How Restaurants can Reduce their Food Wastage by Automating their Supply Chain

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, around 1.3 billion tons of food gets wasted annually. Food wastage mostly happens in households; however, a large amount gets wasted during the supply chain process, including transport, storage, and distribution. The main reason for food wastage during the supply chain process includes mismanagement of logistics and prolonged storage.?

This high food wastage is unacceptable when there is so much hunger around us. As a part of the F&B industry, food wastage during the supply chain should concern us as it causes financial losses and leads to customer complaints. Automation of food supply chain services is a solution that can reduce wastage and increase logistical efficiency.?

What is Supply chain automation??

Supply chain automation implies streamlining the supply chain process with the help of technology. The food business can minimize errors by adopting technology and minimizing human intervention. An automated supply chain speeds up the workflow and improves operations and product tracking.?

The restaurant supply chain is cutting down on wastage as mentioned below:-?

Software digital platform:-?

Software digital platforms are being used to automate the food supply chain and minimize human errors. Software solutions can help the business get valuable data like current stock in hand and their shelf life.??

?This software can pull data from the point of sale and determine the accurate inventory consumed. Once the real-time data is analyzed, the food business can place orders and maintain optimum inventory levels. The analytics module of the software can help F&B businesses read the critical performance metrics instead of interpreting the manually churned numbers. Reading these reports, one can understand the reason for wastage and take the corrective steps.?

Logistics traceability -?

As per estimates, around 13 to 14% of food production is wasted in the logistics stage. Delayed shipments and temperature abuse are important reasons for food wastage. Real-time visibility into the shipment's status will help food businesses make faster and better decisions. Installing an automated tracking system will reduce wastage at the transportation stage by tracking goods between production and delivery.?

Automated tracking of temperature will also eliminate temperature abuse. Unlike manual inputs, an automated tracking system allows food business owners to collect data to help detect inefficiencies and unwanted expenses in the supply chain.?

Warehouse automation:-?

Food warehousing faces some unique challenges which need unique solutions. These warehousing handle and store perishable products at a particular temperature. Temperature controlled environment is critical for maintaining quality and hygiene standards. Another common trait of food warehousing is the large turnaround of the stock. Considering these challenges, warehouse management needs to employ optimal product slotting according to the perishability of the ingredients.?

Automation of warehousing becomes crucial due to the above challenges. Automation of warehousing includes a combination of automated storage and conveying system. This eliminates food handling errors, ensuring ingredient traceability and expediting response time.

Automation also promotes the uninterrupted flow of materials between different areas or warehouses. Automated facilities like stack cranes allow for storing large quantities of goods in limited space. Thus automating warehouses helps in the efficient handling of ingredients reducing chances of food wastage.?

An automated supply chain makes the process reliable and timely. If you are an F&B corporation planning your expansion strategy, outsourcing supply chain services will help you scale up systematically.?