The freshness of the food that you use in your restaurant, cafe, or eatery is of vital importance. Not only does it dictate the quality of the food that you serve and its nutritious quality, but it also reduces food waste. One of the biggest causes of food waste is spoilage, so to save money and ensure that customers keep coming back to your small business, here’s how to make freshness a priority in your eatery.
Buy fresh, buy local
If you’re getting ingredients from the supermarket, then you are going to be getting ingredients that spoil sooner. Buying fresh ingredients from local providers not only helps you support small businesses in your area but also guarantees fresher ingredients in most cases. Ingredients have a lot less distance to travel when you’re buying from a small grocer or from its producer, rather than supermarket food, which spends longer in storage and in transit. Buying local also reduces the carbon footprint of your business, letting you run a greener restaurant.
Inspect orders when you receive them
If you’re ordering your ingredients in bulk, or altogether at once, then you should make sure to take the time to look at them. Vendors and suppliers will make mistakes from time to time, but don’t be afraid to point them out and get a replacement when necessary. If those mistakes start becoming all too common or costly, then you should think about switching to a different supplier to ensure the quality of your own food.
Know the expiration date
Keep an eye on the expiration date on any labelled food that you have and make sure that it’s visible at a glance, even if you have to put another label on it to make it more readable. Be sure that you don’t leave any food sitting out for too long, and research how long you can keep vegetables, fruits, and meats that don’t have a label on them.
Store it right
You should be aware of the storage needs of all of your ingredients and do what you can to provide the best environment for them. For the vast majority of fresh ingredients, a good commercial fridge is vital. Other foods might need to be kept frozen, or in a dry, cool place, for instance. Be sure to maintain the areas that you store food in to ensure that they keep the qualities that make them effective in the first place.
Ensure good hygiene
The places where you prepare and store food are going to gather moisture, dust, food debris, bacteria, and more. Coming into contact with some of these types of matter can cause food to spoil more quickly. Even worse is cross-contamination. Food that’s starting to spoil can make other food around it start to spoil. Ensure that you’re following all of the best kitchen hygiene practices to keep your food in as good a condition as possible.
Spoilage does happen, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up if you have to throw some food out. You should, however, know why it happened, and put controls in place to prevent it from happening too often.
