Reducing food waste in the catering industry
Since 2015, Betterfly Tourism has been helping restaurants to reduce their food waste and the associated material costs. As a partner in the National Pact Against Food Waste alongside the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and working closely with institutions (ADEME, UN, CCI), NGOs (Zéro Waste France, SSTF in the Seychelles) and trade federations, in line with UN SDG 12, we are taking action in France and internationally with pragmatic solutions to involve groups and independent catering companies in the fight against food waste.
Associated projects in commercial catering
In 2015, in collaboration with the company Ma Planète Alimentaire, and with the support of ADEME Bretagne, Morbihan Département-level Tourist Board, Brittany Regional Tourist Board, Morbihan Département-level Council andUMIH Bretagne, we led a pilot operation called “Less Waste in Restaurants”, aimed at creating a methodology and software tool to measure and reduce food waste among 20 Breton restaurant owners. Following the introduction of a 3-day training programme for each catering team and the use of the Edgar® management tool, the restaurants involved were able to reduce their food waste by up to 20%, with an estimated saving of €0.20 to €0.80 per meal. see the report on Less Waste in Restaurants
Since then, countless catering professionals and local authorities have implemented the Edgar® initiative and tool through a wide range of actions:
- Working with the Communauté de Communes du Pays de Saint Gilles Croix de Vie to support restaurant owners on the subject of food waste, with the distribution of 4 best practice guides,
- Partnership with UMIH Formation to roll out food waste reduction training across France,
- Training for more than 30 establishments in 2018, including several major corporate groups (Marriott, Barrière, ACCOR, OKKO and Louvre hotels),
- A programme to combat food waste in the Seychelles, in collaboration with the SSTF association, involving a number of hotels and restaurants on the island.
Over and above the impact on food waste and material costs, the support offered will help to reduce raw material use and production, increase collaboration with local producers, better recover the waste generated and, in the context of an island territory, reduce the demand for imported products while limiting the quantity of waste sent to treatment centres that are often reaching saturation point.
What are the benefits for caterers?
- Measure and reduce by up to 20% the amount of waste generated thanks to the Edgar® tool,
- Reduce your procurement and operational costs by up to €0.80/place setting,
- Benefit from a method and tool to achieve tangible results quickly,
- Train and unite teams around a common project.