Less is more
Raveena Taurani, chef, founder and CEO at Yogisattva
We do small-batch production to avoid wastage. Every morning, mise en place is conducted, and say the dish is a vegan Thai quinoa rice, we cut vegetables only required for two to three portions at a time. Only when the entire prep is exhausted, it is restocked. We also use similar vegetables in most dishes, leading to lesser storage and more usage of each vegetable. If we have an excess batch of food/dessert, we offer complimentary dishes to our guests or send it as delivery favours. In case of a special ingredient-driven or a limited-edition walk-in menu [when it’s often not possible to have an exact headcount], the first weekend of the launch is always the busiest, so we prepare extra portions. After that, we resume the model of preparing limited portions per dish. Right now, my primary challenge has been nitrile gloves. Each teammate goes through two sets per day, and there’s no recycling possible as nitrile has a very short shelf life. We've explored so many options but haven't found any sustainable, workable ones. The waste disheartens me, but every restaurant has to have a high safety protocol now, amid the pandemic. 

Chef Raveena Taurani, Founder, Yogisattva (Plant-Based Culinary Academy & Cafe). Photo Courtesy: Raveena Taurani

As far as wet waste is concerned, we compost it; we also give the veggie and fruit peels to cows, coffee granules go into our planters, and leftover almond pulp goes into granola. We segregate all the plastic and glass waste from our dry food raw material, and give it to recycling organisations such as 5Recycle. You have to be proactive as an owner if you want to reduce wastage; sustainability is not just a brand goal for us, but a core value.