A Unique Way Of Cutting Food Waste At Mumbai Airport Lounges Saves Rs 1.2 Crore

Garbage though it may be, crores can be saved simply by studying the contents of dustbins at airport lounges, cafes and food outlets, it seems. Last year, a delayed flight had the chief operating officer (COO) of the food and beverages firm that runs GVK lounge at Mumbai airport don a pair of gloves and rummage through a bin on the premises to find out why it had spilled over.

AFP

The bin revealed the peculiar eating habits of frequent flyers who hit the free lounge buffet before hopping on to their late-night international flights. In the months that followed, the firm brought about changes in the way food was presented at various lounges to reduce wastage. A year later, the firm realized that the decision to dive into the bin was an ¡°open sesame¡± moment as it had saved Rs 1.2 crore through changes made to the desserts section alone.

This April, the firm turned ¡°Dustbin Analysis¡± into a quarterly feature to be undertaken at its 280 food outlets across 19 cities, including lounges in airports at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. The annual target: Savings of Rs 4-5 crore through dustbin speak alone.

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¡°The bin at the GVK lounge was full of barely eaten desserts,¡± said Gaurav Dewan, COO and business head, Travel Food Services (TFS).

Post-survey, size of lounge desserts cut

The dinner buffet had 15 desserts on offer that night. ¡°Each passenger would pick two or three, maybe even four. They would eat a spoon or half and throw the rest,¡¯¡¯ he said. He returned and ordered a three-day survey. Lounge passengers were asked about the food and desserts and found the problem was not with taste but size.

The kitchen team reworked the menu to introduce small-sized desserts such as cupcakes and macroons. ¡°Earlier, we offered 15 desserts in the lounge. Now, we offer 18 but small portions. Our dustbin waste has reduced, cost has reduced. We saved Rs 1.2 crore in a year from the five lounges at Mumbai airport in the desserts category alone,¡± said Dewan.

Dustbins of outlets where people pay for food speak a different language though. ¡°Through bins used by customers we learn what food item is not doing well while kitchen bins reveal what has been overproduced,¡± he said. Then again, dustbins revealed 80% sandwiches they sold were served grilled. ¡°The staff would bin the packaging, grill the sandwich and serve it on a plate. So we eradicated the packaging,¡± Dewan said. ¡°Sandwiches come wrapped in butter paper in bulk containers from where these are removed and displayed in the cabinet. Each of the earlier sandwich packaging cost around Rs 7. We sell close to a million sandwiches a year. That¡¯s Rs 70 lakh saving only on packaging. Butterpaper cost us 25 paisa.¡¯¡¯