food. The biggest one we’ve learned from chefs and podcast guests is the unpredictability of demand. Simply put, restaurants can’t afford to not have a menu item in stock for their paying customers, so they almost always have to over-prepare every part of their menu. In the kitchen, cooks can waste food when they’re not sure how to use a new ingredient or when the menu changes. In the dining room, waste also happens when portion sizes are too large and when guests order more than they can finish.
Yet, as with all issues of waste, within the problem is also a tremendous amount of potential. Restaurants have the opportunity to divert 390,000 tons (that’s over 780 million pounds!) or the equivalent of 643 million meals to food recovery every year. Some nonprofit and for-profit organizations are already hard at work making this recovery happen, but what are the restaurants doing? We’re glad you asked!
To help show that restaurants can be part of the solution when it comes to food waste, we’re proud to announce Imperfect’s Food Waste Week in Seattle! From February 24th to March 1st, we’re partnering with our favorite local eateries to create limited-edition menu items made with Imperfect ingredients that would’ve otherwise gone to waste. Food Waste Week will also support Food Lifeline’s efforts to end hunger in Western Washington. With your help, we can raise awareness about food waste and save 500 pounds of food from going to waste in Seattle in just one week.
Our partners include Cafe Juanita, Bamboo Sushi, Oddfellows Cafe, Nue, Optimism Brewing Co., Caffe Vita, Little Neon Taco, JarrBar, and Cafe Munir. To get involved, head to any of the participating restaurants and order the Food Waste Week special from Imperfect Foods. Be sure to tag @imperfectfoods and #foodwasteweek!
Whether or not you can join us for Imperfect’s Food Waste Week in Seattle, you can still be a part of advocating for change in your community. Here’s how:
- Support restaurants in your area that have sustainable sourcing practices, work with waste reduction nonprofits, or are committed to doing their part to address climate change.
- When you go out to eat, order just enough for your group, and if you end up with leftovers, bring them home with you.
- Ask your favorite restaurants what they’re doing about food waste and encourage them to be a part of a future Food Waste Week!
Thanks for helping us prove that the restaurant industry can be a part of the solution when it comes to taking a bite out of food waste.
