The Modern Pantry - You can't manage what you can't measure

Tipo de pratica Reduce

Nombre la actividad profesional The Modern Pantry - You can't manage what you can't measure

Nombre del agente principal The Modern Pantry Cafe and Deli

Tipo de agente(s) Servicios de comedores

Ubicación United Kingdom

Etapa de la puesta en práctica Consumo

Año de puesta en práctica 2010

Actividades realizadas o en vías de realización The Modern Pantry Cafe and Deli, a two-floor modern restaurant in St. John's Square, Clerkenwell, took part in the Sustainable Restaurant Association's (SRA) food waste survey in 2010. Head chef Robert McLeary found that doing a food waste audit really helped understand the composition of their food waste and whether it came from food preparation, food spoilage or portion sizes. This meant that the kitchen staff was able to take some simple but effective steps to reduce waste at source, such as: • Filling portions are part of the restaurant's philosophy, but the waste audit inspired the chef team to work on a smaller portion size that minimized food waste on plates, while still keeping the portions generous. • A doggy box is offered as part of the SRA's “too good to waste” campaign and restaurant staff encourages diners to take away any leftovers. • Food preparation waste is minimized by using fresh, high-quality meat and vegetable off cuts creatively to make burgers, pies and soups; excess food is also used for staff meals. • High quality meat or vegetable off-cuts are used to make salads, fish pies and sandwiches sold at the restaurant's store; thus, ingredients that cannot go into its a la carte menu are used to generate extra income for the restaurant. • A dehumidifier filter was installed in the restaurant's fridges which absorbs any moisture and helps keep food fresh for much longer, keeping food waste costs due to spoilage to minimum. • Any remaining food waste, such as vegetable peelings, is separated from general waste and collected for composting.

Resultados y repercusiones These simple solutions brought immediate savings from reduced food purchasing costs. Reducing food waste of course meant lower waste collection costs for the Modern Pantry, which also meant that they were able to renegotiate a better contract with their waste collector. Overall, that saved the restaurant £2500 on annual waste collection fees (a video of this case study is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn0bMM2Qn2M). Similar awareness raising initiatives have been taken in the USA in university canteens. The University of New Hampshire decided to remove the trays in order to make students more conscious about the quantity of food they take and the amount of leftovers at the end of their meals.