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Issue of food waste in hospitality and events

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Issue of food waste in hospitality and events

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This Journal article highlights the issue of excessive food wastage within the hospitality industry. In particular, the article explores the effect of food wastage on hospitality employees invoking feelings of guilt and bringing up the ethics surrounding food wastage. Therefore, the study reveals the impact of food wastage on staff is seen to cause a negative emotional response which affects the morale of staff. Furthermore, a decrease in morale among employees can result in more negative effects, which is a challenge for the hospitality/event industry.

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Abstract

Hotel employees are in the eye of the storm witnessing food wastage on a daily basis. The appetite for more food often results in more leftovers. Only a paucity of studies have investigated hospitality employees' motivations towards food wastage in the hospitality industry. Understanding this research gap of food wastage is imperative given the social, financial, environmental and ethical implications in this dynamic industry. This paper engaged the Theory of Planned Behaviour as the theoretical framework to elicit underlying motivations of Generation Z hotel workers in food and beverage outlets (n = 52) towards their food wastage behaviour in the hospitality sector. Results suggest hotel workers face ethical dilemmas between using fresher ingredients to achieve better customer satisfaction and throwajing food away. Majority of respondents reported the feeling of guilt as a negative attitude towards food wastage, influenced by peer pressure from friends and colleagues, and lack of control over portion sizes.

Introduction

Food wastage is a perennial and pertinent issue facing governments and industries globally. On a global scale, it is estimate that food wastage amounts to 1.3 billion tonnes yearly costing the world about $1 trillion (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2017). Past research has attempted to quantify the amount of food waste across different countries. For example, an estimated 8.3 million tonnes of food is wasted annually in the United Kingdom, 7.3 million tonnes in Australia, and 224,000 tonnes in New Zealand (Reynolds et al., 2016a, b). On average, food wastage cost the New Zealand government and businesses $568 million annually in lost income and waste management (Reynolds et al., 2016a,b). In Australia, food wastage costs the government $20b annually (Australia Department of Environment and Energy, 2017). Food wastage is also evident in developing countries such as India where an estimated 45.35 million tonnes of fruits and vegetables are wasted annually costing the country INR$440 billion (FASAR, 2014).

While there are no specific figures reporting how much hospitality waste contributes to the waste equation, we do know that food waste is a major problem within the hospitality sector across various countries. For example, the hotel industry in Sri Lanka has been labelled as one of the highest energy consumers and waste generators with an estimated 79% of their waste related to food (International Financial Corporation, 2013). In Denmark, the hospitality industry contributes more than 50% of waste being related to food waste (Curry, 2012), and 920,000 tonnes of food is wasted in the UK hospitality industry yearly (Pariff et al., 2013). In Italy, restaurants make up approximately 21% of total food waste (Coldiretti, 2017). The exact amount of food wastage in hospitality is debatable and no research has reported a specific quantity but rather empirical food wastage patterns and trends. In Western Australia, food waste accounts for majority of the waste from hotels with an estimated 4377 tonnes per day (Western Australia Department of Environment and Conservation, 2008).

It is important to examine food wastage reasons through the lens of the hospitality workforce as the workers are at the forefront of the food wastage battlefield. The hotel workforce in Australia spans across 6807 hotels with 380,000 employees working in a $14 billion industry (Australia Hotel Association, 2013). The hospitality workforce will continue to expand with an additional 123,000 workers needed by 2020 (Deloitte, 2015). The increased hospitality workforce will see employment benefits such as job opportunities and career advancement along with challenges such as social and ethical dilemmas (Goh and Kong, 2018). This highlights the need for emerging hospitality management graduates to possess ethical knowledge to uphold the ethical climate in the hospitality business. The definition of what constitutes ethical behaviour in hospitality has not been specifically defined but includes doing the right thing through social responsible behaviour, implementation of ethical codes in companies, and human resources' ethical decision making (Knani, 2014; Upchurch and Ruhland, 1995). In spite of the importance of ethical behaviour in hospitality, researchers (Yeh, 2012) have reported a lack of ethics training provided in hotels on how best to deal with ethical dilemmas, and the need for more ethical conduct training (Frempong, 2017). Perhaps, a more disturbing finding is that younger hospitality workers are more likely to engage in unethical behaviours (Goh and Kong, 2018; Lee and Tsang, 2013). This has drastic implications for the predominantly young hospitality workforce where 43% are aged between 15-24 (Australia Department of Employment, 2014). This demographic trend has been coined by some academics as the "perfect storm" (Solnet et al., 2016) where over time, younger hospitality employees enter and older employees leave the hospitality industry. These younger employees will hold managerial positions as compared to older workers dealing in the frontline interface (Solnet et al., 2012). Thus, ethical training is paramount at the early stages of the hospitality career cycle to ensure future young hospitality workers are better embedded in their jobs (Robinson et al., 2014) and reduce high turnover in a low paid industry (Jose and Hipolito, 2016).

This study has identified several research gaps that needs immediate attention. First, the ethical issue of food wastage, along with human resource related issues in the hospitality industry, has received limited research investigations. Second, limited research has investigated the generation Z hospitality workforce (Goh and Lee, 2018) despite the hospitality industry being dominated (43%) by younger employees aged between 15-24 (Australia Department of Employment, 2014) and younger hospitality workers tend to be more unethical (Goh and Kong, 2018; Lee and Tsang, 2013). The limited studies of demographics characteristics in hospitality has been a perennial and pertinent recurring theme in hospitality workforce research (Baum et al., 2016; Solnet et al., 2012; Lucas and Jeffries, 1991). Third, a plethora of studies has investigated ethical behaviour in general but few have been undertaken in the hospitality industry (Goh and Kong, 2018; Yaman and Gurel, 2006) especially in food wastage (Principato et al., 2018; Pirani and Arafat, 2016). Fourth, while a paucity of hospitality studies looked at food wastage, majority of studies focused on consumer behaviour and their perceptions of waste generated by portion sizes, product mixes, and plate sizes (Juvan et al., 2017; Charlebois et al., 2015; Ferreira et al., 2013). However, no study examined attitudes of hospitality workers towards food wastage behavioural intentions. Finally, most attitudinal studies in hospitality food wastage had limitations due to the lack of applied theoretical research frameworks and there has been calls for future research to better inform food wastage behaviour in hotels (Juvan et al., 2017). Hence, the focus of this paper is to explore the motivational factors (attitude, subjective norms and perceived constraints) of Generation Z hospitality workers towards their food wastage behavioural intentions in the hospitality sector.

