How do I track food waste in a restaurant?
Log waste against stock and compare expected versus actual usage with variance reports. WDPW records waste and shows variance so you can see where stock disappears.
Inventory
How to Reduce Food Waste in Your Restaurant
5 min read
Food waste quietly erodes margin, and most of it is invisible until you measure it. The fixes are unglamorous but effective: recipe-level tracking, sensible par levels, FEFO for perishables, waste logging, and variance reports that reveal where stock actually goes.
Where waste hides
Waste isn't only the obvious spoilage. It's over-ordering, over-portioning, prep that never sells, and stock that expires at the back of the fridge. If you don't track it, you can't see which of these is costing you.
A practical checklist
- Cost recipes so every dish deducts exact ingredients
- Set par levels to avoid over-ordering perishables
- Use FEFO (first-expired, first-out) on perishable stock
- Log waste so it's measured, not guessed
- Review variance reports to find where stock disappears
Track it in your POS
The fastest way to control waste is to let the system measure it. When sales deduct stock by recipe, and waste and transfers are logged, variance reports show the gap between what you should have and what you do — the number to chase.
How WDPW helps
WDPW deducts ingredients by recipe on every sale, flags low and out-of-stock items with par levels, tracks batches and expiry (FEFO), records waste, and surfaces stock-valuation and variance views in analytics.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is FEFO?
FEFO means first-expired, first-out — using the stock that expires soonest first. WDPW tracks perishables by batch and expiry so the oldest stock moves first.
Next step
Book a demo