Everything has two sides, both advantages and disadvantages. Promoting small portions and half portions can effectively stop food waste, but at the same time it will definitely increase the cost of time, manpower and material resources.
Recently, China Consumers Association, together with seven industry associations, societies and chambers of commerce, issued an initiative, in which it was mentioned that by subdividing catering units, "small portions of food" and "half portions of food" should be actively promoted, and in view of the waste of staple food in the scene of selling meals outside, the promotion of "small portions of food" and "half portions of food" should be accelerated for consumers to choose; Catering operators should implement the anti-food waste standards and norms formulated by the state, industry associations and enterprises, and incorporate anti-food waste into the training content of employees; While stopping the waste of food and beverage offline, short video and live broadcast platforms should resist the unhealthy and uncivilized ways of live broadcast, such as overeating, false exaggeration and propaganda, and drain the excessive consumption of food and beverage.
The purpose of this initiative is good. In order to save and put an end to waste, we should advocate small dishes and half dishes, but we face many practical problems.
as a hard-working office worker who often wants to eat fast food and order takeout, I don't think the main reason for food waste is too much food. On the contrary, most workers now have two biggest pain points when ordering takeout. One is that the food is so bad that it's hard to swallow after one bite. Throw it away. I feel sorry for my money, don't throw it away, eat it all, and I'm sorry for my stomach. So I can only choose a few barely edible ingredients in the food, deal with a few mouthfuls of rice casually, and then throw away the rest. The other is the opposite of this proposal, that is, the amount of food is too small. I thought it was enough for me to eat two servings. As a result, I sent a look, and each dish was only two teaspoons. After three mouthfuls, I ate it, and the food was gone, and the rice could not be sent down, so I had to throw it away. Then, you can only give up this takeaway next time, because ordering three servings of money has exceeded your budget.
on the other hand, considering the labor cost, if we continue this practice, we will cook one dish, half a dish, large dishes and small dishes. Labor is the same. But the income price is different, which will increase the cost of the restaurant and reduce the income; Once the income price is the same, it will become a reduction without price reduction, which invisibly increases the burden on the people.
finally, if consumers really can't eat, how can the catering industry's innate cost control ability make so many dishes be thrown away and wasted directly? According to the truth, they should reduce the quantity by one third, then reduce the price by one quarter, and then get a profit increase of about 8%. I don't think the restaurant owners who are most likely to close down in the market fight don't have such cost consciousness.