Reducing Food Loss and Waste in the Hospitality and Food Service Sector: A Design Thinking Approach

Food loss and waste is a global issue that occurs in all stages of the food supply chain and leads to negative environmental impacts. The Hospitality and Food Service (HaFS) industry is the second largest contributor to food waste. This research investigates the challenges that the HaFS businesses face in adopting sustainable waste reduction strategies using the double diamond design thinking methodology proposed by the UK Design Council. It was discovered that most HaFS businesses do not measure or report on Food Loss and Waste (FLW) due to a lack of clarity on how to do so, complex solutions, low cost-benefit ratios and consequently low motivation. Also, businesses that implement some level of FLW reduction strategies often prioritise post-plate waste and set arbitrary targets which are difficult to achieve sustainably. The research proposes a two-step innovative solution to this problem. The first step involves using a Systems Dynamic (SD) model to represent the complex internal operations in food preparation to reveal its waste hotspots, and to predict the optimal achievable FLW targets within that system. While the second step proposes a system-specific FLW reduction framework based on the SD model parameters that deliver the optimal waste reduction solution.