Food is the heart of hospitality — and that means managing it well matters more here than almost anywhere else. Now, for the first time in Aotearoa, we have the data to understand exactly how much food our hospitality sector is wasting, and — more importantly — clear evidence that practical action can make a real difference.
The Kai Keepers pilot programme, run by the Restaurant Association of New Zealand in partnership with sustainability consultancy Edge Impact, spent two and a half years working alongside 120 cafés, restaurants, bars, and food-to-go venues across Auckland, Bay of Plenty, and Waikato. The goal: measure how much food hospitality businesses are wasting, then test practical ways to reduce it.
First, establish the baseline
The programme started by getting an honest picture of how much waste was actually being generated — something many businesses never formally measure. Participating venues were each given digital scales and asked to weigh and categorise their food waste every day, sorting it into four streams: preparation waste (eg, offcuts and trimmings), plate waste (food left by customers), spoilage (perishables that went off), and unsold food (items that never made it to a customer at all).
This period of careful measurement established a ‘baseline’ — a reliable starting point against which any future changes could be compared. Without it, it would be impossible to know whether interventions were actually working.
The results were striking. On average, each meal served generated 134 grams of food waste — roughly the weight of a medium apple, per customer, per visit. Across the businesses studied, that added up to over 8 tonnes of food waste, generating nearly 9.8 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions. For context, that’s the same as driving a petrol car almost 49,000 kilometres. The average hospitality business, the data suggested, loses more than $47,000 a year to food waste.
Preparation and plate waste dominated, making up 44% and 43% of total waste respectively, with spoilage and unsold food accounting for the remainder.
Four interventions, and a shared goal
Armed with these insights the programme designed four targeted interventions — each addressing one of the key waste sources identified in the baseline — and trialed them from late 2024 through to mid-2025:
- Smaller or flexible portion options — venues introduced a smaller serving of one high-waste menu item alongside the original, giving customers a choice and reducing over-serving.
- Turning prep waste into a new dish — chefs repurposed ingredients usually discarded during preparation into a creative new menu item, cutting kitchen waste while adding something fresh to the menu.
- Upselling at-risk stock — front-of-house staff were briefed on items nearing the end of their shelf life and encouraged — often through a friendly internal competition — to promote them before they spoiled.
- Redirecting unsold food to staff — rather than throwing away food at the end of service, venues gave it to staff to take home or used it as the basis for staff meals.
The results
Across the intervention groups, food waste per cover dropped from 134 grams to 112 grams — a 16.4% reduction. Scaled up across a month, that equates to 5.3 tonnes of food waste avoided, more than 6 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions saved, and approximately $41,000 in cost savings across participants.
Perhaps most encouragingly, operators and customers both responded positively. Staff reported a sense of pride in taking part, and diners welcomed the changes. The sector is ready for this.
Keen to know what we are trying to achieve with Kai Keepers? Find out more here.