UAE hotels save Dh500,000 by reducing food waste
Have you ever thought about the excess food that is made in a setting like an open buffet and ends up in limbo? Here in the UAE, most establishments are aware of the problem and even take active steps to prevent food wastage and where it cannot be avoided, the leftover food is apportioned when appropriate or properly eradicated.
The acceptance and implementation of Palladium as their cloud-based food waste management Rosewood Abu Dhabi has undertaken a fundamental effort to curb wastage of food at the properties. "At our all-day dining restaurant, we have made great strides and have reduced food waste by Dh480620 – a figure that weighs over 25 tonnes – within the first 6 months of 2024. Remaining true to our high benchmarks, three quarters of food served to the guests are prepared on that very day 75, ensuring that food rests and wastage goes down,” said Karim Gharbi.
The St. Regis Abu Dhabi General Manager
It serves over 1,000 meals every day at St. Regis, which collaborates with the Stop Wasting Food campaign at Marriott hotels. Apart from incorporating new developments into their ways of carrying out tasks, they also make certain that food handlers are educated in techniques such as recipe costing and saving waste.
Likewise, Rotana follows the same strategy whereby they try to enhance the supply chain with the help of Chef's Eye in terms of food procurement management. “Our ability to quantify food preparation, food production, buffet waste and even buffet waste has heightened, meaning that we have fairly reduced carbon emissions and minimized waste. For this quarter alone, that includes a 22 percent decrease in total trim waste, 15 percent decrease in food waste from the buffet counters, and so much as 63 percent decrease in plated food waste,” said Scott Valentine, Corporate Director of F&B and Culinary at Rotana.
Beverage revenue from Rotana’s food and beverage operations in 80 regional operational properties is 273. And more than 6 million guests a year are served by the chain. Hence the need for effective waste management policies when handling food. “Information about the organization and its work obtained by us can help to improve the quality of our training,” Valentine concluded.
In addition, the group concluded an agreement with the Ne’ ma center for reduction of food losses and wastes, focusing on the reduction of food loss and waste and cooperation with local organizations. We developed policies aimed at enabling these organizations to regularly collect safe and nutritious food donations. ”
Nevertheless, where transfer of these products is against the set regulation or desired quality, it is in the requisite responsibilities of both the chef and ‘Food and Beverage’ departments to recover usable days to items tending to spoil, for such items are not wasted.
Rotana has also been utilizing plate or bowl and serving spoon sizes that are conducive to reducing the waste at the buffet section.
Companies dealing with food surpluses are in the best position to assist in reducing the level of such wastes within the communities, and the case of UAE Food Bank is no different. The Food Bank works by segregating edible food from waste in partnership with 113 hotels. Surplus edible food is given out to needy individuals and groups, and inedible trash is sent to waste recycling centers where waste to fertilizer process takes place so that what the farmers purchase as organic manure is the end of the waste recycling chain closing the loop and increasing efforts for environmental protection.
There are definite guidelines on the type of food that can be collected or donated to prevent adding more risks towards the safety of cooked, dairy, baked, dry, frozen, or chilled and fresh food.
In the 2023 and 2024 seasons, the food bank managed to recycle landfills of more than two million meals which cut down the amount of carbon emissions drastically. Through their production of recycled materials, more than 100 kg of organic fertilizer was produced resulting in the conservation of land space of about 24,000 square feet.
The establishment of the UAE Food Bank which was borne out of the initiatives of Dubai Municipality seeks to eliminate wastage of food in the society and cultivate proper practices among the society. It hopes to achieve this goal by deploying more elaborate measures including minimizing food wastage while providing assistance to the underprivileged.
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