Category: Blog

An inventory management system can help a hotel reduce costs in several ways:

• Reduce food and beverage waste: With an inventory management system, hotels can track the usage of items in their inventory and avoid overstocking. This can help reduce waste and save money by ensuring that the hotel only orders what it needs.

• Reduce manual labor: An inventory management system can automate many inventory-related tasks, such as delivery control, issue reporting, stock count, and checking price variations, and expiry dates. This can reduce the need for manual labor and free up staff time for other tasks.

• Optimize purchasing: An inventory management system can help hotels optimize their purchasing by keeping track of inventory levels and price variations while providing an overview of turnover time and purchasing needs. This can help hotels avoid stockouts and reduce the cost of rush orders.

• Improve forecasting: An inventory management system can provide hotels with real-time data on inventory levels, usage, and trends. This information can help hotels forecast demand more accurately and make more informed decisions.

• Prevent theft and loss: An inventory management system can help hotels prevent theft and loss by providing real-time visibility into inventory levels and usage. This can help hotels identify and address issues quickly before they become a bigger problem.

Overall, implementing an inventory management system can help hotels reduce costs and improve efficiency by optimizing inventory levels, digitizing manual processes, and providing real-time data for informed decision-making.

TotalCtrl is an inventory management system that has proven to give good results for hotels and restaurants. We can help your business become more efficient and profitable, with our inventory management technology. 

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How we live is being transformed in many ways by sustainable practices. And it has become even more evident in the food industry. The Financial Times reports that an estimated one-third of the food produced globally ends up as food waste. This contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and other forms of overconsumption and surplus. It is no surprise, then, that a zero-waste philosophy is spreading across Europe and other regions, calling on restaurants to avoid adding to this issue. As a result, food establishments are being encouraged to adopt more sustainable practices such as generating less waste and using renewable resources.

So without further ado, here are three sustainable habits that restaurants need today:

Sourcing produce from small businesses

More restaurants are sourcing ingredients from smaller suppliers, such as local farmers and fishermen. There are many benefits to getting food locally. Not only is produce cheaper for restaurant owners, but it is also often more flavorful and easier to obtain. It provides a better marketing opportunity as people generally gravitate towards restaurants that show their ingredients are locally sourced or farm-to-table.

Septime in Paris, France, is one such restaurant sourcing from small businesses. Their seafood comes from a supplier that sources purely from small-scale fishermen that use sustainable methods to prevent overfishing. The restaurant also ensures that every part of the animal is used when buying meat — a win-win situation for both the cattle rancher and the restaurant itself. It is especially important for restaurants like Septime to use inventory management tools to ensure a good balance and sufficient supply without overstocking.

Improve inventory management processes

Operating sustainably is not always easy. Newer businesses often encounter these challenges in the early stages, and restaurants are no exception. Ben Horowitz covers how to overcome these challenges in his book The Hard Thing About Hard Things, which talks about the hard-hitting facts of starting, running, and succeeding in business. This is especially true during the pandemic as restaurants are trying to adopt a more sustainable approach.

For food establishments, starting with one’s resources is crucial, which is why improving your inventory management processes matters. Not only does it help food waste reduction, but you can also plan and allocate your produce more efficiently. Inventory solutions should also be automated and intuitive since businesses are expected to provide stellar service quickly. TotalCtrl gives you a real-time view of what’s in your inventory at any given time while providing data to streamline restaurant operations. These solutions make it easier to function sustainably, even with the struggles of running a business during this time.

Use leftover ingredients

Food waste is a huge issue in the culinary scene, and one restaurant that has actively found ways to solve this is Rest in Oslo. It deliberately uses imperfect produce and misshapen vegetables to save what would be considered waste at grocery stores. However, it’s important to use tools to measure just how long your food will last. TotalCtrl does this by controlling inventory based on expiry date data. It helps kitchens prioritize the right raw cooking materials. Restaurants can use this software to prevent food waste using a more accurate monitoring system, making the establishment more sustainable.

Whether your restaurant focuses on preventing food waste or installing tools like solar panels, sustainable habits should be maintained over the long run. A little bit of effort now can make a big difference later, and your customers will be taking part in a greater effort to save the environment for a more sustainable future.

Written by Aliyah Beatrice Clay
Exclusive for totalctrl.com

417 000 tonnes of food is thrown away yearly in Norway, corresponding to NOK 20.7 billion and 1.26 million tonnes of gas emissions. We use the earth’s resources to produce food and up to ⅓ of this goes to waste. Food waste emits large amounts of methane and carbon dioxide, leading to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Each of us can make an impact on the amount of food that is thrown away as well as the authorities and municipalities having the power to change how we handle food waste.

The European Waste Framework includes major goals to improve food waste for consumers and businesses. UN’s sustainability goal 12.3 also states that we will half the world’s food waste by 2030.

What can we do today to get one step closer to achieving these goals and following the guidelines?

Recycle Waste

First, it is crucial that we ensure that food waste gets reused properly.. Food waste and leftovers can be converted into bioenergy during decomposition processes. It is therefore important to build effective partnerships between municipalities and companies that handle food waste. Such cooperations can help ensure that organic residues are converted into bioenergy.

We Need to Learn More and Spread the Word

There are several players out there who have a vast amount of knowledge on food waste and sustainability. It is therefore critical that institutions such as schools reach out to such players by helping to create awareness about this.

Cooperation Between Authorities and the Food Industry

The food industry accounts for 46% of all food waste. Therefore, industries and the authorities must work together to reduce this measure. The government can implement change by setting goals and introducing laws and regulations. For example, financially supported initiatives for the introduction of sustainable technology and support initiatives from the business community.

Food Banks

Food Banks collect food from places such as grocery stores. The food is then either stored in a warehouse or given away as soon as possible given expiration dates. Food Banks donate food to aid organizations or deliver food packages to people who need it.

Introduce Inventory Systems

The largest contributor to food waste is the public sector. For example, schools and kindergartens account for 12% of food waste in the public sector. This can be greatly reduced by implementing softwares that is suitable for inventory management given the relevant business. 

With TotalCtrl, we can take a big step together towards the goal of halving food waste by 2030.