How wastage management can impact

on the profitability in a restaurant

organization.

M.M.M.ZAMIL

Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1
Conceptual framework ....................................................................................................... 5
Research topic .................................................................................................................... 6
Research Question ............................................................................................................. 6
Objectives .......................................................................................................................... 6
Primary objectives ............................................................................................................. 6
Secondary objectives ......................................................................................................... 6
Hypothesis.......................................................................................................................... 7
Population and Sample ...................................................................................................... 7
The Setting ......................................................................................................................... 8
Measurement procedure ..................................................................................................... 8
Interview ............................................................................................................................ 9
Analysis of data.................................................................................................................. 9
Limitation of the study ....................................................................................................... 9
References ........................................................................................................................ 10

Introduction
Wastage is a global problem. Wastages can be classified into electricity waste, water
wastages and food wastage. Considering the three, all are much vital to mankind. In some
instances wastages may be less and not heavy but all this will sum up and the future
generation will face a very big famine. There is a need for a complete rethinking of "waste
to analyse if waste is indeed waste. A rethinking that calls for waste to become wealth, Refuse
to become resource, Trash to become cash.
When considering wastage as a whole, food wastage takes the highest percentage. In order
to reduce wastage UK and USA have done studies on food wastage. Americans trash 40
percent of food supply every year, valued at about $165 billion. The cost of the food being
wasted in the UK from the sector is estimated at 2.5 billion each year. (Zdorovestsky,
2009)
Food losses and food waste are quickly becoming a top global issue, because while there
are millions of families with children starving, others are living in abundance, with many
others carelessly throwing food away.
Many of us have wasted food in one way or the other, but the real food losses and waste
matter is bigger than just consumer food waste.
From farming fields and storage places, through transportation, processing, market places,
down to consumption places such as homes, schools, restaurants and workplaces, more than
half of all food produced globally go to waste. This is a tragedy.
Food waste is simply food intended for consumption that is discarded along the food supply
chain and cannot be used.
There are many reasons why food is thrown away. As household members, we see lots of
food waste occurring in our homes and places we go to, such as schools, work places and
parks. But the bigger picture is more worrying, as the bulk of it occurs throughout the entire
journey that food makes from the farms, through storage, processing, transport, market and
finally to our homes.
In terms of waste management, food waste is that kind of waste resulting from food that is
thrown away.

Origin of Wastage
Throughout history, waste has been generated by humans. In areas with low population
density waste generation may have been negligible. In higher population areas even largely
biodegradable waste had to be dealt with. Sometimes this was released back into the ground.

Definition
The definition of waste is a sensitive subject, often defined on a situational basis; this also
applies to food waste. Professional bodies, including international organizations, state
governments and secretariats may use their own definitions.
Definitions of food waste vary, among other things, in what food waste consists of, how it
is produced and where or what it is discarded from or generated by. Definitions also vary
because certain groups do not consider (or have traditionally not considered) food waste to
be a waste material, due to its applications.

Different types of wastages and how waste can happen.

Agricultural Production:
Waste and losses here result from mechanical damage, where farming equipment
accidentally damage the fruits and vegetables. It also includes spills and attacks by insects
and other diseases. Losses on animals resulting from diseases and deaths during breeding
also fall here. Fish discards are also a factor.

Harvest handling, storage:

There are losses here too, resulting from handling of the fruits (foods) during harvesting,
storage, and transporting of the produce from farms to the processing centres. This is same
for animal farms, where there are losses to animals at the slaughterhouses, as well as meat
and fish going bad at storage centres.
In India for example, about 21 million tonnes of wheat annually perishes due to inadequate
storage and distribution, equivalent to the entire production of Australia.

Processing:
Food produce that are processed into juices, can foods and pastries also get wasted at the
processing centres. During peeling, slicing, boiling and sorting, lots of food are trimmed
away by processing equipment. This is similar to dairy production, where milk is lost during
pasteurizing. Some losses also occur during fish canning, smoking and salting.

Distribution:
At the market centres, lots of fresh food rot and get thrown away. In wholesale and retail
shops, foods reach their expiry dates and get thrown away. Processed foods such as juices,
milk, oil and soups spill each day in many market and grocery centres.

Consumption:
These include all losses from food services, homes, schools, hospitals. Lots of pastries, milk,
juices and food are thrown away because they were unsold or were not eaten.
(Andrew, 2011)

How can the citizens refrain from wasting food?

Shop smart. Plan meals, use grocery lists, and avoid impulse buys. Buy items only when
you have a plan for using them, and wait until perishables are all used up before buying
more. Buy exactly what you need. For example, if a recipe calls for two carrots, dont buy
a whole bag. Instead, buy loose produce so you can purchase the exact number youll use.
Be realistic. If you live alone, you wont need the same number of apples as a family of four
(unless you really like apples). Buy good-looking product. Many fruits and vegetables are
thrown away because their size, shape, or colours. Have a Plan B.

During Mealtime
Check in with your belly. Simply start with less food on your plate. If you want more, you
can always go back for it but this way you wont find out that youre full and still have a
heap of food in front of you. Split the dish. If eating out, split a dish with a friend so you
dont waste half of the giant portion sizes found at many restaurants. Take home leftovers.
Even if youre not into splitting meals, those portion sizes dont have to be wasted. Just ask
to take leftovers home and youve got yourself a free lunch the next day. Share. Gift it to
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friends, family, or neighbours theyre likely to be grateful for the saved money and time.
Educate other people.(Gothic, 2012)
How does organizations prevent and refrain from wastage .

