From Excess to Efficiency: Managing Food Waste at Buffet Restaurant in Thailand
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58837/CHULA.CBSJ.46.2.5Keywords:
Surplus Food Management, Food Waste, Buffet Restaurant, Leadership SustainabilityAbstract
Food waste situation in Thailand is constantly on the rise, as food industries are major contributors to food waste, especially buffet restaurants which can be deemed as producing most food waste. This study aims to examine the surplus food management to reduce food waste in a buffet restaurant chain, using the qualitative approach based on the FAO’s concept in terms of prevention and optimization. The qualitative approach in this study was in-depth interviews with the managers and employees involved in food waste management. Study found that currently, the studied buffet restaurant chain has attempted to reduce food waste through various activities such as “Full with No Food Waste”, which gives rewards to customers who do not leave leftover scraps to incentivize them. Major obstacles to food management are lack of knowledge on behalf of the employees, and overestimation on behalf of the consumers. The guideline for surplus food management to reduce food waste in the Buffet restaurant buffet restaurant chain was found to be an increase in training and lecturing frequency for the employees to reduce and prevent waste with more tempo as well as building consciousness among the consumers to understand the problem and impact of food waste in the environment, and optimization such as designing dishes that optimally use the ingredients with focus on cost- effective and diverse use of food. In the future, there might be technologies to collect food waste information in restaurants to analyze the root cause and seek waste management guidelines with better effectiveness.
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