Section snippets

Food wastage in the hospitality food supply chain

Food wastage is defined as "any by-product or waste product from the production, processing, distribution, and consumption of food" (Okazaki et al., 2008). Food wastage happens right at the start of the supply chain. During the production stage, 20% to 40% of fruits and vegetables harvested are thrown out as a consequence of not meeting the cosmetic standards of supermarkets and food and beverage outlets (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2017; Wilson, 2014). These

Research questions

Our extensive review of literature reveals that majority of food wastage studies in hospitality have examined customer plate waste, food waste operational issues, and methods to quantify food wastage. While there are some sporadic interview findings about employees' motivations towards food wastage (Papargyropolou et al., 2016; Charlebois et al., 2015), not a single complete study has been dedicated to investigate hospitality employees' attitudes, social groups, and perceived constraints about

Research paradigm

Given the exploratory purpose of this study, a qualitative framework was embraced to gather meaningful understandings in the initial phases of development of a subject area that could be lost due to the over-reliance on statistics (Khoo-Lattimore et al., 2017; Ballantyne et al., 2009). The key objective was to elicit information pertaining to Generation Z workers' attitudinal, normative, and perceived control factors toward their food wastage behavioural intentions in the hospitality industry.

Results and discussion

In order to unpack and analyze the transcribed data, the researchers performed content analysis on the collected interview data as recommended by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980). Upon distilling and unpacking the qualitative data, similar categorical themes were defined, coded and clustered to answer the research problems in relation to respondents' attitudes (ATT codes) toward food wastage, important reference groups (SN codes), and their perceived difficulties (PBC codes). Next, the researchers

Conclusion and managerial implications

This research study addressed the scarcity of literature examining food wastage motivations among Generation Z hospitality employees and have adhered to calls for further research by Principato et al. (2018) and Pirani and Arafat (2016) into the lack of food wastage studies in hospitality research, and the lack of importance of food wastage being an ethical issue in hospitality (Goh and Kong, 2018; Yaman and Gurel, 2006). This paper also contributed to the calls for research into more workforce

Limitations and future research

Even though this investigation advanced immensely from the participation of Generation Z hospitality undergraduates who have worked in different hospitality establishments in New South Wales, Australia, the sample group from one out of six states in Australia limits the generalization of the results. Another drawback of this research is the omission of including Generation Z workers from other industries besides hospitality. Non-hospitality workers may have a different perception about food

Dr. Edmund Goh is Deputy Director, Markets and Services Research Centre, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. Edmund sees his research as the nexus to address education and industry gaps. He has published in leading journals such as Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Environmental Education Research, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Journal of Travel and Tourism

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Dr. Edmund Goh is Deputy Director, Markets and Services Research Centre, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. Edmund sees his research as the nexus to address education and industry gaps. He has published in leading journals such as Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Environmental Education Research, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education.

Dr. Ferry Jie is Associate Professor at Edith Cowan University. He specializes in Hospitality supply chain issues and has published extensively in the area of supply chain management. He is currently the Deputy Director of the research centre, Centre of Innovative Practice at Edith Cowan University.

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To waste or not to waste: Exploring motivational factors of Generation Z hospitality employees towards food wastage in the hospitality industry

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Hotel employees are in the eye of the storm witnessing food wastage on a daily basis. The appetite for more food often results in more leftovers. Only a paucity of studies have investigated hospitality employees' motivations towards food wastage in the hospitality industry.

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Employees negatively impacted by food wastage

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Employees negatively impacted by food wastage

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This article describes a study conducted in 2020, which revealed that "nine out of ten employees were negatively impacted by food waste". This study explained that a variety of different emotions are experienced by employees working in the food service industry that witness food wastage. most commonly, guilt, disappointment, and sadness. Furthermore, the study showed that a large portion of workers in the fast food industry are aware of the amount of food wasted within the business.

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By Fiona Binns | | Add a Comment

Food waste app Too Good To Go has disclosed the results of a recent survey conducted on workers and consumer attitudes to food waste in takeaway and food-to-go situations. It has revealed that

Nine out of ten employees in food-to-go businesses experience negative emotions over food wasted in their workplaces on a daily basis, according to a new survey by food waste app Too Good To Go.

The survey, the results of which were revealed today (9 September), showed that emotions such as frustration, guilt, sadness and anger were all identified as being felt by foodservice employees when food is wasted. Disappointment was felt the most with half (49 per cent) of all employees surveyed admitting to experiencing it.

The survey also reveals that a lack of training and food waste prevention guidelines could be contributing to continued food waste, with less than half of food-to-go businesses having operations guidelines in place to reduce food waste.

On top of this, training is limited, with less than half of employees surveyed (45 per cent) stated that they receive sustainability awareness or employee sessions on limiting the amount of food being thrown away.

When asked about the reasons for food waste in their business, one third of respondents (36 per cent) stated that poor stock management was to blame. However, the survey also found that almost two thirds of businesses (60 per cent) do not have a stock management process in place to reduce food waste, while 48 per cent of employees surveyed blamed unpredictable fluctuations in customer footfall for the large amounts of waste.

The reported lack of training and guidelines will be a cause of concern for many, especially considering the hospitality sector's support of the Waste and Resources Action Programme's (WRAP) Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, which commits signatories to reduce food waste in their own operations.

On the report's findings, Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good To Go, said: "It is clear that employees in the food-to-go sector are becoming more aware of the issue of food waste in their business - more than eight in 10 employees in the sector are aware of how much food their business wastes on a daily basis. And the negative impact this is having on employee wellbeing is a cause for concern.

"There also remains a stark knowledge gap in the impact of food waste. Over a third of employees are still not aware of the environmental impact of throwing away food. With sustainability rising up the agenda for employees and consumers, it is vital for food-to-go businesses to step up and ensure that they're actively playing a role to reduce food waste. "

While the main source of food waste in the UK is from households, generating 6.6 million tonnes of food waste per year, restaurant and on-the-go food waste remains significant, generating 1.1 million tonnes of waste a year.

While overall food waste levels have fallen in the past three years by seven per cent, levels of food waste generated by the hospitality sector has actually increased by eight per cent.

A number of campaigns have been launched over the past few years in an attempt to tackle the large amounts of food waste generated in the hospitality sector, including WRAP's Guardians of Grub campaign and Hubbub's partnership with Winnow targeting 'plate waste' in restaurants.

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Nine out of ten employees negatively impacted by food waste

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By Fiona Binns | | Add a Comment Food waste app Too Good To Go has disclosed the results of a recent survey conducted on workers and consumer attitudes to food waste in takeaway and food-to-go situations.

