- Some kitchens are turning to AI to monitor how much food they're wasting.
- AI company Winnow tracks food waste going into the trash using a motion sensor camera and scales.
- Hilton is using Winnow to reduce waste by offering croissants, fruit and small portions of salmon at its breakfast buffet.
Hotels are reducing how much food they waste at their breakfast buffets by installing AI-powered cameras above their kitchen waste bins.
British company Winnow's hardware includes a scale that includes a kitchen trash can as well as a screen with a motion sensor camera. Its AI scans the item after it's thrown into the trash — it can identify whether it was a bowl of carrot peels, more guacamole, or an uneaten potato — and then records the weight. How much of it was thrown away?
Chefs and restaurant managers can view this data in real time.
The system “makes it really easy for us to collect accurate data about what's wasted in these kitchens,” Winnow cofounder Mark Zorns said, noting that the difficulty of collecting accurate recordings was “the biggest issue.” was faced by many companies in dealing with their food waste. .
“And it's important that you simplify the process because kitchens are very busy places,” he said.
Winnow then uses this data to advise chefs on buying the right amount of ingredients and how to prepare them to minimize waste.
Vino's accuracy in identifying food items “may vary from site to site,” Zorns said.
“If it knows exactly what it is, it identifies the product,” Zorns said. “If it doesn't know what it is and it thinks there are some options, it can present that to the user, and they can help improve the system over time.”
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, 19% of food available to consumers globally – or more than 1.1 billion tonnes – was wasted in 2022. About 30% of this was wasted in the food service sector. According to UNEP, food shortages and food waste in the supply chain account for nearly five times the total greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector.
Reducing food waste can boost a company's environmental credentials – and cut costs.
Winnow's clients include hotels, cruise lines, universities, and food service companies that provide professional catering services.
And it's not just backyard waste they're tracking.
In the Middle East, Hilton is using Winnow to see which items from its breakfast buffet are being wasted the most, Sebastian Nohse, senior director of culinary at Hilton EMEA, told BI.
Breakfast buffets “create a huge amount of waste that we in the hotel industry in general didn't have clear insight into,” he said.
Hilton used data from Winnow to experiment with smaller croissants, fruit and smoked salmon served in smaller portions for its breakfast buffet, he said.
“If we can remove the choice, that will have an impact,” Nohse said. “If we can make a choice for guests by providing a small croissant or a small donut or by cutting fruit differently, we create a positive effect by not allowing guests to choose but by creating a predetermined effect. can.”
It's not just large portion sizes that are contributing to diners leaving food on their plates. Using Winnow, chefs can see which dishes aren't going over well with diners, Paul Fairhead, CEO of Guckenheimer, the food services arm of ISS that provides commercial catering, told BI. . Then, for example, they can consider whether the dish's flavors weren't quite right, or check the pictures Winnow recorded to see if it looked burnt that day.
Winnow declined to provide details on how much its services cost.
Hilton said in a “green breakfast” pilot that included Winnow data-based decision-making as well as introducing sustainable behavior “nudges”, it will open its 13 stores in the UAE over a four-month period in 2023. Cut down on food waste in hotels. 76% for pre-consumer, or kitchen, waste and 55% for post-consumer waste.
The most wasted items include bread and pastries, egg whites, porridge, congee, sambar, shakshuka and baked beans, Hilton said.