As long as you make food to be sold, your kitchen is considered to be a commercial kitchen whether it is located in your own home or in a separate location. Hence, it is advisable to create an environment that ensures both safety and productivity as some of the main concerns in food that customers have are: health, sanitation, and speedy preparation of the meal. With orders clocking in and out and multiple people working in the kitchen, chances are, things can get pretty chaotic. So much preparation with so little time.
At this point, it is unavoidable that there would be so much waste all around. Splatters of oils and sauces, cans, jars, peels, and stocks, that are edged to the side. However, that is not something to pay little attention to. Food sanitation and health protocols should be strictly implemented in commercial kitchens because if this is not followed, there are adverse repercussions on the business. It is just natural of course, that when orders are flooding, chances are things will get a bit hectic in the workspace so things like food waste might not be dealt with immediately, but it doesn’t mean that it must be taken lightly.
6 Tips to Tackle Food Waste in Commercial Kitchen
Here are Six Ways You Can Tackle Food Waste in Your Commercial Kitchen!
1) Learn about the Food Recovery Hierarchy
Different types of food of course produce different types of waste which is why it is of utmost importance for one to be familiar with the food recovery hierarchy as this can divert and prevent wasted food. Different tiers of course have different focuses that in turn also allow different managements and strategies.
2) Segregation
Proper waste segregation is a key contributor to proper waste managament. By having bins classified into the different categories under the Food Recovery Hierarchy or even as simple as biodegradable, non-biodegradable, and plastic it would be easier to determine what you can do with the different types of food waste you currently have.
3) Determine which of the waste you can repurpose
As said above, different types of waste require different management, and among the types of waste are of course recyclable wastes. It is important to know which you can still repurpose because food scraps also contribute to climate change and if there is a way to avoid that, it is by recycling what can be recycled.
4) To avoid having too much waste, prepare the food in advisable portions
By preparing food in advisable portions, chances are there won’t be too much food that will be thrown out and considered as waste. Proper proportioning of the serving of the food you offer is also something important that can help tackle the issue on food waste. Less preparation, less waste. It is just a balance.
5) If you have the budget, install a food waste digester
On contrary to common belief, installing a food waste digester is not as hard as it looks. In just six hours, you can have yourself a food waste digester that is one of the easiest answers to your concern.
6) Be aware of the food waste pressure points
It is important to determine where the food waste can come from so that you can strategically place the bins on these areas as well as be aware of the biggest contributors of waste in these areas so you can do an assessment should there be something that you can do to address this.
Much people do not think so much about waste. It is something that they literally throw away. But proper handling of this waste along with proper waste managament, one would be surprised of what they find. Like what was said, food scraps can contribute to climate change but there is still some things that one can do to help avoid this. By starting with smaller efforts until bigger ones come upon, no effort would be seen as small.
In turn, not just the environment would benefit from this, but of course the business owner as well because as stated above, food sanitation and workplace sanitation is a big aspect that keeps food businsses and establishments afloat. In which timed assessments and visits by the authorities are even done to ensure that safety and cleanliness protocols are being followed and implemented in the workspace. Failure in following and implementing these can cause great harm to not only the customers but of course the business as well because health is truly a priority.
And so, to avoid having to face all these repercussions, there is so much one can do to assure the health, safety, precision and of course deliciousness of the food being served. One of the key ingredients to a food business staying afloat is a workplace being kept in harmony and that is a workplace that knows how to handle their waste.
