Waste eats into margin quietly. Between expiry, breakage, over-portioning and inventory variances, it’s often several food cost points that vanish every month. Here’s where to act.
Where does waste come from?
- Expiry: products thrown away unused
- Breakage and errors: failed dishes, returns, stock breakage
- Over-portioning: grammages not respected
- Comps: complimentary items not tracked
- Inventory variances: gap between theoretical and actual stock (sometimes theft)
6 levers to reduce it
1. Track expiry dates with FEFO
FEFO (First Expired, First Out) uses what expires soonest first. With batch and expiry tracking, you’re alerted before anything spoils.
2. Respect portions
Precise recipe cards and standardised portions limit over-portioning — the first invisible cause of food cost drift.
3. Log your waste
What isn’t measured can’t improve. Record every loss (expiry / breakage / comp) to get a real food cost and spot problem products.
4. Match orders to real consumption
Over-ordering means more expiry. Smart reordering based on real consumption avoids perishable overstock.
5. Count stock regularly
Regular stock counts reveal the gaps between theoretical and physical stock — an early signal of waste or theft.
6. Analyse, don’t just observe
Track how your waste evolves by sub-type over time. A sudden rise in breakage or expiry points to a specific problem to fix.
Measure to recover
FoodCostOS logs your waste by sub-type, tracks batches and expiry with FEFO, and alerts you in real time (approaching expiry, margin gap). Enough to turn invisible waste into recovered margin.