“The goal is to make ourselves and our staff think differently about what we waste,” says Steve. He notes that the first step of the process is to bring awareness to what is being thrown away and then capture data to get a clearer picture of what food is being wasted and why.
Steve believes that people are more thoughtful about what they are throwing away if they can see it. That is why trash cans in the kitchen were replaced with clear plastic containers. After the first three days of the awareness strategy, there was a reduction of three to four gallons of food waste per day. Prior to the pilot program, entire trash can liners were emptied three times per day.
A multitude of other small initiatives are making a big difference as well. For example, instead of peeling carrots, the staff scrubs them until they are clean and then adds them to the dish. “Why throw away one of the best parts of the carrot when you can use it and not have any waste from it?” he points out.
Steve has been running his new waste reduction program at The Cook & The Ox restaurant for about six weeks and estimates food waste is 40% less than it was prior. “We could save up to $50,000 per year just in trash can liners,” he exclaims. Steve is now working on rolling out a standard operating procedure for the kitchens at other Areas facilities.
A plan is being developed for staff who are already utilizing the program to become coaches for other restaurants at MSP. Next, the program will be tested in other airports before moving on to the travel plazas. “All-in-all, it’s a pretty basic thing we are doing. It just takes management over the initial 21-days of the program’s roll-out period, to get staff used to the new procedure—then it becomes habitual”.
Another of Steve’s eco-forward initiatives is to reduce the number of boxes received by working with produce vendors on how the food is packaged. “There is very limited space in airports to keep all the cardboard boxes and packaging from food,” Steve explains as his reason behind this initiative. “This would lead to a lot less waste in the airports and less time our staff spends breaking it down and moving it into and out of the restaurant and airport.”
Steve’s food waste reduction program is starting off as a small footprint at one restaurant, but if plans to carry it across all Areas restaurants, it will have a significant positive impact. “Areas is a company that cares about more than just making money. I came to Areas because I like what they do and what they intend to do.”
Steve’s vision of saving the planet one kitchen at a time is clear. “If the only thing achieved is that our staff and the people who work for Areas are thinking more positively about the planet and the people who are living on it, then we’ve won. If we save some money along the way, then we’ve really won.”