(Credit: Nolla)A restaurant in Helsinki is taking the no-waste movement to heart by attempting to eliminate every bit of waste from its kitchens. The three co-founders of Restaurant Nolla are taking their goal so seriously that there is not even a garbage can in the kitchen, according to Fast Company. On the other hand, the restaurant doesn’t brag about its no-waste efforts or necessarily market itself as such. The co-founders believe that people should be able to relax and enjoy eating at the restaurant rather than feeling as though they’re being preached to.
Still, the chefs who founded Restaurant Nolla (“Zero,” in Finnish) - opening in the city’s Design District at the end of this month - believe that contemporary waste management practices in the restaurant industry are outdated and are hoping to change them, writes Oklin International. Nolla sources almost all of its ingredients locally; the cofounders have worked with local providers to change their packaging or delivery so that single-use packaging is not necessary - and providers have been happy, for the most part, to make the switch because it helps them save money. Crates delivering produce from farms, for example, are returned to suppliers for reuse, while other producers deliver items in small, reusable containers.
Meals are planned in a way that uses “every piece of a vegetable or fish,” and rather than letting customers order specific dishes, they are served a preset menu, which allows chefs to avoid having too many leftover ingredients when a certain dish doesn’t prove as popular as expected. The restaurant uses software to track wasted food and identify trends.
Any food waste that is left is either composted at the restaurant or sent to farmers and/or customers to use in their own gardens.
While Nolla is just a single restaurant fighting the food-waste epidemic, others hoping to cut waste and save money include large organizations like hospitality companies and even retail giant Ikea.
InterContinental Hotels Group, for example, is using AI-enabled technology to track, measure and reduce food waste in seven IHG hotels in its Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa region. Installation of the technology is expected in a further 30 properties in coming months. One hotel already benefitting from this approach is InterContinental Fujairah Resort, UAE, which has reduced food waste by more than 50% in just six months.
In 2017, Ikea began installing “smart scale solutions” in its stores. The system, rolled out in the company’s restaurants and food markets, is made up of a touch screen and floor scale holding a waste bin that measures food waste. This allows employees to track how much food is being wasted and to find new ways to prevent such waste. The company said that the 84 stores that had implemented the system as of June, 2017, reduced food waste by 79,000 metric tons and saved more than $981,000.
