Better food procurement can reduce food waste

Thursday, 11 March 2021

Food waste is a topic we’ve all heard of but it may not always be at the forefront of your mind. At Foodbuy we think it’s one of the biggest issues facing the catering and hospitality industry and that it should be top of the agenda for all food procurement companies. In this post we’ll endeavour to tell you how better food procurement can help reduce food waste. 

Food waste is a big issue

On average, 3.6 million tonnes of food is wasted by the food industry every year in the UK alone. This level of food waste places unsustainable amounts of pressure on the environment so how can better food procurement help?

How better food procurement can help

The biggest issue facing large chain catering food outlets like restaurants and companies working in the mass production of food, is their desire to over-produce food in order to avoid running out. This leads to oversupply and wastage. Sustainability programmes are then created to help tackle this, and they often have great success, but not much thought goes into the earlier steps around the actual food procurement when companies are first sourcing their products. Focusing on the technicalities of our business, we think we can aim to pioneer a reduction in future food waste. 

Sustainability strategies are not typically linked to food procurement strategies, but they should be. Procurement teams have the power to bring sustainability to the food industry by sourcing responsibly grown produce, minimising packaging, supporting responsible suppliers, and making decisions based on data analysis to minimise waste. Small, incremental changes can lead to large disruptions!

Vetting suppliers based on sustainability standards can directly impact food waste throughout the supply chain. As well as this, building good relationships with both suppliers and clients means we work with people we can trust, helping create innovative and dynamic approaches to teamwork and problem solving. Partnering with local suppliers promotes local development and reduces the carbon footprint as a result of fewer road miles. 

We believe in the preservation of the planet and this is led by our desire to establish an innovative and dynamic approach to food procurement. One that’s designed and tailored to ensure we can cater for not just our partners' and consumers’ but for the wellbeing of the environment too.

What is Foodbuy doing to fight food waste?

We partner with FareShare to identify edible food waste within our supply chains. They then help us to save good food from going to waste by redistributing it to frontline charities like soup kitchens and homeless centres. Learn more here.

If you would like to talk to us about how Foodbuy can help with your food procurement, click here to start the conversation!