HOTEL|KITCHEN BALTIMORE

Food SustainabilityWaste Reduction
Written By Aurora Dawn Benton

DID YOU KNOW FOR EVERY $1 INVESTED IN FOOD WASTE REDUCTION IN HOTELS, THERE IS A $7 RETURN OVER A 3-YEAR PERIOD?*

In 2017, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) partnered to identify best practices and strategies for reducing food waste at 10 pilot projects. Based on the results, they launched HOTEL|KITCHEN, a free toolkit, training materials, and resources you can find at www.hotelkitchen.org

In 2018, WWF chose Baltimore, Maryland as one of two US cities with dedicated HOTEL|KITCHEN expansion activities. 

Astrapto, along with Plisko Sustainable Solutions, LLC, managed the WWF Hotel-Kitchen Baltimore project and offered the local hospitality community education and solutions.

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Implementation Support for the Convention Center

Why implementation support? Because we rarely speak to a chef that does not want to reduce food waste, but rarely do we find a kitchen that has established a baseline, conducted an audit, or trained staff. And this goes beyond the kitchen! Food waste reduction is also the responsibility of sales and events teams, the marketing department, banquets managers, stewards, procurement, and more. 

With so many options for prevention, recovery, and diversion, we helped set achievable goals and provided the knowledge and processes for a few key initiatives that impacted the triple bottom line - people, planet, and profit!

Our hope is to move the needle on food waste in Baltimore and other communities and we want to remove as many barriers as possible to demonstrate the practical techniques and solutions for tackling waste in hotel foodservice.  The leadership of the Baltimore Convention Center will ensure there is a legacy of sustainable action!

What type of support did we provide?  

  • Conducted food waste audits. This is essential to establishing the baseline and the business case, and identifying the 'low hanging fruit' of food waste.

  • Trained kitchen staff on awareness, reduction best practices, storage and inventory management, donation and diversion procedures

  • Trained banquet/FOH staff on awareness, buffet and banquet design, diversion procedures

  • Trained sales & marketing, and other staff (HR, finance, etc.) on awareness, food waste messaging in the sales and planning process, and generating demand for sustainable menus and options

  • Set up donation partnerships and trained staff on the legal protections of The Good Samaritan Act and donation best practices.

  • Established a partnership with a local farm to send food scraps to feed pigs.

  • Hosted a training workshop and Vendor Fair for the greater Baltimore hospitality community to educate them on food waste prevent techniques and technologies.

Training Workshop and Vendor Fair

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We invited area hotels and other foodservice operators to attend a workshop in Downtown Baltimore on July 11, 2018. This workshop was offered with the generous support of the Baltimore Convention Center and their catering partner, Centerplate, firmly establishing their commitment to sustainability and social impact in the city. 

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The Baltimore Convention Center is the premier location for conventions, tradeshows and expositions in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The team at the convention center and their catering partner, Centerplate, enthusiastically embraced the food waste reduction strategies and best practices presented in the HOTEL|KITCHEN toolkit. They were excited to host this valuable workshop and spread a culture of food conservation in the Baltimore hospitality community.

Pictured: Michael Barret (then General Manager of Centerplate), Mac Campbell (Deputy Director, Baltimore Convention Center), Joan Plisko (Founder, Plisko Sustainable Solutions), Aurora Dawn Benton (Founder, Astrapto)

Pictured: Michael Barret (then General Manager of Centerplate), Mac Campbell (Deputy Director, Baltimore Convention Center), Joan Plisko (Founder, Plisko Sustainable Solutions), Aurora Dawn Benton (Founder, Astrapto)

In this workshop, participants learned best practices for reducing food waste at each stage of the flow of food. Topics included how to:

  • Build interest in food conservation at your workplace

  • Set goals and measure food waste to improve the bottom line

  • Create and sell sustainable menus

  • Conduct food waste audits

  • Donate excess food using technology platforms

  • Setup composting programs

  • Select diversion (from landfill) solutions

This workshop was helpful for anyone involved in any aspect of hospitality foodservice - whether you sell it, order it, handle it, prepare it, serve it, or dispose of it, you can contribute to food waste reduction. 

To learn more about the Baltimore Expansion Project, download summary slides from a webinar here. 

Exhibiting Vendors

Aurora Dawn Benton
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