Reduce Waste At The Cafeteria You Own

If you tend to toss out a lot of packaging materials, including cans and cardboard and leftover food at the cafeteria that you own, reduce waste and maintain the cleanliness of your working environment by trying the suggestions that follow:

Reuse Packing Materials Inside Of Your Business

When items arrive at your business, carefully open boxes and place packaged or canned goods on shelving units inside of the kitchen where food is prepared. Flatten boxes and stack them neatly in the corner of your kitchen. If you ever need to ship items back to a supplier, grab one of the boxes from the stack and tape the bottom of it before loading materials inside of it.

If the stack of boxes becomes overwhelming and you find that you barely have a use for any of the cartons once goods are unloaded inside of the cafeteria, secure the boxes with flexible bands and contact a recycling center to pick up the packaging from your establishment. 

Purchase Items In Bulk And Choose Fresh Foods

If you have been ordering a multitude of canned and boxed food items on a regular basis, make the effort to change your ordering habits by purchasing items in bulk or opting to buy fresh food items instead. If you choose to order items in bulk, you will still have packaging to contend with, but the quantity of items will be reduced.

Choosing to purchase large pouches of vegetables and fruits instead of canned items is also an option that will cut back on packaging. Replace canned and packaged fruits and vegetables with fresh produce to eliminate most of the waste that you encounter at your business.

Plan A Realistic Menu And Preserve Leftovers For Future Use

Keep track of how many customers are typically served at your cafeteria each day and the amount of leftovers that you are faced with at the end of each shift. Use your findings to plan a realistic menu that will provide you with plenty of food for your patrons, but won't result in an excessive amount of leftovers. If certain days of the week tend to be busier than others, plan to prepare more food for those days.

If you do encounter leftovers at the end of a day, preserve them by placing them in durable storage containers before setting them in a refrigerator or freezer. Plan on serving the leftovers the following day and sell the items for a reduced fee.

Contact a company like Norm Gordon & Associates, Inc. for more information and assistance.