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Employee and customer perceptions surrounding food waste

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Employee and customer perceptions surrounding food waste

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This journal article delves deep into employee and customer perceptions regarding food wastage. In particular, the link between food wastage and the environmental impact is becoming more prevalent in modern society. Thus, witnessing food wastage is found to have an increasing impact on employees. Therefore, this trend will have an impact on the event industry because they are seen to incur a large amount of food waste and that could affect their employees.

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This news article describes the food wastage initiative that Woolworths supermarkets rolled out in 2014 called the odd bunch. The concept was developed because there was at least 25% of produce being wasted due to slight imperfections. So, to combat the growing issue of food wastage Woolworths created the idea to sell imperfect produce for a discounted price to reduce the amount of food ending up in a landfill. This clipping was chosen as it describes a great initiative developed to tackle food waste within supermarkets. However, it reveals a gap within the event business industry as there aren't any programs that exist to reduce the amount of food waste encountered. Thus, this is a huge opportunity for the event industry to improve its impact and make a difference.

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FUNNY-shaped carrots and apples with spots are the heroes of a new initiative designed to cut waste and make healthy food cheaper.

The "ugly" fruit and veg that previously might have ended in the bin will be sold at discount prices in The Odd Bunch campaign launched this week by supermarket giant Woolworths.

At least 25 per cent of fresh produce is estimated to be rejected because of imperfections or cosmetic damage.

Woolworths says it wants to show customers that this food is still delicious and healthy, as well as helping farmers sell more of their crop.

Discounts will vary but this week Woolworths is selling a kilogram bag of Odd Bunch carrots for $1.28 compared to $1.88 for the standard range. Odd Bunch pears are $2.78 a kilogram, a saving of $1.20.
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The program, the first of its type in a national supermarket, follows the success of a similar initiative by the French chain Intermarche, which was adopted by UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's in October.

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Donald Keith, senior category manager at Woolworths, said the campaign was part of the company's efforts to reduce food waste and make produce more affordable.

"There are many reasons why there are marks on fruit and veg, whether it's the wind or the way it sat on the stem," he said. "But the eating experience doesn't change.

"It's an opportunity for us to take more of the crop from our growers. They'll be able to sell more to us directly, leading to less waste."

Mr Keith said The Odd Bunch range would vary through the year, depending on availability.

"It's about taking seasonal opportunities, when products are in abundance," he said. "So stores will have different ranges depending on supply."

Zerella Fresh is a major supplier of carrots, onions and pumpkins to the supermarket.

The company's national sales manager, Peter Brinkworth, said the new initiative would help it sell more of the 1000 tonnes of carrots it pulls up each week.

"We've now found a new home for more than 50 tonnes of carrots a week," he said.

"People buy with their eyes but there is nothing wrong with these carrots. Once you cut them up, they are no different to the perfect carrot, apart from their appearance. They taste the same.

"Woolies are supporting the growers by taking the whole crop ... instead of cherrypicking what we are growing, they are working with us."

Mr Brinkworth said between 10 and 30 per cent of its crop was not used for retail sale. It was either sent to a processor, sold for livestock feed, given away or dumped.

Ronni Kahn, the chief executive of food rescue champions OzHarvest, said the concept could have great impact in reducing waste, educating the public and saving the environment.

"This is hugely important. I'm thrilled," she said. "We have to understand that an apple with a bruise or a banana with a freckle is delicious and not discard it."

Vicki Yull, a mother of four children, including Grace, four, said the initiative was a great idea.

"I don't need perfect-looking vegetables as long as they taste good. Even Grace said it's still a carrot."

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FUNNY-shaped carrots and apples with spots are the heroes of a new initiative designed to cut waste and make healthy food cheaper. The "ugly" fruit and veg that previously might have ended in the bin will be sold at discount prices in The Odd Bunch campaign launched this week by supermarket giant Woolworths.

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In the video, Kate Marchini from the company Re-plate is interviewed and discusses the current issue of food wastage within the event industry and how Re-plate is making a difference. Re-plate is a business that works with event and catering companies to collect any surplus of food left over from events and redistributes food to people in need through charities and food banks. This clipping has been included because it is a great solution to address the issue of food wastage as well as other strategies leading up to the event itself, which should be standard practice. Overall this company will have a positive impact on the event industry by reducing food wastage as well as improving the sustainability image of events that partner with Re-plate.

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Over the past year, sustainability has become top of mind for planners. And the events industry as a whole has doubled down on efforts to become greener. It's up to us as an industry that tends to create so much waste to improve. Part of this sustainability trend also refers to food waste in the events industry. And this is an issue that doesn't get addressed nearly as much as it should. So what can we, as event professionals, do to end this practice? How can we contribute towards a better world that uses food in a better, more sustainable way?

Well, that's exactly what we're addressing on today's episode of #EventIcons! Joining our incredible host Sarah Christl is none other than Kate Marchini from Replate. And Replate is all about "leveraging technology to match surplus food from businesses with communities in need". This means Kate has quite a bit to teach us about battling food waste in the events industry. So press that play button and join us for another week of iconic conversations and advice!

That's a wrap on this week's episode about food waste in the events industry!

Make sure you join us again next week for another iconic episode. In case you're interested in virtual event content, click here to learn more while you wait for another #EventIcons!

Download our free virtual event planning checklist today and learn what you have to do every step of the way to create an unforgettable experience for your attendees. And if you're looking for the best virtual event production company out there, chat with us! The Endless team is here to help.

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Food Waste In The Events Industry: Solving The Issue

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Over the past year, sustainability has become top of mind for planners. And the events industry as a whole has doubled down on efforts to become greener. It's up to us as an industry that tends to create so much waste to improve. Part of this sustainability trend also refers to food waste in the events industry.

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Customer expectations are growing while pressure is put onto catering and event organisers

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Customer expectations are growing while pressure is put onto catering and event organisers

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This article explains a major challenge for event organisers today, which is the contradiction of customers expecting more from providers while on the other hand the event industry being pressured to reduce offerings. This creates a massive challenge for the event industry to still provide value to their clients while also being more sustainable. One of the ways in which event organisers can become more sustainable is by reducing food waste from events. However, this could have a huge impact on their business as research has found that food accounts for 40-80% of customer reviews following an event. In addition, a large portion of reviews mention food waste, which is putting pressure on event organisers to avoid over-ordering.

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When considering the carbon footprint of mass gathering events, be it sport, music or culture, the sustainability headlines tend to focus more on the environmental impact on millions travelling from across the world. For example, the travel and accommodation of 5 million people for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia represented about 85% of the greenhouse gas emissions that the tournament generated. This translates into 1.6 million tons of CO2e, or the equivalent to the emissions from half a million homes' annual consumption of electricity.

