Food waste management in hospitality operations: A critical review

Abstract

Hospitality food waste represents a significant societal challenge. It is however under-researched with most studies approaching the issue from the perspective of sustainable agriculture and environmental, rather than hospitality, management. Given the specificity of hospitality operations, this is a major shortcoming which hampers understanding of the determinants of effective mitigation. This paper provides a critical, analytical account of the literature on hospitality food waste made from the viewpoint of hospitality managers. It reviews the challenges in classifying, quantifying and characterising hospitality food waste, discusses the opportunities and obstacles to its mitigation and, drawing on good business practice examples, derives a framework for managing food waste across the different areas of hospitality operations. The framework is underpinned by such determinants of effective mitigation as: core in-house competencies; training needs; initial investment costs; and potential monetary savings. The feasibility of its broader adoption by managers across the sector is discussed.