Abstract
•A novel approach to estimating food waste in foodservice operations.•A case study of Chinese cuisine restaurants in Bournemouth, United Kingdom.•A Chinese cuisine restaurant wastes up to 0.138 kg of food per guest.•In total, this translates to almost 15 tonnes of wasted food per business per year.•Wastage is driven by UK market- and Chinese cuisine-specific factors.
The foodservice sector generates excessive amounts of food waste. This wastage remains however understudied, especially in the context of specific foodservice sub-sectors catering for a large number of consumers. This holds true for ethnic food restaurants holding a noticeable share of the global out-of-home food consumption market. This paper contributed to knowledge with an exploratory study of food waste and its management in Chinese cuisine restaurants operating in the UK. By applying a novel approach to estimating food waste in foodservice operations, it demonstrated the magnitude, established the drivers and revealed managerial approaches to food waste mitigation. The study showcased the role of contextual, UK market-specific, and cultural, ethnic cuisine-related, factors in food waste generation and its management. Drawing upon perspectives of foodservice operators, the study outlined the key barriers to more effective mitigation of food waste and proposed how these could be at least partially overcome in the future.