Contract catering has a scaling problem when it comes to waste. You might have 20, 50, or 200 sites, each with different clients, menus, equipment, and staff. What works at the corporate HQ in Dublin won't necessarily work at the university cafeteria in Cork or the factory canteen in Limerick.
Running waste reduction across a portfolio requires different thinking than running it in a single kitchen.
The Multi-Site Challenge
Single-site waste reduction is hard enough. Multi-site adds several layers of complexity:
Inconsistent data. Different sites track (or don't track) waste differently. Comparing performance across sites is often comparing apples to oranges.
Varying site types. A hospital cafeteria, a corporate dining room, and an events venue have completely different waste profiles. Benchmarking is meaningless without segmentation.
Distributed accountability. Site managers have targets, but waste reduction often isn't one of them. Without ownership, nothing happens.
Client relationships. You're operating in someone else's space, often with contractual constraints on menus, sustainability claims, and reporting.
The companies that succeed treat this as a systems problem, not just an operations problem.
Standardising Measurement
Before you can improve anything, you need comparable data. That means standardising how waste is measured across all sites.
Same categories. Every site should classify waste the same way. Prep, plate, spoilage as a minimum. More granular if your systems support it.
Same methodology. Daily weighing, same time each day, same bin types. The method doesn't matter as much as consistency.
Same reporting cadence. Weekly reporting to central, monthly review meetings. If some sites report weekly and others monthly, you can't see patterns.
Normalised metrics. Waste per cover, waste as percentage of food cost. Raw kg figures mean nothing without context.
This isn't glamorous work, but it's the foundation. Inconsistent measurement means you're flying blind.
Segmenting Your Portfolio
Comparing a hospital site to a corporate dining site is pointless—they have different inherent waste profiles. Segment your portfolio into groups that should perform similarly:
- Corporate dining
- Healthcare
- Education
- Events and conferencing
- Industrial
Within each segment, you can benchmark meaningfully. The best corporate dining sites set the target for others in that category. Mixing segments just creates confusion.
The Site-Level Toolkit
Effective multi-site programs give site managers a standard toolkit they can implement without needing central support for every decision:
Waste audit protocol. A documented process any site can run to understand their waste composition.
Standard interventions. A playbook of proven tactics—portion adjustments, prep standardisation, forecasting improvements—that sites can implement based on their data.
Training materials. Video, checklists, posters that can be deployed consistently across sites.
Escalation paths. When does a site need regional or central support? What constitutes an emergency versus a trend to monitor?
The goal is maximum site autonomy within a consistent framework. Central can't manage every bin at every site; you need distributed ownership with standard tools.
Incentive Structures
Waste reduction competes with other priorities. Site managers are measured on customer satisfaction, food safety, labour costs, financial performance. If waste isn't in the scorecard, it doesn't get attention.
Effective approaches:
Include waste KPIs in site manager objectives. Specifically, improvement targets rather than absolute targets (recognising that sites start from different places).
Gamification across similar sites. Leaderboards, monthly recognition, healthy competition. Works surprisingly well in large organisations.
Tie waste to financial metrics that already matter. Food cost percentage, GP margin. Frame waste as a margin issue and it gets different attention.
Client reporting. Many clients now ask for sustainability data. Making waste reduction part of client deliverables adds external accountability.
Technology at Scale
Manual tracking can work at a single site with a motivated manager. It rarely works across a large portfolio because compliance varies too much.
Technology helps by:
- Capturing data automatically, removing the compliance problem
- Standardising measurement methodology without relying on training
- Providing real-time visibility to both site and central
- Enabling like-for-like comparison across sites
- Generating client reports without manual aggregation
The ROI calculation changes at scale. A system that saves €3k/year at a single site might not justify itself. The same system saving €3k across 50 sites is €150k—definitely worth the investment.
The Central Team Role
What should central be doing if sites have autonomy?
Setting standards. The framework, methodology, benchmarks, and targets.
Identifying patterns. Looking across sites for systemic issues. If prep waste is high across multiple sites, that's likely a supplier or menu problem, not site execution.
Sharing best practices. When one site solves a problem, capturing and distributing that solution.
Managing technology. Procurement, rollout, support, and maintenance of any waste systems.
Client and external reporting. Aggregating data for sustainability reports, client reviews, and regulatory compliance.
Central should be enabling and supporting, not micromanaging. If central is doing site-level work, something's wrong with the system.
Building Momentum
Multi-site waste reduction is a multi-year effort. Building momentum matters:
Start with willing sites. Pilot with managers who are interested, not reluctant. Early wins build the case for broader rollout.
Celebrate success publicly. Internal communications, awards, recognition. Create heroes that others want to emulate.
Learn from failures. Some sites won't improve. Understanding why—whether it's structural, managerial, or client-related—informs how you approach similar sites.
Iterate the toolkit. As you learn what works, update the standard tools. Version 2 of your intervention playbook should be better than version 1.
Win More Tenders with Sustainability Data
For guidance on using food waste data to strengthen tender responses and differentiate from competitors, download our free Contract Caterer's Guide.
Calculate potential savings for your portfolio, or discuss a multi-site assessment with our team.