Perhaps it's not surprising that with such eye-popping numbers, food and beverage service tends to slip under the radar. This should be far from the case considering that during the same tournament, food and beverage accounted for the second biggest portion of greenhouse gas emissions - generating 105,695 tonnes of CO2e. That is the equivalent of burning 53m kilograms of coal. This covers all food and beverage supply from in-stadia kiosks to official VIP Hospitality, across 12 venues, 64 matches and the 2.5m ticket-holders who attended.

Although these statistics from the Solar Impulse Foundation may seem both staggering and shocking, the purpose of this article is to explore how best to implement sustainable strategies that can greatly reduce this figure.

Our investigations show that a key area that needs to be addressed in this equation is food waste.

It has become apparent over the past few years that a major part of the population is more aware and conscious of the way in which they purchase, consume, and dispose of food. But is being aware and conscious enough in a battle against the ongoing issue that sees over US$1 trillion and 1.3 billion tonnes of food wasted globally each year?

The challenge is this: on the one hand customer expectations are constantly growing, on the other the pressure for caterers and event organisers to strip back offerings in an aim to be more economically and environmentally friendly is increasingly tough.

In order to give clarity to this issue we have broken the process down into three key parties (The VIP Hospitality Customer, The Caterer and The Event Organiser) to analyse where the waste comes from and where, we believe, considerable improvements can be made.

The VIP Hospitality Customer

An unpredictable and demanding type - but rightfully expects quality and deserves value from their hospitality experience. Many if not all attendees see the food and beverage options as opportunities to gain maximum value from their overall event ticket cost and who can blame them! This sees the 'eyes bigger than the stomach' mentality kick in with larger than normal orders and helpings taken. So some customer groups may consume larger than normal amounts, while others simply make the VIP Hospitality purchase for the convenience of the seats or other related benefits, and leave their food untouched.

Is being aware and conscious enough in a battle against the ongoing issue that sees over US$1 trillion and 1.3 billion tonnes of food wasted globally each year?

In an ideal world the customer would share with the caterer the likely dietary requirements of all of their guests ahead of an event. However, there are also options the caterer and hospitality rightsholder might consider that can potentially eat in to the 34% of food waste attributed to customer plates:

As part of the post-sales phase, educate the customer with informative material on food waste;

Consider having the chef talk directly to the customers about the matter as part of live food preparation or demonstration;

Reduce plate sizes.

If we delve a little further into the statistics WRAP share on the matter - 45% of food waste is said to come in the form of food preparation and another 21% comes from spoilage. In first instance these stats would point the finger at the Caterer, being responsible for up to an accumulative 66% of food waste in the hospitality industry. However, if we look a little further into the kitchen and the role of the caterer, we feel this is not a reasonable assumption.

The Caterer

The most difficult job in this equation. Their success relies on happy customers and happy event organisers too: producing great food and service while sticking within a set budget. Expectations are forever high with food and beverage often being the key component in a successful event. Guests can accept the disappointment of a goal-less draw whilst watching their favourite football team, but regardless of the result they expect to be wined and dined in fine fashion when in hospitality.

But it seems that just producing delicious food is not quite enough anymore. New dietary trends and changes in consumer values and beliefs have led to food offerings becoming more and more about the story. Guests want to know exactly where their food has come from, how it has been fed, whether it had a happy life and how it will be disposed of after use. Providence is key! And guests are willing to pay more and more for this.

This is nothing but positive for the industry - it promotes the use of seasonal and local produce, supports local farmers, and greatly lowers food transport emissions. It also puts an important focus on reducing the amount of waste that hits the landfills.

This does however present its challenges and trade-offs for the caterer coming in the form of #FORO (Fear of running out). This cleverly coined phrase by Lime Event Portfolio strikes a key point that seems to be one of the biggest obstacles in really cutting down on food waste. This fear nudges the caterer towards over-ordering, especially when given that a major part of event feedback is food focused. The same study highlighted this significance, showing that one third of all participants reported that food accounts for between 40-80% of post-event feedback. They also emphasised that nearly half of these reviews were focused on food waste too. This shows how aware the consumer is nowadays and requires the attention of caterers otherwise this type of feedback can potentially be damaging to your event or brand.

The below research, conducted by Lime Event Portfolio, shows the food groups listed by percentage wasted:

This table gives much food for thought and gives a clear idea what's wasted most by the consumer and can serve as a useful guide when re-designing a menu to create less waste.

In addition to this, getting creative with the way in which you serve your food may be very effective. For instance, buffet service does not assist a caterer who is trying to predict portion numbers. Buffet food presentation may not feel fresh past a certain time, and guests might not find this aesthetically appealing, so will be more likely to pass, therefore creating more waste.

That said, plate service can also lead to large amounts of waste. Typically, an event might cover themselves by preparing an additional 10% of the full menu. If you want to quantify this for a three-course, 1,000 person banquet you are looking at a staggering 300 dishes being prepared for customers who simply aren't there. When you work in a market that expects the finest quality of food and also requires a multitude of alternative dishes to suit the wider consumer taste, you are inevitably going to contribute to a major footprint of food wastage, environmental damage and your own company's financial affliction. This is where the event organiser plays a key part in the equation.

The Event Organiser

Responsible for the reputation and success of the event. Most commonly the event organiser will pay for the catering service and will ultimately have the final say. It is therefore extremely important that they lead the implementation of a sustainable framework while maintaining the high-quality product that reflects the value paid for the experience. Clear communication of the eating hours with your clients is a proactive and low-cost solution in preventing food from sitting out for a prolonged period with meat getting dry and vegetables going soggy.

If your event is not a one-off then it is possible to measure customer trends more closely: a check-in tool allows you to know when customers tend to arrive. This information can be passed on to the catering team allowing them to plan their food service timings accurately. In doing this, the amount of in-service food waste can be minimised as much as possible, without having to change the product.

Disposing of food waste in the correct manner may not be the lowest cost option, however there are desirable non-financial benefits that will be attractive to many event organisers. Although difficult to quantify, more and more clients are now drawn to events that actively partake in efforts to improve environmental sustainability. It is much more appealing to attend an experience which has a green footprint and offers the guest a sense of ethical accountability while being able to enjoy their favourite music, sport, or cultural event.

Actions to solve the food waste problem

It is all very well talking about the issue at hand, but what event specific actions can then be taken to reduce food waste:

Reduce overproduction - as discussed, #FORO is the main obstacle faced. However, communication between event organiser and caterer is hugely effective in gauging guest numbers and ordering a measured quantity of food.

