Green on the Go: 4 Ways You Can Reduce Waste From Your Food Truck Business
If you have a food truck, you may be worried about the amount of waste that you produce every single day. While waste is inevitable in this type of business, there are some things that you can do in order to minimize it and become more green. You can reduce waste from your food truck business by utilizing these four tips.
Utilize Recipes That Use Many of the Same Ingredients
You may be wasting food because you are using different ingredients in every single recipe. If you have too many ingredients, you’re likely not using everything up. It’s a good idea to tweak your menu so that you can offer foods that feature many of the same ingredients. This will cut down on the amount of food that goes to waste, and it will allow you to save some money, too.
Standardize Portion Sizes
Another way you can prevent food waste is to standardize the portion sizes that you serve. It’s easy to accidentally make portions too small or to accidentally make them too big. If your portion sizes are too small, you could end up with extras that you can’t sell. If they’re too big, customers might be unable to finish their meals and simply throw the extras in the trash.
Fortunately, depending on the type of food you make, there are many different tools available to help you serve portions that are all exactly the same. For example, if you serve burgers, you might want to look at hamburger moulder equipment. This can help you make patties that are all exactly the same size so that you don’t waste meat.
Have Proper Storage
There’s a limited amount of space in most food trucks, and you may be wasting items because you aren’t storing them properly. It’s a good idea to spend a little bit of money on storage systems and equipment that will allow you to store your items properly. This may mean buying airtight storage containers or a larger refrigerator to accommodate all of your stock. While this can be a big investment upfront, it can save you money in the long run in addition to reducing your waste.
Check Your Inventory Often
There’s a good chance that you have a lot of food waste because you forget that you have certain items, and they end up going bad before you remember that you have them. This is why you need to check your inventory several times a week. Look for items that will be expiring soon so that you can make it a point to use them. You might want to create a special-of-the-day to help use up ingredients that are close to their expiration dates.
There are plenty of ways that you can go green on the go with your food truck business. It might seem like it may require some additional time and money to do so, but keep in mind that even little changes can have a big impact on the environment and can wind up saving you money in the long run.