Seeing masses of food being thrown away at the end of a breakfast buffet led me to investigate food waste in hotels.
In some recent holidays in Tenerifein the Canary Islands, I stayed at the Meliá Sol Arona hotel. It was a full breakfast buffet, with all the options and cuisines you could think of.
At the end of the service, while I was still seated, the staff began removing leftover food from the buffet stations. To my surprise, they brought giant cubes and started to empty food from plates directly into buckets. Most of the food was untouched and presumably fresh.
Las strict food safety standards They can be difficult to comply with, no doubt. But, like any company, hotels have the obligation to do everything possible to reduce food waste.
According to the 2024 Food Waste Index Report According to the United Nations Environment Programme, 1.05 billion tons of food will be wasted in 2022.
About 19% of food available to consumers was lost in retail, food services and households. ¿What hotels are doing to minimize food waste And does the breakfast buffet have a future?
How can hotel buffets minimize food waste?
“Food safety legislation imposes strict guidelines on hotels,” says Lourdes Ripoll de Oleza, Vice President of Sustainability at Meliá Hotels International, in response to my experience in Tenerife. Meliá Hotels has more than 200 properties in Europe and is the 17th global hotel chain.
“Any food product exposed to consumption and not consumed by the customer is discarded. to mitigate any potential health risks.” This means that for buffet offerings, all food on the counters must be discarded even if it has not been touched.
According to the Irish Government’s National Waste Prevention Programme, Buffet breakfasts typically generate more than twice as much food waste per client (300 grams) than those served on the menu (130 grams).
To make your breakfasts more sustainable, some hotels They have completely abolished the buffet formula. Others haven’t used them again after COVID put an end to sharing stations.
But Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura says the buffet has its advantages for customers and? There are ways to make it more sustainable.. “Buffets, and not just breakfast ones, They started out as a way to offer customers a taste of local tradition“he explains.
“But over time, what was considered an opportunity to enjoy small samples of recipes representative of the local terroir became an opportunity for overconsumption, choice and inevitably waste.”
At its Casa Maria Luigia property in Modena (Italy), measures have been taken such as offering clients smaller plates, reduce portion sizes of pastries and bread and give advice to clients to help them choose the right portions.
Bottura also recommends that hotels have live cooking stations where dishes are prepared at the moment. It’s a fun experience for guests, but it also means reducing excess convenience food.
With plated meals, reducing food waste just got a little easier
“The portion sizes of our plated dishes are carefully studied by the Food and Beverages department to minimize excesses,” says Ripoll de Oleza.
“In cases where food is left over, Our company strives to donate surpluses to social entities renowned companies with whom we have established partnerships at the local level.
ADVERTISING“Alternatively, we also try to sell it through plataformas como TOO GOOD TO GOthus minimizing waste and at the same time contributing to socially responsible initiatives,” he adds.
How can customers be encouraged to reduce food waste?
Part of the responsibility also lies with hotel guests and their own self-regulation.
“From the kitchen to the dining room, they can be displayed organically informative messages about the effects of food waste and how guests can be part of the change while dining out or once they return to their kitchens at home,” suggests Bottura.
“Highlighting a menu with environmentally friendly selections and plant-based, the team can encourage guests to make an immediate difference by sharing the ease with which leftovers can be transformed into something delicious.”
ADVERTISINGHow can hotel kitchens be more sustainable?
For Bottura, be more sustainable and reducing food waste is an opportunity to be more creative and experimental in the kitchen.
“A sustainable kitchen plans well by understanding guests’ consumption habits, measuring and adjusting recipes with portion control to reduce food waste from purchase to plate,” she says. “In my kitchen, Surplus and leftover food is an opportunity for our chefs to use their creativity and show what is possible when we reimagine.
He gives the example of bread, which, when hardened on the second day, can be used to make a Tuscan tomato soup or a bread pudding. After two days, it is still useful for making breadcrumbs, pasta and cakes. “We usually use our trimmings – vegetables and fruits – in many preparations so that the flavor is even more intense,” he adds.
Potato, onion and carrot skins are roasted and used to make broth, while fruit skins, such as peaches, watermelon and cucumber, can be used to add color and flavor to dishes and drinks. The peel of oranges squeezed to obtain orange juice is used to make jam.
ADVERTISING“Educate and train team members on the effects of food waste and implementing effective food-saving measures is crucial to achieving the significant reductions set out in the UN’s global sustainability programme,” says Bottura.
“Fostering a culture of innovation and responsibilitywe can turn what would have been waste into culinary treasures.
Can AI help hotels and kitchens reduce food waste?
Some hotels are experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) to address food waste issues. Hotel group Accor says it has partnered with technology company Orbisk to introduce AI into its kitchens.
According to the group, tests carried out in 10 European hotels have allowed reduce waste by 22% of food in six months. Orbisk’s system uses AI image recognition technology to track which ingredients are thrown away, in what quantities, and when.
ADVERTISINGThis data allows kitchen teams to identify where the greatest losses occur and apply targeted solutions.
