A study Focus in to Hospitality Restaurant Operations in Regard to Food Security, Through Food Waste and Loss Control Mechanisms.

Abstract

Food waste and loss within the larger hospitality’s restaurant operations contribute immensely to the global food waste through peelings, cooking and the general food pre-preparations. Studies reveals that restaurants contributes 45% of wastes through food preparation and production processes, 21% through food spoilage as a result of poor storage, inclusive of losses accrued through procurement processes such as during transportation, delivery and ultimately storage, and 34% through food leavers as observed from customer plates either as a result of over-portioning, poorly cooked and/ or prepared foods or service of wrong orders. Further, research confirms that food waste has directly resulted in starvation of over 842 million people, with over 1.3 billion tons documented as restaurant food wastes, while substantial amounts taking place within the larger hospitality restaurant operations. The factors influencing these food waste generation included; the type of service, the type of food served, the expected and actual numbers of customers, the season and the food service organization, which are addressed by this study in an attempt to propose ways of reducing food waste and losses, and hence promoting food security. The study narrows down to the prevention solutions approach, which was employed on the basis of; menu design, portion choices and customized dishes, use of smaller plates during service, procuring optimized quantities, proper application of produce specifications, and employment of waste tracking and analytics methodologies, which when appropriately applied in the restaurant food operations business, will significantly minimize food waste and losses, and by extension enhance global food security.