Stop Food Waste Day

In the not too distant past, it was common practice in the food service industry to over order supplies. Nobody wants to be caught short, do they? Running out of a particular canape at a large corporate event, when there are two or three other options available - but actually, it’s much more damaging to have to throw out large quantities of perfectly good, uneaten food, after an event is over. Which also used to be the norm.

Stop Food Waste Day falls on April 24th, but as with many similar events, the values celebrated are ones we try to uphold every day of the year. Gone are the days of over-ordering - if we run out of something on the menu, that’s fine - our chefs and kitchen staff are brilliant at thinking on their feet. 

Did you know that a third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted every year? Just 25% of the food wasted every year could feed all 795 million undernourished people across the globe. These numbers are shocking, and they’re why we uphold a root to tip; nose to tail philosophy in our kitchens, and we work with suppliers like Rubies in the Rubble, who prevent food waste by turning ‘surplus’ (often damaged or simply ugly) produce into delicious condiments.

It is fundamentally wrong to throw out food when people are in need. Legislation has changed in recent years, addressing health and safety processes that prevented businesses from allowing their staff to take home prepared food. We do whatever we can to look after our staff, but we can never know everything that goes on in their lives. If someone can benefit by taking home a few days of premade dishes for their family, we’re delighted for them to do so.

We believe that anything that goes in the bin is wasteful. It’s an obvious cost-saving measure to order less food - but if we do have leftovers, we do whatever we can to avoid throwing it out. Some of the companies we work with are Olio and Too Good To Go, both are community sharing platforms, to redistribute unsold and unserved food. Anything they pick up from us is added to their apps for people in the area to request and collect. So, on this Stop Food Waste Day, we’re happy to run out of food - so no-one else has to go without.