Question:
Servers used to drop baskets of bread on each table after taking orders. We recently joined a food waste reduction challenge and, looking at the numbers and auditing our trash bins, determined that those baskets were a huge source of waste and cost for us.
We replaced free bread with an upscale locally sourced bread and butter board (for sale) on the menu and bread accompaniments with certain items like soups. While we’ve been successful in reducing our waste, we are attracting lots of complaints from customers. Any advice? Should we go back to the complimentary bread service?
– Owner, Fine Dining
Answer:
First, congratulations on reducing your food waste. This is an important step towards doing your part to reduce the climate impact of wasted food, keeping valuable nutrition out of the waste stream and controlling your costs.
Where things seemed to go awry was not on making the decision to stop the bread baskets—that’s smart—but rather in making that change without first understanding whether your guests will pay for bread or resent doing so and then clearly communicating your rationale for the change.
My first bit of advice is to stick to your decision. Restaurant guests feel very loyal to operations—and that’s great. Part of that loyalty is that there may be a backlash to any little change. Reducing portions, raising prices, changing furnishings or removing a menu item may all get complaints and possibly even lead to some lost business. But as long as your decisions are reasonable and informed, you have a good reason to make them, so you should trust in your operational expertise. Most guests will adjust to the change and forget about it.
My second bit of advice for restaurants considering making these changes is to do them in baby steps. One way to wean guests off free bread is to offer it on request for a while. That on-request offering may then later be replaced by an affordable menu option. I suspect that your move from free and abundant bread to a pricey menu item caused some whiplash in your guests’ expectations.
Finally, be upfront about your reasons for making these changes, and train servers to communicate them. You can tell guests that by not giving away free bread automatically, you are able to keep your other menu prices reasonable, reduce food waste as well as your expenses and environmental impact, and focus on the quality of the bread and butter you are serving, including supporting local producers.
While it does not need to be communicated to guests, I suspect you’ll find that reducing your bread service will have a positive impact on your appetizer and dessert sales as well.
More on restaurant efforts to reduce wasted food here.