Eliminating Waste at a Café to Save Money

If you own a café, you likely entered into the business because you have a love of restaurant management, cooking, coffee, or entrepreneurial endeavors. Making a hefty profit from your café is often a secondary, though quite important, part of the business. However, you obviously want your restaurant to generate a profit so that you can continue to do what you love. For cafes and all other restaurants, one of the biggest things that can cut into generated profits and cause restaurants to lose money over time is excessive waste. Waste involves any product, ingredient, or supply that is used excessively or incorrectly. When you reduce the waste generated by your café, you will start to notice profits rising in just a few months.

Dining In? Provide Real Dishes

One of the best ways to reduce waste is to provide real dinnerware and glassware to customers who are dining in. For customers want their orders to go, you must provide them with disposable Styrofoam or plastic dishes and cups that they can take with them when they leave the restaurant. However, when a customer is dining in, if you serve them using real dishes, mugs, flatware, and glasses you can save lots on the cost of disposable tableware. This will also give the customer a higher quality experience at your café

Store Ingredients in the Right Place

Storing ingredients in the proper location is another great way to reduce waste. Spoiled or stale food is a waste of money, and spoiled food is most often caused by improper storage. Be sure that jars and containers have lids that fit securely to keep air and moisture away from food. Keep bread, pastries, crackers, and cookies in a dry location and in sealed food containers to prevent staleness. Keep refrigerators and cold storage units set to the right temperature to prevent food from spoiling prematurely.

It is also important to order ingredients and food products at the right time and in the right quantities. You may think you're saving money by buying in bulk, but if food spoils before you get the chance to use it, your money has been wasted.

Hold Your Employees Accountable

Many cafés run into excessive waste issues simply because employees are not held accountable for the products and ingredients they use in excess. Employees may not have enough respect or conscientiousness about the items used in a café simply because they are not the ones who have to pay for the purchased food items that make a café run smoothly. This is no reason, however, for employees to be excessively wasteful. It is crucial, as an employer, to hold your employees accountable for the things they waste. Keep tabs on your employees and watch for bad habits that are leading to excessive waste. The sooner you identify and correct these habits, the sooner your café will start saving rather than losing money.

Waste is not just a matter of losing profits. Excessive waste contributes to the overall decline of environmental health and well-being. Landfills are filling quickly with discarded paper, plastic and metal objects. Taking the time to evaluate the waste generated by your café and reduce these levels of waste, if  possible, will save both your pocketbook and the earth's environment. It's a win-win situation.