Food Waste Tracking

See exactly where food costs disappear between delivery and plate

Track waste from ingredient prep losses to unsold portions. Cucinovo calculates waste percentages and costs per recipe so you can make targeted changes instead of guessing where money goes.

Track your waste free for 14 days

Why Food Waste Tracking?

The average restaurant wastes between 4% and 10% of purchased food before it ever reaches a customer. Peeling, trimming, and butchering create unavoidable prep losses. Over-portioning, spoilage, and poor inventory rotation create avoidable ones. Without tracking, both types are invisible in your P&L.

Cucinovo's waste tracking starts at the ingredient level. Record the loss percentage for each ingredient — 20% for onion peeling, 35% for fish butchering, 5% for herb stems — and the system adjusts recipe costs to reflect what you actually use, not what you buy.

Over time, waste data reveals patterns. You might discover that a particular cut of meat has a higher trim loss than your costing assumes, or that a sauce recipe consistently produces more than you sell. These insights turn waste from a hidden cost into a manageable one.

Benefits

What you get with Food Waste Tracking

Waste percentage per ingredient

Set prep loss percentages for each ingredient. Cucinovo adjusts recipe costs to reflect usable yield instead of purchase weight, giving you accurate food cost numbers.

Loss cost calculation

See the actual cost of waste in currency, not just percentages. Know that your 30% trim loss on salmon costs you a specific amount per portion, making the business case for alternatives clear.

Unit conversion for waste

Track waste across different units. Whether you measure loss in grams, kilograms, or milliliters, Cucinovo converts and calculates consistently so your data is always comparable.

Recipe-level waste insights

See which recipes carry the highest waste costs. Compare waste across similar dishes to identify which preparations are more efficient and where substitutions could reduce losses.

How It Works

Get started in minutes

1

Set loss percentages on ingredients

For each ingredient, enter the prep loss percentage. Onions might lose 10% to peeling, whole fish 40% to butchering, herbs 15% to stemming. Cucinovo stores this alongside the ingredient cost.

2

Costs adjust automatically in recipes

When a recipe uses an ingredient with a loss percentage, the cost calculation accounts for the waste. If you need 200g of usable onion and lose 10% to prep, Cucinovo costs the 222g you actually need to buy.

3

Review waste impact per recipe

Each recipe shows both the raw ingredient cost and the waste-adjusted cost. The difference tells you exactly how much prep losses add to each dish.

4

Make data-driven decisions

Use waste data to evaluate trade-offs. Pre-cut vegetables cost more per kilogram but have zero prep loss. A cheaper cut of meat might be more expensive overall once you account for 35% trim loss.

Use Cases

Built for how you actually work

Restaurants managing prep losses

Track the real cost of each ingredient after prep. Compare whole versus pre-processed ingredients to find the true cost-effective option. Identify which stations or preparations generate the most waste.

Butcher shops and seafood counters

High trim-loss proteins need accurate waste tracking to price correctly. A fish with 40% loss needs a very different markup than one with 15%. Waste data ensures every cut is priced to maintain your target margin.

Catering operations reducing overproduction

Track portions produced versus portions served across events. Identify which menu items consistently overproduce and adjust batch sizes to reduce both waste and the cost of food that never reaches a guest.

Turn hidden waste into visible savings

Full waste tracking on the Pro plan. 14-day free trial with all Pro features. No credit card required.

Track your waste free for 14 days