The Ship Inn: Food waste monitoring and prevention

The challenge

In the UK, 6.4 Mt of food produced is lost or wasted, contributing 8-10% of the UK’s food systems emissions—over £19 billion a year worth of food and enough to feed the entire UK population three meals a day over three months. [1] Food service providers (together with hospitality) contribute 6–10% of this waste. [2] Fortunately—and as we will see here—restaurants are well positioned to take action on their food waste.

The Ship Inn, near Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, is no exception. The Inn was throwing away as much as 2.8 tonnes of food every year. Taking into account all associated costs (for example, energy for cooking and storage, staff time, water and waste disposal), the pub was estimated to spend £6,040 on food waste alone. To reduce their costs, the Inn started a project to separate, measure and prevent food waste.

Reduction of food loss and waste through prevention, planning, raising awareness and monitoring

The Inn monitored food waste by separating it into three bins, depending on the cause of waste: ‘spoilage’, ‘prep’ or ‘plate waste’. The kitchen and front of house staff were briefed and trained early on so that the bins were weighed and emptied at the end of each night. These numbers were then entered into the Food Waste Calculator, which covers a four week measurement period and works out how much waste is in each category as well as the annualised cost and the difference between the first and four weeks of measurement. 

Impact

Between week one and week four, the total amount of waste reduced by 72% with an estimated annual saving of £2,454:

- Spoilage reduced by 84% as waste awareness among kitchen staff was increased and working practices improved as a result.

- Prep waste was down 80%, mainly as a result of switching to pre-prepared vegetables and pre-cut chips.

- Plate waste was reduced by 67% by offering smaller portion sizes, particularly chips and putting out smaller portions of sauce. The kitchen also stopped putting garnishes on sandwiches, burgers and other meals. The changes have gone down well with customers who are happy to have lighter options.