What is the Real Cost of Food Waste in Hotels and Why is it Greater than the Product on the Plate?

In hotel kitchens, food waste is often evaluated based on the purchase price of the product per kilogram or what goes to waste. However, the economic loss is broader than that. A study conducted by Bern University of Applied Sciences for United Against Waste, based in Switzerland, took into account not only the product but also staff, processing, infrastructure, and disposal costs when calculating the total cost of food waste. In a 2018 study examining six Swiss gastronomy businesses, the average total cost was estimated to be around 24 Swiss francs/kg. This figure should be interpreted not as a current and valid industry average for all hotels, but as a limited sample study revealing the hidden costs of waste.

The Tourism Newspaper's news article dated August 13, 2026, emphasizes that a business that wastes 10 kilograms of food per week could lose approximately 1,000 Swiss francs a month based on the same calculation. However, the key point is not the figure of 24 francs per kilogram; the cost of the food thrown away is higher than the amount seen on the purchase invoice.

The cost distribution from the Swiss study clearly shows this. It states that in many businesses, at least half of the total cost of food waste is made up of processing costs; while the purchase cost corresponds to about a quarter of the total in most businesses. It appears that the disposal cost is one of the smallest items in the total. In other words, when a product goes to waste, the business loses not only the cost of the tomatoes, meat, or bread but also the labor and resources spent on storing, preparing, cooking, and serving it.

New industry data also supports the financial significance of the problem for hotels. According to the Hotel Food Waste Report published by WWF and Greenview in 2026, food waste can account for approximately 8% of total food costs in hotels. The same study reports that case data from different hospitality practices shows that hotels that systematically measure and manage their waste can reduce food waste by about 40% within six months. According to the research, the average return on every dollar invested in reducing food waste is about 7 dollars.

At this point, the most important tool is not a complex technology but measurement. If it is not known which product is going to waste, in which meal, and for what reason, it becomes difficult for the business to determine where to save. In the Swiss study, excess and reserved production emerged as one of the main reasons for food waste, while factors such as portion size, menu variety, buffet structure, and plate size are shown to be significant factors during the consumption phase.

This issue is even more critical for hotels that offer buffet service. When a hotel tries to keep trays full until the end of service to create a perception of abundance for guests, even small estimation errors between expected occupancy and actual consumption can lead to significant excess production by the end of the day. Therefore, measuring operations such as breakfast, buffet, banquet, and staff meals separately rather than grouping them under the same "food waste" heading may yield more meaningful results. WWF’s 2026 assessment also reports that resort hotels can produce 75% more food waste than non-resort hotels and emphasizes that a one-size-fits-all solution will not work for all hotels.

The initial steps in practice can be quite simple. Separating waste from the kitchen into preparation, buffet leftovers, and plate returns; recording the most wasted products; comparing them with daily guest and cover counts; reflecting excess production in the next purchasing and preparation plan can create a basic control system. The Swiss study also lists involving the kitchen team in the process, changing planning routines, and having management take ownership of the issue as key recommendations.

The global scale of the problem is also significant. According to UNEP’s Food Waste Index Report 2024, a total of 1.05 billion tons of food was wasted in retail, food service, and households in 2022. Approximately 290 million tons of this came from the food service sector. UNEP particularly views the regular measurement of waste as a fundamental condition for reduction strategies.

In our opinion: Viewing food waste in hotels solely as an environmental KPI tracked by the sustainability department is insufficient. It is also an indicator of food cost, labor efficiency, and purchasing performance. If the same product is consistently going to waste in a hotel, the problem may lie with the supplier, portion standards, forecasting systems, menu design, or kitchen-service communication. Especially in Turkey, in resort and all-inclusive hotels where buffets are strong, tracking KPIs such as "waste per guest," "waste per meal," and "waste cost per produced portion" instead of just measuring total waste kilograms can yield much more usable data for kitchen management. The starting point for reducing food waste is not preparing less food but knowing what, why, and at which stage is going to waste.