How To Reduce Food Waste in Restaurants

Given today’s soaring inflation and high food costs, foodservice operators are searching for ways to trim expenses—including ways to reduce food waste in restaurants. After all, no restaurant operator wants to see their hard-earned money go straight into the trash in the form of food waste. One important tool in the quest to slash costs: heated holding bins that keep foods at ideal temperatures and humidity levels, reducing food spoilage and waste.

Holding bins keep pans of food at optimal temperatures, storing each pan in a dedicated slot in a heated cabinet, with dedicated timers tracking how long food has been held. Proper holding extends the shelf life of the products, allowing operators to reduce food waste in restaurants. Check out these four tips on how to get the most out of heated holding bins.

1. Cook in batches. Thanks to holding bins, operators can prepare large batches of food to be held at the perfect temperature, ready for the rush of customers. The result: quicker speed of service, with less waste. In today’s fast-paced food scene, many consumers expect to place their order on an app, pull up at the drive-thru or curbside pickup, and quickly get their food. Holding bins can be the secret to success in this post-pandemic climate.

Cooking in batches also is energy efficient. It decreases the need to cook multiple smaller portions, cutting down on the use of equipment like ovens and fryers. This is a great money-saving way to reduce energy consumption in a restaurant.

2. Keep fried foods crispy and grilled items moist and juicy. No one wants a dry burger and soggy fries. Prince Castle, the leader in holding technology, offers a robust pan lid system that allows for optimum holding of moisture-sensitive foods, allowing fried and non-fried foods to be held efficiently in the same bin. To keep your burgers and grilled chicken breast moist, simply place them in a hot food pan, cover with a Prince Castle metal lid that pairs perfectly, and hold at the ideal temperature in your food holding bin. Go lid-free to keep chicken nuggets, egg rolls, and other fried specialties crispy.

3. Pick the perfect holding temperatures for your menu. Prince Castle’s holding bins offer anywhere from one to four shelves, with each shelf featuring adjustable upper and lower heaters, letting you set precise temperatures, shelf by shelf, to ensure that items are not dried out or overcooked. You can adjust each heater between 150°F and 275°F, letting you apply more or less heat from either direction, as needed. For added flexibility, Prince Castle’s patented Extended Holding Bins offer dual-zone temperature controls for each shelf, allowing items with different temperature specs to be held on the same shelf.

4. Optimize your food safety procedures. Prince Castle’s innovative MenuTrak System allows operators to easily track how much holding time is remaining for each item in the holding bin. This helps ensure that food is served at its peak freshness and quality, reducing food waste in restaurants. MenuTrak indicates when to discard old product and begin cooking new product, reassuring you that your customers are always being served your best.