Appeal to stop food loss and waste

In the Styrian region of Austria, roughly 110,000 tons of food are thrown away each year. For the UN International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, the initiative “United Against Waste” is calling consumers to action and offers education and consulting programs for the hospitality and food service industry.

The company restaurant at the KNAPP AG headquarters in Hart bei Graz, run by GOURMET and serving about 800 meals every day, is a shining example of how to do it right. Since 2018, the restaurant has been using the food waste monitoring service by “United Against Waste”. This brought to light that food waste at the KNAPP AG restaurant is only 5 %, while other commercial kitchens in Styria on average waste 21 % of the meals served. Katrin Pucher at KNAPP explains why careful planning is the key: “Our company restaurant offers a wide selection of meals prepared with regional and seasonal ingredients. Diners can also choose their portion sizes. 80 % of the meals are ordered in advance, making exact planning possible.” There is also no requirement to have all options available until the end of the lunch break.