According to Arjun Toor, creator and director, Baris, Greater Kailash II, food wastage can be reduced in restaurants with a smart team.

“India is a country where we don’t waste our food. Be it restaurants or hotels, we are people who have been bought up with a value system — where we are taught to not throw or waste things. We tend to reuse old things, be it our old utensils, clothes or old phones,” says chef Sanjeev Kapoor.  

Union minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution Ram Vilas Paswan, recently commented on the serving portions of high-end restaurants and hotels, saying “If a person can eat only two prawns, why should he or she be served six? If a person eats two idlis, why serve four! It’s wastage of food and also money people pay for something that they don’t eat.”

The minister also mentioned, “They are the experts. They should tell us the maximum amount of a dish a person can eat. You go to a Chinese restaurant; they give you so much (of food). We are going to call them (stakeholders) for a meeting. The PM is concerned about food wastage and so we are going to issue instructions to these hotels (about the amount of food to be served).”

Chef Sanjeev says that while we should be concerned about food wastage, not much of the wastage is contributed by restaurants and hotels.

“I’ve worked in many hotels and have seen minimal wastage of food from guests. In fact, it is in weddings or high-end parties that there is a large amount of food wastage and some kind of regulation should be made regarding that,” he says.

Restaurateurs say that another reason for food not being wasted in restaurants is that most people get their leftover food packed for home.

“Mostly we decide serving portions according to two and four people — for snacks and appetisers, and main course respectively. And these days, if a considerable amount of food is left on the table, people get it packed and take it home,” says Manish Sharma, owner, Molecule Air Bar, Gurgaon.

Seconding chef Sanjeev on the wastage of food in Indian weddings, Manish adds, “Most of the food wastage is in weddings. People spend lavishly at weddings and mostly, people take the abundantly-served food very casually. They don’t think twice about throwing it. Whereas, in restaurants and hotels, people pay for their food and are very concerned about what they are ordering and in how much quantity. So, wastage is minimal in restaurants,” adds Manish.  

Asked what they do with leftover food at Molecule, Manish says, “In case guests don’t ask us to get the leftover food packed, we offer them the option of getting it packed. Otherwise, we serve the food to the poor.”

According to Arjun Toor, creator and director, Baris, Greater Kailash II, food wastage can be reduced in restaurants with a smart team. “The intention of wasting less food is very important, especially for India. But this can be a very difficult task to implement, as there can be a lot of problems and obstacles in the way. While I don’t see a lot of food going waste in restaurants, a smart team can help minimise it to a negligible amount,” says Arjun who believes that educating guests about food wastage is a great way to deal with it.

Agrees Samira Chopra, director, Cybiz BrightStar Restaurants Pvt. Ltd., “We should try to educate guests so that they order food judiciously. Also, surplus food can be distributed to the poor through tie-ups with start-ups and NGOs. This ensures that no major structural changes are done as far as operations are concerned, and the surplus reaches those in need.”