Tackling Food Wastage in the Hotel Industry using IoT

According to reports, food insecurity and waste have resulted in malnutrition for over 690 million people worldwide. It is also estimated that roughly one-third of all food produced in the world (roughly 1.3 billion tonnes) is wasted. Data reveals that the hospitality industry is a major contributor to global food waste. As a result, it is more important and morally responsible for hoteliers to invest in technologies that help them prevent spoilage, reduce food waste, and ultimately save the hotel significant money.

Reasons for food wastage in hotels

Food must travel long distances before arriving at your dinner table. Refrigerated shipping containers and storage facilities are critical for limiting bacteria growth in order to maintain farm-fresh quality. By utilising IoT-based solutions, a food-safe environment can be maintained throughout the journey with minimal supervision.

Traditional food temperature monitoring relies on workers to check temperature levels on a regular basis and make adjustments as needed. This procedure is not scalable, which means that if the facility or number of food displays grows, it becomes more labour-intensive and inefficient. If personnel is preoccupied, periodic checks may be delayed or missed entirely, resulting in gaps where temperature changes are not handled, allowing bacteria to proliferate and food to spoil.

How can IoT help reduce food wastage?

To fix this concern, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors can be installed in shipping vehicles, freezers, and warehouses to give accurate and consistent temperature data monitoring. The IoT sensors will immediately raise an alert to the hotel staff whenever there is a temperature change or any anomaly is detected.

Also, the IoT-based solutions are not only capable of detecting only the temperature but are also designed to diagnose multiple events or a series of events that can lead to food wastage. A few of these events can be:

• Health monitoring & preventive maintenance of crucial assets like freezers/ cold storages to avoid any unforeseen breakdowns leading to food spoilage.
• Indoor air quality monitoring to ensure a safe & healthy storage environment.
• Detecting any abnormal fluctuations in various electricity parameters like current & voltage imbalances, unbalanced load division, etc. which might lead to sudden breakdown of crucial assets.

An interesting fact here is that many large hotel chains have already deployed IoT-based solutions at their several properties to prevent food wastage. Having said that, Hilton has pledged to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. Additionally, Marriott is aiming to reduce food waste by 50% at its properties by 2025.

To conclude, we can say that these IoT-based connected solutions can be deployed in a variety of use cases, from QSRs to Large Hotels, all with the objective of maintaining a safe food storage environment.

Reduction in food wastage is just one of the many advantages that may be gained by implementing IoT-based automation solutions in hotels. Click here to learn more about how IoT can also help you achieve ~20% energy savings and ~25% better guest comfort.