 It’s that time of year when groups are gathering to share festive meals – and often, that involves a buffet table. While buffets provide seemingly high-value experiences to guests at a time when quantity is the new quality, they also pose a range of risks to operators. For one, they generate food safety challenges. Though anyone can get food poisoning, guests who have weakened immune systems, are pregnant, are aged 65 and older, or are younger than five years old are at higher risk of contracting a severe illness due to food poisoning, according to the CDC. When foods are served that are more prone to contamination, or if staffing difficulties prevent you from refreshing food or monitoring serving frequently, it becomes easy for food to be left out for too long, to be mishandled or stored improperly, or for cross-contamination to occur.
Beyond safety, nearly half of the food served from buffets goes to waste, according to Global Research and Consulting Group Insights. Taking steps to change people’s habits around buffets may help – both in improving safety and minimizing waste. Try using smaller plates and serving utensils to encourage manageable servings. Focus on a reduced selection of quality servings so people will be less tempted to sample more than they can eat. Provide cook-to-order stations where possible – and scale down buffet preparation toward the end of a shift (possibly offering individualized ordering as items run low). One study on improving the sustainability of buffets advises making structural changes to the setup of the buffet. Perhaps you can change the layout of your buffet so it’s easier for guests to return for seconds, gamify the meal to encourage guests to sit and savor their food, and provide rewards or discounts for those leaving zero plate waste.  Your waste management and food safety practices go hand in hand: If you have too much excess stock, you run the risk of serving ingredients that are past expiration. At the very least, this may give your guests a less-than-great dining experience with you, but at worst, you may expose guests to a foodborne illness caused by spoiled or expired ingredients. By keeping a close watch on your stock and using automated tools to monitor it, you’re better able to plan in advance to ensure your restaurant is preparing and serving foods while they are still fresh. In the process, you’ll be offering guests a safer dish. A recent Restaurant News report details how Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices can help restaurant kitchens gather data on temperature, humidity, light exposure and other conditions that can impact food quality. Are you using these tools to optimize your inventory management and minimize waste?
 Your waste management efforts can go a long way in not only saving money, but also deterring insects and other pests to your kitchen. Are there steps you can take now to ensure you’re minimizing any food byproducts that are collected in your kitchen and must be discarded each day? Before the hot temperatures hit this summer, give your indoor and outdoor waste receptacles a deep clean — along with the surrounding areas — to clear any debris or liquid that may have leaked out.
 As you implement waste reduction practices in your restaurant, are you aware of how these changes may be impacting your food safety culture and vice versa? Your food safety and waste reduction practices affect each other – improving one practice may enhance (or require you to change your approach to) the other. According to Adam Johnson, vice president and general manager for Global Food Retail Services at Ecolab, making a commitment to donate surplus food may demand that you fine-tune your protocol regarding the proper preparation, storage, transportation and serving of your food, for instance. Further, introducing compost bins to prevent waste from going to landfills will require you to monitor the capacity of those bins so they don’t overflow and to clean and sanitize them regularly to avoid attracting pests. Finally, improving your food safety program will make you more effective at monitoring food storage temperatures, appliance functionality, supplier performance and more – all of which helps you reduce the volume of food you have to discard.
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