Making too much food

Preparation of excessive food often happens in Royal food court in order to face the
customer and give them quick response.
Andrew Parry says in his research of How the food industry can help to reduce the food
we waste (2011) that 27% of food is wasted due to making excessive food. In an analytical
study Eric Bridgwater and Dr Julian Parfitt (2009) shows that customers want will make
them wait for what they came so no need of making too much food in order to meet the
demand.
(Parfitt, 2011; PARRY, 2009)

Buying too much

The restaurant wants more items for cheaper prices in order to make a good profit, so they
buy it in bulk when they look at a special offer this was also quoted by Andrew Parry in his
research and due to this 30% of wastage happens as mentioned. Sarah Gray (2009) second
the point of buying too much proceeds to wastage, mostly 6% of meats are wasted.
(Parfitt, 2011)

Conceptual framework

Variables
Amount of wastage
Reasons for wastage

Raise awareness among the

staff members

Types of wastage

Minimize wastage

Teach staff how to

minimize/reduce wastage

Increase profitability
through wastage
management

Research topic
Waste management

Research Question
How can a medium scale restaurant can increase profit by implementing the concept of waste
management?

Objectives
Primary objectives
The primary objective of this research is to find whether wastage management can increase
profitability in a medium scale restaurant.

Secondary objectives
Find what are the reasons for food wastage?
Find how to minimize food wastage?

Hypothesis
H0- Implementation of wastage management concept in a medium scale restaurant cannot
increase the profitability.
H1- Implementation of wastage management concept in a medium scale restaurant can increase
the profitability.

Population and Sample

The population can defined as all the elements (individuals, objects and events) that meet the
sample criteria for inclusion in a study. The population of this research will be all the staff
of Royal Food Court (Medium Scale Restaurant) Company which operates in Kandy
The Simple Random will be the sampling method which will be used for this research.
Simple Random sampling are the samples which are selected based on the opinion of people
with an idea on the subject. The major advantages of simple random sampling are lower cost
and less time needed to select perspective sampling group members.
Information will be mainly obtain from the staff of the sample restaurant organization which
the research took place.

The Setting
As a sample the researcher has chosen Royal Food Court (Pvt) which is a well-known food
retailer in Kandy city. This particular organization was established in 2011 and booming year
by year. Food court has been doing business for exactly five years. Breakfast, lunch and dinner
are available in Sri-Lankan, Indian, Pakistani and Chinese dishes. Especially the dessert is well
recognized by the customers and it goes viral through word of mouth. Royal food court takes
orders for marriage, birthday, and anywhere good quality food is needed. All the customers
rates 5/5 for the service and products. Royal food court has all the facilities like parking facility,
restaurant, and take away and home delivery. The importance of choosing this organization is
that its the most suitable sample for the researcher because the researcher worked for that
organization. This organization has a significant future because this organization is performing
in a medium standard. The size of the community 30 staff members.
This research will be conducted in the Royal Food Court restaurant (medium scale) which is
located in Kandy. The major reason for this was, Kandy is the central area of Sri Lanka.
Another reason for selecting Kandy area for this research was Kandy is one of the major
cities in Sri Lanka and the population in Kandy is the 3rd highest in Sri Lanka.

Measurement procedure
The researcher is made a questionnaire of 9 questions and also interviewed the staff members
of the sample.
Questionnaire
The major reasons of selected questionnaire for this research are, response rate is high when
distributing questionnaires among the people. Questionnaires requires less time and energy.
The major aim of providing questionnaire for the subjects are to find answers for the secondary
objectives of this research. In this research there is only one questionnaire is used to collect
data. close ended questions are the type used in the questionnaire. The close ended questions
are mainly used because these types of questions are easy to analyse. the questionnaire will
only be in English language and for the people who could not read or write the researcher read
and wrote their answers for them.

Interview
Interview means talking to the people who has an idea about the organization face to face
and getting the detail which the researcher needs to fulfil the objectives. Interview will take
place inside and outside the organization which simply means employees will be questioned
on some things that need to be concerned by the management to improve profitability.

Analysis of data
The data will be analysed by computer software because its more accurate and clear.
The softwares and tools used:
Microsoft Excel
Trend analysis
Bar grapghs
Pie charts

Limitation of the study

This research is mainly focusing on wastage management in a medium scale restaurant. The
researcher faced difficulties in getting data (Primary/Secondary) when doing the research.
Time was also an issue when researching the organization and its activities because the
researcher was an employee in the same sample organization he chose.

References
Andrew, 2011. www.cdc.gov. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/outbreaks/investigating-outbreaks/productionchain.html
[Accessed 01 05 2016].
Dennis, R., 2007. dal. [Online]
Available at:
http://www.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/sustainability/Waste%20Management%20Liter
ature%20Review%20Final%20June%202011%20(1.49%20MB).pdf
[Accessed 30 06 2016].
Gothic, M., 2012. greatist.com. [Online]
Available at: http://greatist.com/health/how-to-ways-reduce-food-waste
[Accessed 01 05 2016].
Parfitt, E. B. a. D. J., 2011. www.wrap.org.uk/. [Online]
Available at:
http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/New%20estimates%20for%20household%20food%
20and%20drink%20waste%20in%20the%20UK%20FINAL%20v2%20(updated%207thAug
ust2012).pdf
[Accessed 02 05 2016].
PARRY, A., 2009. [Online]
Available at:
http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/New%20estimates%20for%20household%20food%
20and%20drink%20waste%20in%20the%20UK%20FINAL%20v2%20(updated%207thAug
ust2012).pdf
[Accessed 01 05 2015].
Zdorovestsky, V., 2009. worldfooddayusa. [Online]
Available at: http://www.worldfooddayusa.org/food_waste_the_facts
[Accessed 30 06 2016].

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