Rethink inventory and purchasing practices - work with suppliers who share a common goal of reducing food waste. Request that suppliers deliver portions that suit your offering, rather than trying to adapt their sizes to your menu. Working with local suppliers may reduce the lead time required when ordering ahead, therefore when guest numbers inevitably change the order size can reflect this.

Inform the customer - tell the customer why you are ordering less food! It may seem like a daunting task to do this in a world where "the customer is always right", but don't be afraid to stand up for a principle that carries so must justification behind it.

Engage staff - education and guidance are key - if staff are well informed of the issue, they will be more inclined to actively partake in activities to reduce food waste, and be better prepared to explain the catering decisions to the customers.

Measure - separate all food waste from other disposable items - this includes all food made inedible through spoilage, off-cuts and food left over from the plates. By utilising some of the new technologies ( Winnow Solutions) out there you will be able to calculate not just the type of food being wasted but the monetary cost going down the drain from each event.

Re-purpose excess food - cutting out 100% food waste is close to impossible unfortunately, but with the increasing number of initiatives and companies that work to re-purpose food waste, there are now plenty of ways to make your trash someone else's treasure.

See below some great initiatives and charities that are doing great things in the battle against food waste:

OLIO makes sure that surplus food from events and local businesses ends up in bellies and not bins. This benefits the environment, helps build local communities and improves employee engagement.

The Felix Project collects fresh, nutritious food that cannot be sold. We deliver this surplus food to charities and schools so they can provide healthy meals and help the most vulnerable in our society.

FareShare fights hunger, and tackles food waste. FareShare is the UK's national network of charitable food redistributors. They take good quality surplus food from right across the food industry and get it to almost 11,000 frontline charities and community groups.

DASH Water, set up by two friends Alex and Jack, on a mission to encourage people to start drinking more water and stop throwing away deliciously wonky fruit and vegetable that's not accepted for commercial food use.

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A sustainable serving of food waste in the Event Industry

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When considering the carbon footprint of mass gathering events, be it sport, music or culture, the sustainability headlines tend to focus more on the environmental impact on millions travelling from across the world. For example, the travel and accommodation of 5 million people for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in

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This report includes recent data from Foodbank Australia regarding the state of food insecurity in 2020 with the threat of COVID 19. The research found that since the pandemic there has been an increase in the demand for food relief services such as Foodbank as the number of Australians needing assistance doubled from 15% to 31%. This trend shows that the need for more thoughtful disposal and use of unwanted food is more critical than ever. So, this highlights an opportunity for the event industry to make a difference using their excessive food wastage to help disadvantaged Australians.

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This magazine article explains that there are a number of things that event organisers can do to combat the issue of food waste. Notably, sustainable practices such as composting, donating food, or reusing ingredients for other meals. Thus, this article reveals multiple opportunities within the event industry to adopt better practices to make a difference in being more sustainable. In particular, the solution of donating food to reduce the amount that ends up in landfill is a concept that has the potential to decrease a large amount of food waste.

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The third annual Sustainable Gastronomy Day took place Tuesday. The United Nations initiative was created, in part, to promote a more responsible consumption and use of the world's natural resources through sustainability efforts surrounding food and food production. Part of those efforts include reducing food waste, a challenge that the events industry seeks to address.

According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an estimated one-third of all food produced for human use, valued at $1 trillion, is lost or wasted each year. Meanwhile, about 795 million of the estimated 7.7 billion people on earth - or 1 in 9 - do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life, the Food Aid Foundation reports.

As Convene Editor in Chief Michelle Russell points out in her latest column, the issue led Lime Venue Portfolio - a collection of venues throughout the U.K. and Ireland - to launch an initiative, #FORO (fear of running out), to help venues, caterers, event organizers, and delegates work together to reduce the occurrence of food waste. Lime will present an educational session exploring the issue on June 27 at The Meeting Show in London.

During a recent PCMA Bites & Sites webinar, Tracy Stuckrath, president and chief connecting officer of Thrive Meetings & Events, discussed ways that event strategists, through menu choices for their meetings, can mitigate food waste.

The meetings industry in the United States alone spends an estimated $48 billion on food and beverage every year, Stuckrath said in the webinar. Between 30 and 40 percent of the food produced in the United States - or 63 million tons - is wasted, she said. She estimates that meetings and events generate about $21 billion of that waste.

Food waste occurs both in front of the house, when people take more food than they eat and leave food on their plates, and in back of the house, where complete meals remain untouched because attendance fell short of the guarantee.

Most of this uneaten food, Stuckrath pointed out, is still safe and nutritious as long as organizers and kitchen employees follow certain food safety standards, including keeping food temperature controlled and using the food within a designated period of time.

The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act and the U.S. Food Donation Act of 2008 were designed to allow organizations to donate food without liability, provided these safety standards are met.

Questions planners can ask their chefs ahead of an event include:

How is the food and beverage being managed once it's prepared and delivered?

Will it be re-used in a different meal?

Will it be donated or just dumped?

Are the kitchens saving food scraps for reuse or compost?

Stuckrath also suggested event strategists conduct a food audit after events. They can ascertain the following information to help cut back on waste at future events, she said.

How much uneaten food was left in the front of the house?

How much unserved food is left in the back of the house?

Can you cut back on variety while still providing a wide enough range to fit your attendees' dietary requirements and preferences?

What special meals ordered in advance (such as kosher, gluten-free, vegetarian) weren't picked up - and why? In the future you may be able to change that result.

What happens to any extra meals left if attendance is lower than your guarantee?

Stuckrath offered more ideas for planners - including what sustainability requirements to add to RFPs and contracts - during the session that you can watch at the PCMA website. Non-PCMA members will have to register, but the webinar replay is complimentary.

Sustainability in F&B for events will be one of the topics discussed during a Bites & Sites session, titled "Challenge the Food Connoisseurs," at PCMA's 2019 Education Conference, June 25-28 in Los Angeles.

More on Food Waste, Related Topics

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The third annual Sustainable Gastronomy Day took place Tuesday. The United Nations initiative was created, in part, to promote a more responsible consumption and use of the world's natural resources through sustainability efforts surrounding food and food production. Part of those efforts include reducing food waste, a challenge that the events industry seeks to address.

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Tackling food waste in the event industry

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Tackling food waste in the event industry

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This source discusses the event industry and its current problem with food wastage. However, more importantly, the article looks at the various opportunities in which to reduce excessive food waste including an anaerobic digestion facility that turns food waste into low-carbon electricity. This is a great solution for food scraps that are inedible for human consumption and means that even less food will end up in a landfill.

