## Restaurant Food Waste Log

URL: https://minimalpos.com/tools/food-waste-log

Waste that is not written down is invisible, and invisible waste never gets fixed. Log each item with a quantity, a reason and a unit cost, and this totals the value and ranks the reasons. A week of honest logging usually surprises people.

### Features

- Item, quantity, reason code and unit cost per line
- Total waste value for the period
- Cost ranked by reason so the biggest problem is obvious
- Standard reason codes — spoilage, prep error, over-production, returned, breakage
- CSV export and a print-ready log sheet

### How it relates to MinimalPOS

Logging captures what the kitchen noticed. MinimalPOS tracks stock movement against what was actually sold, so the gap between the two surfaces the waste nobody wrote down.

**Why track food waste?** Because it is a cost that never appears on an invoice. Every item binned was paid for and produced no revenue, so waste comes straight off the bottom line — and unlike supplier prices, it is largely within your control.

**What reason codes should I use?** Keep the list short enough that people actually use it. Spoilage, prep error, over-production, customer return and breakage cover most of it. Five codes consistently applied beat fifteen applied occasionally.

**Who should fill in the waste log?** Whoever bins the item, at the moment they bin it. Retrospective logging at the end of a shift misses most of it, and the point of the exercise is accuracy rather than a tidy sheet.

**How often should I review it?** Weekly. Look at the reason ranking rather than the total — over-production points at prep quantities, spoilage points at ordering or rotation, and prep error points at training.