How Stop and Shop saved $100 million by paring food waste

Cutting losses helps maximize profits -- an age old business philosophy not news to any businessperson. So why is470亿美元值得独自在超市浪费的产品？零售商和其他食品企业的一些机会是什么，以减少食物损失？让我们来看看一些企业，通过减少在美国永不吃的食物中消失的40％来发现了真正的收益（见近期发行关于食物垃圾的问题here）。

你管理你的尺度。在这些成功的故事中要注意的关键主题之一是，企业在理解他们的废物流以实现大量节省的情况下投入了预期。他们经常通过使用跟踪购买，销售和产品损失的软件来实现这一目标，以满足有足够的细节来告知特定和可操作的变化。

在超市

The USDA estimates the food retail industry takea a $47 billion hit in the form of food losses, about 9 percent of its food supply. Seeing its losses as more than just a chunk of change, in 2007, the $16 billion grocery chain Stop and Shop/Giant Landover took a close look at purchases, sales and shrink (the industry term for losses) in all of its perishables. It found whole stock-keeping units (SKUs) that weren’t necessary. It also found that their philosophy of “pile ‘em high watch ‘em fly” -- the belief that abundant piles of produce sells more — led to spoilage on the shelf, displeased customers who came upon spoiled product and required more staff handling to sort out the damaged items. In the end, Stop and Shop was ultimately able to save an estimated annual $100 million by making small changes that reduced its loss in perishables. Equally important, customers did not notice reduced choice and less-full displays, but in fact customer satisfaction rose as produce was on average three days fresher than before.

Similarly,pricechopper进行了分析这导致从烘焙部门取消680个SKU，减少了200万美元的收缩，并在实施后的第一年生产了3％的销售电梯。较小的商店链（约30家），如市场篮子在东德克萨斯州和路易斯安那州和钢铁和van tilin the Chicago area were able to reduce shrink 29 percent and 27 percent respectively in perishables alone using an integrated solution by Retail Control Group.

New packaging innovations are helping to reduce shrink. Tesco and Marks & Spencer, both U.K. retailers, are测试使用乙烯 - 吸收条带来延长寿命。The retailers estimate it could save 1.6 million packs of tomatoes, 350,000 packs of avocados and 40,000 packs of strawberries.

当然，一些农产品必然会在商店中的年龄。加利福尼亚州的受欢迎的伯克利，杂货店伯克利碗袋上升几乎已过期和损坏的产品，并以$ .99 /包在其“廉价货架”上销售。顾客喜欢宝藏狩猎。当新包装进来时，商品经理估计该公司在每家商店估计生产经理估计该公司每家商店每天损坏的农产品每天销售1,500美元。

跟踪销售和浪费的软件可以帮助突出节省的机会。LEANPATH软件帮助加州大学伯克利校区的餐饮服务将厨房的食物垃圾减少43％那amounting to savings of more than 1,000 pounds of food and $1,600 per week. Similarly,LeanPath waste data at the Sanford USD Medical Centerin Sioux Falls, S.D. revealed some immediate changes the center could make in staff behavior and menu options to reduce waste. Within seven months of implementing the program, the center saved $99,928, reducing pre-consumer food waste by 43 percent.

Slimming down restaurant menus can also be a big saver. As Daniel Humm, chef and co-owner of Manhattan’s popular Eleven Madison Park restaurant, stated in a纽约人最近的文章，“较少的成分内部，浪费较少。”嗡嗡声将他的菜单削减到每天更换的16件物品。如果餐厅提供鲷鱼，多佛唯一和海贝斯，这篇文章解释说，无论他们的质量和价格如何，都必须每天购买所有这些鱼，并且必须丢弃任何未订购的任何东西。通过在菜单上只提供一条鱼，Humm可以购买最好的一条浪费，只需足够了。

In the dining room

Sodexo在650多个大学校园的一半以上运营托盘式购物厅。通过劝阻托盘的过载，它有reduced food waste by as much as 30 percent。Other food service companies are doing the same.

Restaurants are getting creative with portion sizes too. According to最近的重育客管理文章那the main reasons to offer smaller portions include getting budget-strapped customers to come to your restaurant and encouraging patrons to try new items. TGIFriday’s offers “Right Portion, Right Price” dishes, which are roughly one-third smaller and one-third cheaper than full-size entrees. A year after introducing this option,总订单中的15％。Potbelly Sandwich Shop餐厅链具有“原始”尺寸 - 与1977年以来的大小相同 - 和“Bigs”较大30％。Au Bon疼痛有一个“部分”线，詹巴汁正在销售“迷你包装”，然后还有整个“小盘”趋势，甚至芝士蛋糕工厂提供。

特别是近期经济衰退，帮助消费者减少他们在家里浪费的食物量（而且是金钱）已成为一个坚实的业务主张。几个新的智能手机应用程序，如Green Egg Shopper那LoveFoodHateWaste那餐饮Storage and Shelf Life，正在努力帮助消费者协调并实际上使用他们的食物购买。诸如Frugal Foodieand用完烹饪书撞到了货架上。LG和Samsung最近推出了“智能”冰箱，具有食物管理系统，帮助消费者跟踪他们的冰箱里的东西 - 两者都销售双倍以三倍的常规冰箱价格。并且企业也在交付时进行创新，包括HelloFresh，这对膳食的适当数量的成分进行了家庭交付，避免在食谱呼吁枝条（以及帮助消费者避免在商店中的“冲动购买”）时购买一堆香菜。

还值得注意的是,消费者关心阿布t food waste.谢尔顿集团最近的民意调查发现，39％的美国人认为浪费食物的最具绿色内疚，而浪费水27％，而不是回收的21％。A different poll by Unilever Food Solutionsreported that 79 percent of consumers in the United States felt it was important that ‘places to eat’ reduce the amount of food that is thrown away every day.

凭借美国食物损失的价值为1.65亿美元，机会比比皆是。你会成为一个资本上的狡猾的食物吝啬鬼吗？

这个博客was originally published on交换机：国家资源国防委员会的员工博客2012年9月17日，并在这里重印了许可。照片一块白色的餐盘，美元和改变它provided byFenderosavia Shutterstock