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The UK produces an estimated 9.5 million tonnes of food waste each year, according to food waste management charity WRAP. Holly Patrick finds out how the events industry is tackling this issue.
Many of us recycle at home, some of us might even find creative ways to prevent peelings from going in the bin. But how do these gestures to create a greener planet translate to the events industry?

The issue

In the Beyond Food report, published in chapters by Lime Venue Portfolio in association with BCD Meetings & Events, a reported 15 to 20 per cent of food at an event is wasted. In addition to this, at banqueting events, on average 10 per cent, more food than required is ordered. This means that at an event of 1,000 guests, at least 100 plates of food will go to waste.

To a non-event professional, ordering extra food to cater for last-minute attendees or menu choice changes may seem ludicrous. But, as the Beyond Food report points out, the success of an event is largely quantified by the quality and availability of the food, with 20 per cent of event feedback based on the catering.

Straight to the source

According to the food recovery hierarchy, reduction is the preferred method of tackling food waste and right at the bottom is landfill - the last resort. Reducing food waste at its source should be the first option for event planners. This means that, in practice, an event planner should not order, cook or serve surplus food at an event.

"When we are organising buffets for large congresses, we under-order, making sure there is enough crockery available - asking for smaller plates, so delegates don't overload - and reduce the choice," explains Worldspan managing director, Sophie Morris.

Morris adds that it's important to look at the types of food you reduce. "It's well known that both salads and puddings are a high percentage of the food that is wasted on a buffet, so consider reducing these considerably."

Changing delegate expectations

Delegates expect plenty of choice and additional helpings. This is something culturally ingrained in the events industry, as Abena Poku-Awuah, founder of sustainable events agency Legacy, explains.

"Some of those cultural expectations include wanting to be seen as generous at events, wanting to be seen as flexible and providing choice. Until we deal with some of those cultural aspects, it's going to be difficult to deal with the food waste questions because nobody wants to be at an event where you're seen as stingy or inflexible or not catering to your attendees' food choices."

Debunking the cultural expectations of an abundance of choice and availability begins with education. As Poku-Awuah puts it: "You need to sell the sizzle, not the steak."

John Kelly, senior director marketing EMEA, BDC M&E explains: "It's about educating people on the food journey from farm to plate and after that too. Once people have the facts then they will be more engaged to get on-board."

Maxine McMahon of Legal & General Investment Management suggests that the best way to educate delegates is by communicating your catering policy and the reasons behind it from the outset.

"We need to engage the message from the word go and explain that you are tackling food waste by providing one portion per person. This might not work straight away, but it will eventually."

The Letter of the Law

Communicating with venues and rethinking the 'norm' of venue contract negotiation can also reduce food waste. While a signed contract is considered watertight, there's always room for negotiation, especially if there is cost-saving for both sides involved. Kelly suggests planners need to be braver when it comes to contract negotiations and reaching out to the supply chain to say: "We have fewer delegates than expected, you don't need to buy and prepare all that food."

Another man's treasure

Preventative measures are the best course of action, bar none. But when prevention is simply not possible, a planner must communicate with their supply chain and understand the journey of the unconsumed food.

"We have to accept to a degree that there might be food waste, but we've got to be more pragmatic and proactive about what we do with that food waste," suggests McMahon. "Stop thinking food waste is dead money."

It's a question of asking what the venue is doing with the leftovers and even the usually-deemed scraps in the kitchen. Twickenham Stadium's head chef, Tom Rhodes is pioneering this in event catering by maximising the outcome of every ingredient used on the menu. "A good example of this is the use of our celeriac, which we peel, bake in salt and serve as a plant-first option," he explains. "The peelings of the vegetable are ground down with the excess salt to create a veggie salt for other dishes; the offcuts are used for a jus on a different part of the menu, and anything else left over we reuse in stocks and soups."

Lime Venues Portfolio also announced in early 2020 that it had chosen FareShare as its charity partner. "FareShare are fighting hunger in this country, using surplus food, and giving needy people a basic human right. It's a brilliant initiative, which we're delighted to be involved in," explains Jo Austin, sales director, Lime Venue Portfolio.

Stuart Coleman, founder of Eventism, explains that food waste charities are part of the solution to reducing waste, but it's important to pick the right charity for your business. "Each of them has their own niche including how they distribute food, what food they'll take and how regularly they need donations." Often a conversation between planners, venues and the food waste charities needs to be had to ensure the most fitting partnership is created.
Olympia London has sent zero waste to landfill for over a decade, and managed to reduce 17 per cent in three months after the campaign with Guardians of Grub last year.
A new beginning

In some cases, reducing or reusing isn't viable, particularly when cooked food has been put out but not eaten. However, this doesn't have to equal going to landfill as ICC Wales demonstrates through its initiative of turning food waste into energy. "We send our food waste to Bryn power anaerobic digestion facility to generate low carbon electricity for the South Wale grid," explains Russell Phillips, vice president, facilities and development at the Celtic Collection.

Similarly, The Royal College of Physicians in London has partnered with coffee grounds recycling company, bio-bean, to transform the 3,500kg of waste coffee grounds it produces annually into sustainable bioproducts. "The coffee grounds, which formerly went into the RCP's food waste and were processed by anaerobic digestion into compost, are now diverted and recycled into eco-friendly fire logs," says Natacha Allen, head of commercial events at the Royal College of Physicians.

"Open that communication channel with venues and caterers so that they understand that the information is important and they should be providing it to the event planner," explains Michael Foreman, managing director, Don't Waste UK.

Foreman explains that too often an event planner will trust the venue has sustainable methods of food waste disposal, but it's important to "ask the questions that matter and make sure you're comfortable with what they're doing if you really want to make an impact."

The industry doesn't yet have all the answers to the question of food waste, but it's certainly working on the formulas.

What to ask venues

Do you have a policy document that outlines your commitment to minimising food waste?

Can you show me data that demonstrates how you've successfully been able to reduce your food waste?

Which food redistribution organisation are you partnering with?

Which food waste removal service do you use and how is it used once removed?

Do you compost your food waste?

How do you manage your different waste streams? For example, flows of specific waste, from its source through to recovery, recycling or disposal.

Can we set up a system to update you on event number changes and special diet changes close to the event?

Partner up

Bio-bean is the world's largest recycler of spent coffee grounds.

OLIO offers a Food Waste Heroes programme which picks up and redistributes surplus food from professional kitchens to local communities.

Fareshare saves food destined for waste and sends it to charities and community groups who transform it into nutritious meals for vulnerable people.

