9 tips to cut waste in my bar or restaurant

The chalkboard menu

Rather than printing your menu on sheet after sheet of paper, a chalkboard menu is an excellent zero-waste alternative. Especially popular with guests, it gives your restaurant or bar an authentic and traditional feel.

The chalkboard also backs up the fact that all your produce is fresh and seasonal, and changing it gives you a good reason to post on social media. It also lets your waiters talk through the dishes, chat with guests, and build a better guest experience.

Recover organic waste

Many restaurateurs have made the choice of composting to cut down on their bins.

The idea is to collect your daily food scraps, to recycle them and turn them into fertiliser. The second option is to generate energy through biomass.

Some restaurants go further still, even growing a vegetable patch in full view of their guests — a great eco-friendly commitment, which lets them post about it on social media while telling the story behind every dish.

Respect drink measures

Even though drink and cocktail measures are precise, they're rarely followed to the letter. Yet you'd make real savings if every cocktail contained only the strict necessary — not to mention the risk of a badly-dosed cocktail and a guest asking for a replacement: pure waste.

Pouring a beer properly is an art to master: it's not acceptable to let the beer overflow or to use a skimmer. Your bartenders should be able to pour a beer right the first time, with a 2 to 3 cm head, with nothing spilling over!

Go digital

In the digital age, it would be a shame to cling to old consumption habits. And that holds true for business owners too. The era of paperwork is over, and it's time to go digital. The cost of going digital will pay off positively on your cash flow, maybe faster than you'd think!

The digital revolution opens up a whole range of possibilities: tablet order-taking, tickets auto-printed in the kitchen, simplified till integration, analysing your figures and margins on every product, gaining visibility through social media, creating a digital experience with an online menu, setting up a Click & Collect system, retargeting guests who've already visited your restaurant through online ads… In short, going digital in hospitality offers a wide range of opportunities for those who know how to make the most of it.

Remove single-use

Disposable plastic products are gradually disappearing from restaurants in France, pushed along by numerous government measures. Generally speaking, single-use tableware should only be used when necessary, mainly for takeaway dishes.

To cut the use of these products, it's not essential to add disposable cutlery systematically to every takeaway order. Get into the habit of asking your guests whether they need it or have their own cutlery: most guests will appreciate the eco-conscious thinking behind that question.

As for disposable straws, which bars go through in large numbers, natural reusable alternatives already exist today: the bamboo straw is a great example — 100% natural, biodegradable and highly resistant.

The bonus? You can engrave your logo on it, turning the straw into a genuine marketing tool. You can also sell the straws to your guests, in small pouches or individually! By placing them at the bar, you'll boost your margins while your brand travels in your customers' hands.

Deposits & bulk buying

For takeaway sales, you can offer your own deposit system: in personalised glass dishes with your logo, for example, sealed with an airtight bamboo lid.

The guest will end up talking about your restaurant when they bring the dish home, but they'll also be compelled to come back. And when they come back with your dish, you could, say, offer them a 5% discount!

Beyond being a great marketing tool and building guest loyalty, you also preserve the flavour of your dishes. Indeed, you avoid using cardboard boxes, which don't offer an optimal guest experience: this material risks softening your food, not to mention it's not very elegant.

As for purchasing, deposit-crate deliveries and bulk buying are certainly the best moves toward zero-waste consumption. They're often cheaper for buyers, but above all let you manage your food consumption efficiently based on real needs. No food waste, and no polluting packaging!

Recycle glass, card, paper

Recycling is one of the habits to build into daily life, both personally and as a professional! To cut your bar or restaurant's waste, you can reuse materials and favour durable methods.

For glass, for example, choose suppliers that use a deposit system: glass bottles are collected back by the distributor, to be reused or recycled. This eco-responsible method is both simple and effective!

You can also request a 'kilos of glass recycled' certificate, which you can display near your bar. This way you show guests all the effort you're putting in for them.

Airtight containers

Plastic film is very handy, and also very widely used. Unfortunately, it generates enormous amounts of waste every day.

Airtight containers help maintain the quality of food, and keep it fresh longer. Ideally, the goal would be to ban plastic altogether! Glass remains the best option, favouring airtight lids guaranteed free of Bisphenol A.

For reasons of efficiency and hygiene, we know how hard it is to stop entirely using plastic film. If you're not ready to take that step, know that it's also possible to limit how much you use — for example, limiting the quantity to what's necessary, or reusing it as much as possible. Limiting it is already a great first step toward change.

Repair or resell furniture

Rather than throwing out what's broken, choose to recycle your furniture! On the interior-design side, it's a trend that's well established. And the hospitality sector can absolutely follow this direction.

More and more cafés personalise their décor with upcycled objects, an ideal trend for showcasing your green side. It can also be worth noting on the first page of your menu: 'All our décor is made from recycled objects, including the chair you're currently sitting on!'

Don't hesitate to use online platforms to trade services and furniture: Leboncoin to sell furniture you no longer use, for example, or Stootie, which lets you find the right person for the service you need: plumbing, furniture repair, and more.