How can a digital dine in menu help reduce food waste at your restaurant?

The restaurant industry everywhere is struggling to deal with the food waste issue. According to different study findings, the restaurant industry is one of the most significant contributors to global food waste. Food waste not only disrupts the food supply chain, but it also harms the environment. Financial losses are possible if a restaurant does not take the appropriate actions to address this issue.

Technology can come in handy here, enabling restaurants to reduce food waste. You might be surprised to know that a digital dine in menu can be highly effective in helping you reduce food waste at your restaurant. Read on to know more about this.

A digital dine in menu can help restaurants reduce food waste in multiple ways:

Use advanced analytics tools to gauge preferences:

Preparing food no one wants to order will eventually end up in the trash. You may avoid this by removing the guesswork from the procedure. With a digital menu, you no longer have to prepare unnecessary items or food in bulk. A digital menu designed by eMenu comes with an advanced analytics tool that gathers insights regarding customer preferences.

You can analyze the data captured in real-time to understand what your customers are ordering more of and which dishes are not clicking at all. It will help you cut down on food waste to a great extent.

You can customize your menu by removing those items that are not selling at all or are selling poorly. Discontinue the underperforming items and update the menu accordingly.

Take a crucial step towards reducing food waste by adjusting your menu as per customer preferences. Stock up on food items and beverages in high demand to save money and reduce food waste.

Customize menu for online ordering:

Restaurants that offer online ordering services also face the issue of food waste. There is no need for the restaurants to prepare food in anticipation as a lot of the items on the menu might not get ordered and end up in the bin.

It makes sense to customize the menu for online ordering with the help of online restaurant ordering software. It is best to create a separate menu for online ordering by including only high-selling and popular items on the menu; be selective and only prepare those dishes that have high chances of selling out.

One more step can be very effective, mention the portion size on the menu. Customers often leave unfinished food on their plates because they cannot finish the portion they ordered. Customers order a dish without knowing if it is sharable.

While designing your digital dine in menu, do not forget to set various portion sizes and prices accordingly. Customers can make informed decisions if they see portion-size suggestions on the menu. Customized digital menus can effectively help reduce waste.

Keep track of your inventory:

Inventory management is another way to reduce food waste in a restaurant. It is important to keep track of item status to avoid restocking items that are in stock. Unplanned purchases will lead to food waste in the restaurant.

The online restaurant ordering software can integrate with your POS system and notify you when an item is running low. On the other hand, you can also track the expiration date of the items and use up a product before it expires. Inventory management can reduce food waste.

Push the least popular items through upselling:

The restaurants apply upselling strategies to push the items on the menu that sell less. Restaurant operators may use a digital menu to create combos for upselling least-selling items on the menu.

Set a special price for the less popular beverages and update your menu instantly to announce “Happy Hour”. You can also include a couple of food items in a “Happy Hour” menu.

Create specials using perishable items and update your menu instantly to alert customers. It is a simple yet effective way to prevent food from getting wasted.

By paying attention to these aspects of the restaurant business, restaurant operators can manage the food waste problem. Create dynamic QR codes to upsell and make more profit with eMenu. We keep on adding new features to upgrade our digital menu, contact us today to design a digital menu with us.