The Trussell Trust supports a nationwide network of food banks, supporting people locked in poverty.

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Waste not, want not: tackling food waste in the industry | Meetings & Incentive Travel

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The UK produces an estimated 9.5 million tonnes of food waste each year, according to food waste management charity WRAP. Holly Patrick finds out how the events industry is tackling this issue. Many of us recycle at home, some of us might even find creative ways to prevent peelings from going in the bin.

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Animal rescue shelters in need of food donations

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Animal rescue shelters in need of food donations

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Since the Covid pandemic, many businesses have been impacted one of these being animal shelters which have been affected by a lack of food donations. Furthermore, due to the state of the economy after the pandemic, people are being more frugal with their money and as a result, animal shelters are feeling the effects of fewer donations. However, this presents an opportunity for the event industry to donate food waste from events that is safe for animal consumption such as rice, vegetables, and meat. In addition, this can help with leftover produce that is of lower quality for humans who are picky but still good for animals.

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As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage, we need to remember the less fortunate than us. And that includes the animals. We cannot, and I repeat, we cannot continue to panic buy because when we do, then we leave nothing for those less fortunate - the ones who can't afford to keep up with the stockpiling. And I'm not just talking about hoarding toilet paper, I also mean pet food.

I get it, we're all scared, and we're trying to be responsible pet owners making sure that there is enough food for our pets should things get really bad. But, we shouldn't stockpile and hoard, because that means that we're taking away pet food from others who need it - mainly animal shelters and rescues. There are lots of animal charities who are revealing that they are running out of pet food for cats and dogs, and can't get anymore due to people panic buying.

Because of this, there are fundraisers being set up to help affected rescues such as Paws2Rescue, a charity that is often supported by comedian Ricky Gervais, and which is known for aiding the stray dogs of Romania. The charity's founder, Alison Standbridge, has revealed that the situation is quite "critical." Since it's so tough, the charity is posting appeals on Facebook for donations in order to be able to afford to buy directly from the manufacturers as all the store supplies have run out.

🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘S O S!!! 🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘Coronavirus craziness has reached Romania and we have had more than one rescuer crying to us...

Posted by Paws2Rescue on Thursday, March 12, 2020

The charity said, "We have several tons of food held in reserve at manufacturers in Romania, please help us to buy some of this because we desperately want to send food out in the next couple of days to rescuers across the country. This really will be a horrific time for the dogs when the shops are stocking essentials only - and that does not include dog food."

Since posting the plea for help, the Paws2Rescue has already raised more than £2,000. Former Made in Chelsea star Lucy Watson, along with Emma Naylor, co-founder of All Hearts Global which supports animal charities, has decided to create a fundraiser to help an animal shelter in Greece.

Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK) are caring for hundreds of dogs and cats, however, they're facing a major crisis because they don't have enough volunteers or donations.

Their appeal says, "Shelter's rescue animals are not a high priority right now, but abandoned, unwanted, abused animals are paying a high price during this crisis as people are struggling and are discarding animals. On top of that, with flights being canceled, and holidays being postponed the number of volunteers to animal charities all over the world has dropped hugely.

It further states, "Both Emma and Lucy have adopted, and spent time at the rescue center with Marina and Joyce who are the only two full-time volunteers who work at the center. The coronavirus and the lack of travel is having a huge impact on the help they are receiving, and the funds that are being donated."

Rescue centres abroad (that rely heavily on volunteers) are suffering due to flight cancellations. I have worked closely with ARK & they helped me get my kitty home. They have no funds right now & over 300 animals to care for. Please donate what you can https://t.co/QrEv2ozxwP

- Lucy Watson (@imLucyWatson) March 15, 2020

The statement continues, "The center costs thousands of Euros to run a month, which includes basic food for all 350 animals, emergency vet appointments and the day to day medication required for the animals. Please donate what you can to help the innocent animals who are being affected by this hard time."

So, with that in mind, let us not forget to be kind to the homeless animals during this time. They are being affected too. Donate when you can, or foster if you're able to.

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Animal Shelters Around The World Are Left Without Food Because Of The Coronavirus

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As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage, we need to remember the less fortunate than us. And that includes the animals. We cannot, and I repeat, we cannot continue to panic buy because when we do, then we leave nothing for those less fortunate - the ones who can't afford to keep up with the stockpiling.

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This article reflects on a study regarding trends that are emerging within the event industry in 2020 revealing sustainable practices are a huge priority. This presents a window of opportunity for event businesses to make themselves stand out from competitors by adopting sustainable strategies. Some of which involve reducing single-use plastic, combining with sustainable locations, and reducing food waste. However, if event businesses do not adapt to suit this sustainable framework then they risk losing business.

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Sustainable Events: Biggest Challenge for Event Professionals in 2020?

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Cvent is a leading meetings, events and hospitality management technology provider with more than 4,000 employees, 27,000 customers, and 300,000 users.

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As people are becoming more aware of the need for sustainability this is putting event companies under a large amount of pressure. This article describes that customers are holding event organisers accountable for excessive amounts of food waste. And in general, customers believe that events should be disposing of food waste in an ethical way. The impact of this is that the opinions of customers on how sustainable and thoughtful event businesses are regarding excessive wastage can affect the reputation of a company.

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We've all seen it.

Tables laid with food for hundreds of visitors or delegates, left virtually untouched. Food waste in the events industry is an epidemic, and hard to avoid. Whether it's food for employees or guests, it's nigh-on impossible to accurately predict the amount that will be consumed.

When you first hear about the issue of global food waste, it's the numbers that grab you. By some estimates there are 860 million undernourished people in the world, while simultaneously 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted every year. Every year.

But, never let it be said that the events industry shirks from a challenge. As sustainability continues to hit the headlines the parallel issue of food waste at events is coming under increasing scrutiny.

For this feature we've spoken to three professionals attempting to tackle food waste at different stages of the event chain: Olio is an app that connects caterers and venues with people happy to take their unserved food, Grub Stub is a service reducing waste in backstage catering for event crew and Dirk Elzinga is chairing an ICCA working group assigned to tackle the issue.

"The initiative goes back to the ICCA Conference in Prague, and I must give credit where it is due to a lady called Silke Schlinnertz [head of operations and events at Euroheat & Power]," begins Elzinga, who served nine years as MD of Cape Town International Convention Centre before launching his own consultancy firm. "She approached ICCA to see if ICCA was interested in doing something about this food waste situation around the world and particularly in the event industry.

"The initiative was embraced by the venue category and I was made an honorary member of ICCA at the conference and I thought I should do something back. So I volunteered to chair a working group to work on this project."

