July 25, 2022

Saving money and raising profitability is a high priority for anyone running a business. Especially when you are working primarily with perishable items, as with managing a restaurant, school cafeteria, or hospital. While there are always creative ways to cut costs and save money, there’s one major way this is accomplished within the food industry.

Reduce your food waste. The less food goes to waste, the better it is for everyone. Profits increase when food waste is minimized. Minimizing the amount of food that goes bad, landing itself a first-class ticket to the trash takes its toll on your profitability. 

Since 1988, Peddler’s Son has been a trusted partner in wholesale delivery. Through excellent customer service and attention to detail, we are dedicated to delivering quality food on a reliable schedule. The root of our business is food service expertise and building deep relationships with customers. Read on to start making new changes to reduce food waste and increase your bottom line.

Major Causes of Food Waste 

To really examine the areas requiring improvement, it helps to breakdown the most common ways food gets wasted. Not only will we be listing these causes, but also offering you some expert money-saving tips.

Although large amounts of food often gets wasted when customers don’t order those particular items, there are more reasons for expired or spoiled foods. Food can go bad or be wasted when:

• There has been cross contamination
• Falling on the floor in the kitchen or from the serving tray
• Damaged by faulty equipment, such as a refrigerator that stops working
• Stocking food items where they’re not easily found, resulting in unnecessary duplicate orders 
• Over-ordering; greatly miscalculating what you need
• Unorganized and inefficient food inventory procedures
• Inconsistent portion sizes
• Food sent back to the kitchen after being delivered to the table

Expert Tips for Cutting Back on Food Waste 

Consider making some of the following changes to better position your food service business to reduce food waste and increase profits.

Use Technology to Better Track Food Inventory Needs – Tech systems are popping up all over the place to help restaurants track and optimize their inventory systems. You’ll better see what is selling the most and what trends you experience that streamline your inventory management process. You can stop overbuying and ordering already stocked items that are misplaced or forgotten. 

Cultivate a Work Culture Valuing Food Waste Reduction – Get everyone on board by training and exemplifying the value you place on reducing food waste. When it’s a strong part of company culture, your whole team is on board with your vision and may have helpful suggestions to consider for helping to make this possible.

Regularly recycle and use spoiled food for compost – Recycling food through partnering with a local farm to feed their livestock is a great way to give back. Also,  composting food scraps, used coffee grounds, old bread, and broken eggshells can help your own garden or be donated to local community gardens.

Properly inspect food upon delivery – It’s important to identify foods that are already in bad shape upon delivery before accepting the order. Working with food suppliers that follow proper food safety guidelines and quality standards is a must!

Peddler’s Son is Arizona’s Top-Quality Food Supplier

Peddler’s Son is the go-to farm-fresh food supplier for Arizona restaurants, hospitals, schools, and more. Family-owned and operated since 1988, Peddler’s Son brings you honest pricing, unparalleled customer service, and farm-fresh produce every day. We believe in quality and that’s what you’ll get when you rely on us to deliver high-value foods for your dishes. We put our food quality and reliable delivery service first along with the customers we serve all across the state. 

Want to get reliable quality fresh foods for your school or business? We can help! Contact us today to see how we can help you get the food you need delivered fresh and on-time!