A typical restaurant will spend around a third of their revenue on ingredients, so you can see how reducing food waste in restaurants can help avoid this unnecessary loss.
Although food waste is considered unavoidable in the catering industry, there is a great way of reducing overall food waste in restaurants, thanks to advancements in automatic humidity and temperature sensors.
Did you know that food wastes makes up a whopping 30% of restaurant expenses every year? That’s right, some 50,000 pounds of restaurant food waste spoils and has to be thrown out.
1. Safe Food Temperatures for Restaurants
Don’t underestimate the importance of temperature logs for restaurants. If food temperatures for restaurants aren’t strictly monitored, you can expect to have to throw out a lot of food.
Actually, food storage conditions which are under par are responsible for some 85% of restaurant food waste. Sensitive foods like meat and vegetables can spoil in under 2 hours if the temperature exceeds 40 degrees F, since bacteria thrive at this temperature and can multiply fast.
Keeping accurate food temperatures for restaurants means you can avoid spoiled inventory and soggy boxes. Not only is this good for reducing food waste in restaurants but it can also help prevent foodborne illness and keep the health department away from your restaurant doorstep.
2. Accurate Temperature Logs for Restaurants
Keeping temperature logs is nothing new in the catering industry, although manual checks used to be the only way to keep control of the temperatures. Of course, these manual checks are not entirely foolproof since factors like equipment failure, human error, and inaccurate readings are unavoidable. This is why restaurants are turning to a new solution: temperature and humidity sensors.
Sectors such as logistics, healthcare, and transportation have been using wireless temperature monitoring for a while, although the technology is relatively new in the catering industry. It is believed that only around 5% of catering businesses currently use sensor technology for reducing food waste in restaurants and much of this has to do with feasibility and cost restrictions in addition to restaurateurs being unaware of the availability of such technology.
3. How Temperature Sensors Work
Technology for maintaining temperature logs for restaurants differs. Some might require wires to embed them into the building’s infrastructure, for example, while others rely on Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity (although that tends not to work so well in freezers or walk-ins).
The best sensor solution for restaurants includes LoRaWAN technology, which uses long-range radio and is wireless. The LoRa sensors are unlike their Bluetooth or Wi-Fi alternatives in that they will work anywhere. These sensors will accurately record, measure and send data from every part of the restaurant you choose.
4. The Importance of Controlling Humidity
Humidity is as important as temperature in remote monitoring. There is little point in monitoring one and not the other to be successful in reducing food waste in restaurants. Humidity is the result of water vapor concentrating in the air. Unless the humidity level is extremely high, it cannot always be detected by humans. However, it can cause problems with restaurant operations, especially in cold storage.
Issues such as product spoilage, food poisoning, and equipment failure can be attributed to humidity, which is why IoT sensors for humidity are so important.
5. The Risks of Humidity
Unless a restaurant has humidity sensors, there is a risk of inventory loss from mold, mildew, and bacteria, since humid conditions encourage mold, bacteria, fungus, and mildew to grow and spread. Any of these can contaminate inventory causing thousands of dollars of restaurant food waste.
Salmonella thrives in food kept in a high-humidity environment and this potentially deadly yet common foodborne illness causes more than a million infections each year.
6. How Excess Moisture Ruins Inventory
Food, especially frozen goods, exposed to excessive humidity will suffer in terms of flavor and texture since the moisture deteriorates the product quality. Customers will notice tough or chewy food, even if it is not visibly damaged.
The reason behind the spoilage is due to the fact food is more porous when the ambient temperature is warm and will absorb moisture more easily. When such a product freezes, the absorbed moisture turns into ice crystals which deteriorate the overall food quality.
7. Humidity Can Wreak Havoc on Equipment
Not only can humidity negatively impact a restaurant’s inventory but it is also an enemy of restaurant equipment. High humidity causes the rubber gaskets in cold storage equipment to rot. This results in an increase in the internal temperature causing rapid food spoilage and can also be costly to fix.
If the cold storage stops working altogether, this can result in thousands of dollars of restaurant food waste as well as a hefty bill for equipment repairs and possible short-term restaurant closure while the issues are dealt with.
Incorrect humidity management can also result in ice buildup on equipment. Although freezer defrost cycles can melt the buildup, the power needed to run these cycles will drive electricity costs up. Frost can also build up enough to block air from flowing to critical components like the cooling coil or evaporator, and this can result in the refrigerator not cooling at all.
8. Why IoT Humidity Sensors are the Best Solution
Restaurant staff should monitor facilities every hour in order to verify good storage conditions. One big issue with this is conventional thermometers are not always accurate. In addition, staff are unable to monitor environmental conditions after hours.
An IoT humidity reader and monitoring system will record data on individual sensors and compile accurate records for the whole location. A restaurant operator can use this data to ensure everything is running smoothly or take immediately actionable steps if needed.
If the humidity fluctuates, staff can perform a manual and thorough area inspection to see why conditions are changing. Perhaps there is another issue at work, such as humid air seeping through an entryway into the food storage area and speeding up the rate food spoils. This technology also allows staff to choose the best alternative storage area should equipment failure occur, which avoids mass loss of food inventory and the associated high costs.
9. Automatic Temperature and Humidity Control for Restaurants
Malfunctioning refrigeration equipment is going to experience extreme fluctuations in temperature, which is why temperature monitoring is essential in this industry. Manual temperature checks with thermometers used to be the only way to do this, although human error, equipment failure, or inaccurate readings can cause expensive issues.
Because over 85% of food safety and inventory loss issues in restaurants are caused by temperature and time, the importance of accurate temperature and humidity monitoring cannot be overstated. If the temperature is too low, the refrigerator will work too hard and risk the ingredients being exposed to bacteria leading to spoilage.
An overly cold internal refrigerator temperature can lead to ice formation, decreasing the lifespan of the refrigerator as well as the quality of the food.
10. Choose Smart Monitoring reducing food waste in restaurants
Remote sensors and monitoring systems for temperature and humidity let smart restaurant owners and operators keep track of any fluctuations. Choose a top-quality system such as Choovio Smart Sensor Solutions and the restaurant staff will be able to perform any necessary refrigerator maintenance before equipment breaks down resulting in restaurant food waste and other problems.
Only around 5% of the hospitality and catering industry are currently reducing food waste in restaurants using modern preventative maintenance. Let Choovio Smart Sensor Solutions help you keep on top of temperature and humidity issues before they even happen. Gathering, monitoring, and analyzing key data are easy with a user-friendly sensor system, however large or small the restaurant.
Ultimately, the question is not whether you can afford the cost of smart sensors but whether you can afford not to have them. These affordable sensors not only reduce restaurant food waste but can also help maximize the life of your storage equipment and keep inventory in tip-top shape.
With the best temperature and humidity sensors, a restaurant can save a minimum of $15,000 for every location every single year in both equipment costs and food wastage.
