Let's Talk About Waste

Waste - it's part of life, the statistics are staggering, and there are so many layers to the conversation. From general garbage to food waste (in all the forms - from waste in our house, to restaurant waste, to waste in grocery stores and on the production side), to how to limit it... The list goes on.

Last week I shared that I felt there were areas of my business where the focus had shifted since expanding. One of those things is waste. When I started this business in 2015, I was a team of one (with help from family and friends), we are now a team of ten. I ran the business out of my house, which meant there was little waste - kitchen scraps went into the compost bin, leftovers into the fridge to be eaten the next day, any additional ingredients purchased for class were used in a future class or for family meals.

Teaching in a commercial setting has changed that. I am still able to utilize ingredients, structuring classes in a way that ingredients can be pushed from class to class, or from classes into the café, leftovers go home with staff (AHS guidelines state we can't send food home with students - and beyond that, there often isn't enough for each student to take enough home). With all of that, we can still do better.

When I started teaching at the new space, the City of Edmonton had adopted a green bin program for residential areas. When I taught at home, I would put a compost bowl in the centre of the workspace and remind students to put their fruit and veg peelings into the compost bowl - they often still went into the garbage (I would dig them out of I could!). The compost bowl would then be tipped into my backyard compost and be used in veg boxes to grow herbs and a veg for classes. Rarely would someone ask where to put these kitchens scraps if the bowl wasn't out - they'd toss them into the garbage. Now I get asked in almost every class if we have a green bin. This is both a win and a loss - it's a win that people are using the green bin program at home, but a loss for Awn, there isn't a green bin program for food businesses in Edmonton. While I see the logistical nightmare that it could be, it also blows my mind as food businesses and waste are almost synonymous - although they shouldn't be.

We get stuck in our ways as people - it's human nature. I sometimes have to remind myself that what is the norm for me isn't the norm for others, and it reminds me of the importance of sharing, educating, and having these conversations. Food waste and general waste aren't something that a lot of us are super conscious of - I know because every time we hire someone new, we have to have these conversations again.

Small to big things - when we first opened, I had to nag the team to not use to go cups to enjoy a drink while at work (doesn't a coffee taste better out of a proper mug anyway?). A firm reminder had to be set that any baking that was left at the end of the day went home in reusable containers, not purchased packaging. We had to create systems for the amount of cleaner going into a floor pail, or dish soap into the sink, how to sort recycling, that the washer should be full before the it is turned on. Reminders to turn lights and fans off when we aren't in a room or using them, to remember expiry dates aren't the only indicator of food being off, and the importance of rotating food. There are other ways too, the we use garbage bags or parchment paper, or grab plastic bags, how “disposable” so much of what is used in a commercial kitchen is. We wash and re-use our plastic bags (depending on what's been in them), limit what we put into plastic bags, use beeswax wraps instead of plastic wrap. I have purchased better containers for food storage, so they are less disposable than some of the cheaper ones. Often it comes down to its busy, this is the easier way, but the quick / easy way impacts things (from waste to staff culture to cost).

I now know that this will be a constant conversation with the team. I need to teach the team, that our impact can be big or small. I will always be sending small reminders to out about how we as a business can be more conscious of this. Some days this feels overwhelming and frustrating, I can admit that - why do I have to harp on about these things that are the basis of the business? On those days, I try to remind myself, that hopefully the reminders will penetrate beyond Awn, that those choices will become habits and be taken with staff even when they are no longer at Awn.

Food waste happens in big and small ways - from not rotating ingredients, to trusting expiry dates to over purchasing ingredients, to scraping a bowl of brownie batter clean, to not reusing pastry scraps (something we are working to adjust on all our current pastry recipes), to over baking and prepping, to following recipes properly and not being rushed, to not having a clear idea of what's in the fridge and in the case of a commercial space - not having a proper schedule and system for what's being made when, how much is being made, tracking and constantly adjusting these schedules and systems to demand.

I haven't talked about that for a while now - the difficulty in knowing how busy we will be. From month to month, week to week and day to day we quickly learned - there is no consistency. We are constantly adapting our kitchen schedule to how busy we are - adjusting baking and prep to ensure that we a) have enough for our customers each day and b) aren't left with a heap at the end of the day. On that note - a huge WOW and THANK YOU to #yeg for your support in January. January, I have heard can be a wildly slow month for food businesses, and (touch wood) we've seen the opposite - so thank you! We are busy behind the scenes adapting to adjust our staffing and our systems to ensure we have great consistent products out - enough of them, and enough staff on the floor to turn your orders around quickly.

One of the areas we can do better with at Awn is tracking and inventory management. The space at Awn is SMALL for what we are doing - which is okay, but it means staying on top of inventory in a precise way. Having two people in management now to help ensure things are being rotated and that we are putting things away properly is key to this. Awn is multifaceted too - the ingredients that are purchased are often being used in both the workshop and the café which adds another level of… Craziness to it all. As the main shopper for the business (one of the many hats I wear!), I remind staff to rotate as new food comes into the kitchen, I try to always check in before purchasing more, and I really try to limit the number of shopping trips I take throughout the week. Setting a schedule and plan and taking the time to sit down and write a proper list for each week. This is evolving and is something we are constantly working on to do better with.

As a business owner of course these things add to the bottom line, but their impact is far larger than that. I said it last week - I've said it before - I don't want Awn to be “normal,” I don't want to fall into the standards that happen because we're busy and it's hard to nag, or because it's a lot of work to push the systems and set them in motion, to adapt and adjust - but I want my small business to leave a positive impact - for our customers, on our environment, for the producers we work with (respecting and valuing their hard work!), and for the team no matter how long they stay with us. If we can plant a seed on these topics, as cliché as it sounds - the growth is huge.

I am so excited that the city of Edmonton has adopted a no single use plastic protocol starting this summer. But there are so many other ways we can do better - both as consumers and business owners.

Awn opened in June of 2021 and packaging costs have gone up in a significant way since we opened. I don't like to go on about rising costs - it's impacting everyone, and we all know about it. But there is no doubt, it's a huge conversation for small business owners - we can't up our prices - the standards are set by the big guys, we have to be creative and make changes in other ways. Maybe I'll write a blog about this one day. Stay tuned, we are working to adopt a program at Awn to promote reusable cups and containers.

We do well at Awn, but we aren't perfect, and waste is a big topic I've been talking about with the team since the start of 2023, it's a goal for the year to do even better. I am continuously thinking about ways we can do better and will be opening the conversation to the team in our next staff meeting about creative ways we can do better. It's easy with these conversations to say “that's good enough,” or “we do the best we can,” but we need to be keeping our eyes and ears open, be willing to learn, and make changes to continue to do better.

Although this topic can feel draining, heavy, and even leave you asking, “what's the point?” especially as you really dig into these conversations - they are conversations we need to be having. If a few of us make small changes, the impact is huge. It matters friends, let's do better, let's be more conscious. I have a few other posts up my sleeve - talking about waste in other ways. Digging into expiry dates, upselling and food waste, composting at home, creative ways we reduce our waste at Awn, waste in grocery stores (this one shocks me and makes my stomach boil!), leftovers and waste and mindfulness and waste!

Get in touch and let us know about some of the conscious choices you make to reduce your waste!