Addressing Food Waste in Hospitality and Food Service Businesses as a Post-covid Business Strategy View Digital Media

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Adrian Morley,  Lucero Nicole Huerta-Tantalean,  Alberto Paucar Caceres,  Valeria Vargas  

This paper reports on the project ‘Strengthening collaborative food waste prevention in Colombia and Peru: towards responsible production and consumption (Collares): A collaboration between Manchester Metropolitan University, Universidad Nacional Jorge Basadre Grohmann (Tacna, Peru), Universidad Privada del Norte (Lima, Peru), Universidad EAFIT (Medellin, Colombia) and the social enterprise Sinba (Lima, Peru). The research aimed to contribute towards more resilient enterprise and sustainable food systems in Colombia and Peru. The study includes pre and post covid food resource management challenges experienced by HaFS (Hospitality and Food Services) businesses in Peru and Colombia and efforts to facilitate awareness about the importance of cutting back on food waste and develop food waste redistribution efforts in the cities of Medellin, Lima, and Tacna. The study included business surveys conducted in each city during the pandemic as well as interviews and workshops. Recommendations from the research to support the positive relationships between waste minimisation and economic sustainability in the sector are outlined.