How much food do restaurants really waste? The numbers vary by segment, service style, and operational quality. Here's what the current data shows.
The Big Picture
Restaurant industry food waste statistics:
- Average waste rate: 4-10% of food purchased
- Typical waste per cover: 75-150g
- Annual waste per restaurant: 25,000 - 75,000 kg
- Cost as % of revenue: 2-4%
These averages mask wide variation—well-run operations beat these numbers significantly; poorly-run ones are far worse.
By Restaurant Segment
| Segment | Waste Rate | Per Cover |
|---|---|---|
| Fine dining | 10-15% | 100-200g |
| Casual dining | 6-10% | 75-125g |
| Fast casual | 4-8% | 50-100g |
| QSR/Fast food | 3-6% | 40-80g |
| Cafés | 8-12% | 60-100g |
Fine dining wastes more per cover due to complex preparations and higher quality standards, but lower volume means manageable totals. QSR's standardisation drives efficiency but at massive scale.
Waste by Type
Across restaurant types:
| Waste Category | Share of Total |
|---|---|
| Prep waste | 40-50% |
| Plate waste | 25-35% |
| Spoilage | 15-20% |
| Cooking errors | 5-10% |
Prep waste dominates in most operations, making it the highest-impact intervention area.
What Drives Waste
Top causes identified in research:
- Over-purchasing (35% of waste attributed)
- Over-preparation (25%)
- Portion sizes (15%)
- Spoilage (15%)
- Cooking errors (10%)
The first two causes are forecasting problems. Portion and spoilage are standardisation problems. Cooking errors are training and execution.
Trends
Improving: Waste awareness is increasing. Average waste rates have declined 10-15% over five years as sustainability becomes operational priority.
Worsening: Labour shortages affect consistency. Delivery growth increases packaging waste. Menu proliferation complicates inventory.
Technology adoption: Monitoring and analytics tools seeing rapid adoption, especially in chain operations.
Best Practice Performance
Top performers achieve:
- Prep waste under 30% of total
- Plate waste under 20% of total
- Total waste below 4% of purchases
- Cost of waste below 1.5% of revenue
These operations typically have strong measurement, training, and management attention.
Using These Benchmarks
Compare your numbers:
- Calculate your waste rate (waste weight ÷ food purchases)
- Estimate waste per cover (waste ÷ covers)
- Compare to segment benchmarks
- Identify biggest category (prep, plate, spoilage)
- Target improvement based on gap
Get your waste profile assessed or explore restaurant solutions.