Food waste can cost you between 5% and 10% of turnover. These tools help you measure it, understand it and cut it.
Waste is the silent enemy of profitability in hospitality. According to FAO data, the average restaurant throws away between 4% and 10% of all the food it buys — and most don’t even know it, because they don’t measure it. That can add up to €10,000–€30,000 a year going straight into the bin.
The problem is not only financial: regulatory pressure is increasing every year. Spain’s Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soils requires hospitality businesses to put measures in place to prevent food waste, and penalties for non-compliance can reach €60,000 in serious cases.
Food waste tools have evolved from spreadsheets to AI-powered systems that automatically weigh, photograph and categorise everything that gets thrown away. Some go further and help you sell surplus food before it becomes waste. In this comparison we look at 6 solutions that tackle food waste from different angles: from cutting-edge computer vision technology to apps for turning surplus into revenue.
Winnow is the global leader in AI-powered food waste technology. Its Winnow Vision system uses connected cameras and scales to automatically identify and weigh everything that is thrown away, with no input from kitchen staff. It has delivered waste reductions of 40–70% in hotels and restaurant chains around the world.
Leanpath is the US benchmark in food waste prevention, with more than 20 years of experience and a presence in 40+ countries. It offers a range of trackers, from AI and computer vision devices to more affordable manual options. It is the system chosen by Marriott, Hilton and hundreds of universities.
Kitro is a Swiss start-up founded in 2017 by two hospitality professionals who saw too much food ending up in the bin. Its system combines a smart bin with a camera and scale that automatically photographs and weighs every item thrown away. The AI learns your kitchen’s patterns and generates actionable insights.
Too Good To Go is not a waste tracking tool but a platform for selling surplus food before it turns into waste. It connects restaurants with users who buy ‘surprise bags’ of leftover food at a reduced price. With more than 3,000 businesses signed up in Spain, it is the country’s most popular anti-waste app.
Zindra treats waste as part of complete inventory control. Every stock movement (purchases, sales, adjustments, waste) is recorded and linked to its cost. You can log waste by category, see its impact on the food cost of each dish and set up expiry alerts to prevent losses before they happen.
Apicbase is a Belgian food management platform that includes waste control as part of its suite for recipe management, inventory and HACCP. Its approach is to link waste with nutritional analysis and food safety compliance, offering a holistic view of waste.
The best approach to food waste depends on your volume and budget. If you run a large hotel or a chain with buffets, Winnow or Leanpath offer the most advanced technology with proven ROI, although the investment is significant. For mid-sized operations that want affordable automation, Kitro is an interesting option. If your priority is turning surplus into revenue rather than measuring it, Too Good To Go is unrivalled in Spain. And for independent restaurants that want to start controlling waste without a big outlay, Zindra combines waste logging with full inventory management for under €40/month. The most common mistake: not measuring waste at all. Any system, even a spreadsheet, is better than having no visibility. Start by measuring, and once you have the data you will know whether you need more sophisticated tools.
Dig deeper into the key concepts behind this comparison.
Answers to the most common questions about this category.
Industry studies suggest that the average restaurant can cut its waste by 20% to 50% simply by measuring it and being aware of the problem. If your restaurant turns over €500,000 a year and your waste is 8% (the industry average), you are throwing away €40,000. A 30% reduction means €12,000 in direct savings on your bottom line. Tools such as Winnow or Leanpath report savings of 2–8% of total food costs.
It depends on your volume and your team’s discipline. For an independent restaurant, well-implemented manual logging (in an app like Zindra, or even in Excel) can be very effective and costs a fraction of AI-based systems. Computer vision technology (Winnow, Leanpath, Kitro) shines in large, high-volume operations where manual logging would be impossible or unreliable. Start simple, measure, and scale up the technology when the data justifies the investment.
No, they complement each other. Too Good To Go helps you turn surplus you already know you will have into revenue (bread left over at closing time, prepared dishes that didn’t sell). Tracking tools (Winnow, Leanpath, Zindra) help you understand why you have that surplus and how to reduce it at source. Ideally, use both: first cut avoidable waste through tracking and analysis, then sell what is unavoidable through Too Good To Go.
Waste is typically classified as: (1) Preparation waste: trimmings, peel, bones — unavoidable, but you need to know it for your recipe costing. (2) Expiry waste: product that goes out of date before it is used — a sign of purchasing or stock rotation problems. (3) Overproduction waste: prepared food that doesn’t sell — a sign of forecasting problems. (4) Returned dishes: kitchen errors or customer dissatisfaction. (5) Theft and stock discrepancies: the difference between theoretical and actual inventory. Each type calls for different action.
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