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If you’re wanting to reduce food waste and keep your corporate events more eco-friendly, you’re in the right place! Corporate events, particularly those with a buffet-style menu, tend to result in quite a bit of food waste. Even when you plan out numbers, usually you over order slightly to make sure there is enough for everyone, and as a result, quite a bit of food can get leftover. So, we’re here with some tips to help you predict how much food you’ll need and to help reduce waste overall.
Create A Plan
Firstly, you need to make a plan to figure out how much food you’re going to need. Firstly, if you know who you are ordering food from and they regularly cater events, they will likely be able to offer some guidance to help you get it right. This will depend on the type of food you’re ordering, as usually you can say to them “we need enough curry, rice and naan for 50 people”, or “we need enough sandwiches and snacks for 100 people”. However, getting as close to an exact number for your guest list will really help. This won’t always go exactly to plan, however it’s much better than just guessing how many people might be there or how much food you might need. Also try to think back to previous corporate events and how much food was left over then as a bit of a guide.
Shop Local
Another good tip to help you reduce food waste at corporate events is to shop local. Not only do you reduce transport costs, but often smaller businesses will be more careful when it comes to portion sizes and making the most of all their ingredients. Small local businesses are also more likely to buy their ingredients locally, which also shortens the distribution chain and reduces waste in terms of merchandising and warehousing. You’ll also benefit from fresher ingredients and seasonal produce too, so it’ll taste great!
Order Takeaway On The Day For Smaller Events
If you’re having a small group of people, then you could order takeaway on the day, so you know that you’ll be feeding people food they’ll really like, and there won’t be any waste. On the day of the event in the morning, or the day before, you could send a menu out and ask people to pre-order. Then, from here, on the day you can pre-order on a delivery app for when you’re going to need it! Sometimes this won’t work out as much more expensive than just getting a buffet and the food will be delicious. Plus you’ll be supporting local restaurants which is another plus.
Donate Leftovers
If you do go for a buffet style, it’s very rare that you get the amount of food absolutely spot on. So, if you do have leftovers, then you should donate them. Do some research about places close to you that will allow you to donate, such as local food banks, soup kitchens, shelters or charities. Ideally you want the food to have been untouched and packaged up, so perhaps hold back a tray or two of sandwiches or some of the food, then if you run out, you have it there, but this will help you to avoid ending up with a few sandwiches left on lots of different trays.
Consider Pre-Packaged Foods
Something else would be to consider pre-packaged foods for your event that have a slightly longer use-by date. Getting things like pre packed sandwiches or salads is great, as people only take what they will actually eat, then you can either easily donate the rest or keep them in the office for staff to eat over the next few days. This is also good if people have any dietary requirements or allergies (definitely ask this in advance), so you can clearly see the labels and people know that the food is safe for them to eat, and you don’t have the concern of cross contamination if their allergy is quite serious. Just make sure that the company you use for anything prepackaged is conscious of their environmental impact, so ensuring that everything can be recycled or has biodegradable packaging, then have a specific bin ready for everything to be put into.