In the months since the conference, which took place in November 2017, the working group has set to work.

"We have discussed how to approach the subject, with whom to work, where to start, where to finish," says Elizinga. "We have a working group now with seven ICCA members from all continents of the world, all in the venue category.

We've decided the best thing we can do is first to find out what the situation is within the congress centres; is there a serious problem and a serious challenge? Is there experience with how convention centres around the world deal with the distribution of food leftovers?

"You can do all sorts of thing with food leftovers, but there are also legal challenges; in some parts of the the world you cannot do too much with it."

In the months leading up to an initial presentation of findings at IMEX Frankfurt, which took place in May 2018, the group carried out test interviews with some of ICCA's venue members.

"Certain issues were not an issue at all, some were more important and we came across some interesting examples of how certain colleagues are dealing with it," continues Elzinga. "What we're doing now is rolling out a survey among all 360 members of the venue category of ICCA, and we're going to share that with the members before or during the next ICCA congress."

From the initial survey results, Elzinga says it became clear that venues in North America take the issue of food waste particularly seriously, with some even contacting other venues who have previously hosted a particular event to see what they can learn.

The results also showed that organisers and venues have to take into account the social dimensions of events, as this can influence the types of food that might be avoided by guests and delegates.

"If you have leftover food then it's great to find out what best practices there are in the world to responsibility and respectfully distribute those leftovers," Elzinga continues. "There are many good examples that we have learnt from those test interview. Many of them are very local, so you cannot really export them to other places in the world, but what you can do is teach, share knowledge with other local charities in other places.

"What we've found so far is that where you would expect the charities to be more active than anywhere else, in say less developed parts of the world, the habit of redistributing leftovers is actually much less developed than in Europe and North America."
Connecting the dots with Olio
Heading back to the UK, a free service called Olio has been making headlines with its aim to connect those with leftover food to those who could make use of it. An individual or business can upload information about their available food to the app and have it quickly collected for use elsewhere.

Focusing at first on retailers and food-to-go businesses [plus a significant trial across over 60 branches of Pret a Manger], the company has increasingly turned its attention to the events industry, and has built partnerships with several well-known companies in the events space, including online ticketing platform Eventbrite.

When it comes to businesses, the food is collected by one of Olio's 20,000 trained volunteers, who ensures the food is stored and redistributed safely, ethnically and quickly.

"We specialise in hyperlocal and very quick redistribution of food," says co-founder Saasha Celestial-One. "What we're doing is building a model that allows the really quick redistribution of food. 50 percent of all the food listings on the app are redistributed in under an hour.

"We really think there's a massive opportunity to work in the events space. There aren't that many existing options and our model, which specialise in short shelf life, ad hoc quantities, seems perfect for that."

Food waste isn't just wrong on a moral and ecological level, says Celestial-One, it's also a massive market inefficiency, costing in excess of $1 trillion globally each year.

"For us it also hits close to home," she adds. "I grew up in a household where resources were scarce and nothing of value ever went to waste, and my co-founder grew up on a dairy firm and learned at a young age how much work goes into producing the food that we all eat.

"The idea of throwing away perfectly good food has become relatively commonplace in modern society, we don't think that much about it, but it's not how our species evolved. It's a really simple problem to at least start tackling."

When it comes to simple steps caterers or venues could take to reduce their food waste, Celestial-One has one major piece of advice:

"Don't put all the food out at once" she says. "It's very basic but once the food is taken out of the chill chain or temperature control then that's when the ticketing clock starts. Put out smaller quantities of food and refill them frequently."

And, looking to the future of tackling food waste in the industry, she is positive.

"I think there will be lots of smart, savvy organisers out there who will not only build that into their value proposition but also potentially charge more for it, to have a responsible event," she tells EN. "This is just the tip of the iceberg; people will start thinking much more critically about the footprint of events.

"Even festivals have really upped their game; I think we're seeing a sea change in terms of the wastefulness associated with events. Still a long way to go but I think the early signs are very positive."
Optimising crew meals with Grub Stub
Outdoor events and festivals are largely where GrubStub comes into the equation.

"I'm an event organiser of 20 years and the company started around seven years ago when we were trying to find for ourselves a better way to handle tens of thousands of meal tickets for crew," says managing director Lou Fitzpatrick. "Over some years when it was establishing itself as a system, a lot more benefits to doing meal ticketing digitally came through. So various industry friends of ours were having the same problem and so they started using Grub Stub as a solution."

The company started in the festival world, as that was Fitzpatrick's background, but is now branching out into the corporate event market. Reducing food waste in crew catering is an issue that affects any organiser with crew catering and, says Lou, there's no better solution to the problem than Grub Stub.

So how does it work?

"Every event has to collate a lot of information from their staff regarding food and for various other reasons," explains Fitzpatrick. "What we have is an all-encompassing system where, however you have collated data, you can import it into the system or you can use the system itself to gather all the information.

From that, in simple terms, when you get to site you are given a meal ticket which is a Grub Stub and that contains all of your meals, however sporadically allocated, for the whole event. You go up to catering, put it in front of the scanner and the scanner says yes or no.

It helps the humans not to have to do lots of kind of mundane counting and just quite energy sapping and time consuming work, the technology does it all for you.

The important change isn't so much in the catering, says Fitzpatrick, it's in digitising the ticketing element of crew meals.

"The most important benefit is for event management," she says. "If they have 20,000 or 30,000 meals to serve at an event then event management don't have to spend days and days counting out tickets and wrestling with a whole pile of manual tickets and they get a lot more tracking, a lot more information which then in turn helps to streamline budgets, identify wastage and identify overspend. Mostly - the reason we made it - it's because I am one of those people that had to deal with 20,000 or 30,000 meal tickets at one event and it was such a wasteful process."

When it comes to tackling food waste, as with many issues affecting the event industry, it seems that if innovative thinkers can up with solutions that make the lives of organisers, venues and caterers easier, then that could be half the battle.

Whether it's Olio making vital connections between those with surplus food and those with too little, or Grub Stub creating a simple solution to a time-consuming and wasteful problem, the answers may be simpler than we think.

Here's hoping the that over next few years we really do see a sea change in the amount of food waste passing through the industry. While the scale of the problem, and those initial terrifying numbers, might seem insurmountable, with a bit of collaborative effort that scale may well begin to tip.

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Solving the events industry's food waste problem - EN

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We've all seen it. Tables laid with food for hundreds of visitors or delegates, left virtually untouched. Food waste in the events industry is an epidemic, and hard to avoid. Whether it's food for employees or guests, it's nigh-on impossible to accurately predict the amount that will be consumed.