Food Service Businesses: here’s how to make BIG savings!

The simple-to-use Winnow System helps determine levels of food waste.

Restaurants, pubs, cafes and hotels in London have the opportunity to save thousands of pounds and massively cut their food waste and its related costs by participating in a London-wide scheme called FoodSave. The scheme has already helped small food businesses save an average of just over £6,000 a year, two businesses are predicted to save over £10,000 and one is expected to save a huge £24,000!

So what’s the catch, you might wonder? There is no catch! Participation in FoodSave is FREE because it is funded by the Mayor of London, the European Regional Development Fund and the London Waste and Recycling Board. Governments, industry bodies and environmental agencies all recognise that it is to everyone’s benefit to reduce the huge amounts of food waste going to landfill.

The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) is delivering the free programme by running food waste audits (worth up to  £5,000) that help businesses analyse the food waste they produce. The audit system is straightforward: it measures the real time weight and cost of food waste across different food waste types (spoilage, preparation and customer plate waste) via a simple-to-use tablet attached to a set of scales and a bin. Once the sources of the food waste are identified, the FoodSave team works with the catering and kitchen teams to find ways of reducing food waste.

To find out more, visit the FoodSave website where you can watch a neat animation explaining how FoodSave works as well as details about how to get your business involved. You can also read about what your peers in restaurants, pubs, hotels, cafes and caterers are saying about the FoodSave programme and how it’s helped them save more than £6,000 and 2 tonnes a year.

FoodSave works with small restaurants, canteens, hotels, pubs, quick-service food outlets, street-food vendors, food manufacturers, food retailers and wholesalers. If your foodservice business is in London, you’re probably eligible, but HURRY because participation is limited and the scheme ends in March 2015!

For more information or to get involved, email foodsave@thesra.org or call 020 7479 4224.