While food waste in hotels is often brought up to hotel operators, financial data shows us that owners are actually those paying the (high) price of this multi-dimensional issue. When we say “high”, we mean 2 to 6 bps of their GOP margin.This observation came out of a discussion between Benjamin Lephilibert, who has been developing practical and systemic solutions to help hotels reduce their food waste since 2012, and Johanna Wagner, who has been working with hotel investors in Europe since 2015, both as an employee and a consultant. A discussion that triggered a collaboration aiming at addressing this pressing issue from a different perspective. This collaboration led to the publication of a practical white paper specifically for hotel investors and asset managers, to make the business implications of food waste more visible to them and help them take action.

From understanding the issue to measuring its financial impacts and getting a clear action plan, “Food waste: hotel owners’ financial nightmare opportunity”, is a powerful tool for owners and their representatives to address the issue of food waste across their hotel portfolio.

The hotel food waste situation

Food waste has already been presented as a business opportunity for the food and catering industry and it’s estimated at $700M but it doesn’t seem like hotel owners heard about it even though it can represent a significant opportunity to increase their GOP margin and asset value. Observations by Ben Lephilibert who is interacting mainly with hotel operators, and Johanna Wagner, who is closer to investors and their representatives, led them to the conclusion that the discussions about food waste are not brought to the table during strategic discussions with the owners. They could identify a mix of causes, including

  1. Food waste happens at the hotel property level in an asset-light industry. Food waste is considered an operational issue while the growing prevalence of hotel management agreements (HMA), where operators are responsible for day-to-day management, means that they are not the ones paying the food waste bill, but owners are.
  2. In addition, the asset light structure of the industry is shaped by contracts that don’t include any requirements from either party regarding fighting food waste, whether in terms of financial incentives, mandatory investments or reporting expectations.
  3. The current KPIs used to monitor food expenses (like the food cost percentage) and margins don’t allow for proper tracking and management of food waste.

A consequence is that the amount for food wasted – and its costs – are typically misvaluated by kitchen teams and estimated to be 2 to 3 times inferior to what they actually are.

Another consequence is that it currently remains totally invisible to most hotel operators and investors, which doesn’t create any incentive for real actions by operators and hotel teams.

The ROI of fighting food waste

In a hotel under a management agreement, the hotel owner is the one who benefits the most from food waste prevention initiatives. Therefore, Ben and Johanna decided to focus on calculating this return on investment and the levers that owners and their asset managers can use to achieve it. With templates to download and a 3-step process to follow, their publication is a turnkey solution for anyone who wants to start addressing this topic in their hotels. They also illustrate their point with real-life examples from years of experience with Lightblue clients who saved tremendous amounts of money by fighting food waste.

Combining their expertises, they show how an alignment of interest from owner to kitchen teams creates value for everyone involved, both financially and in terms of staff motivation, client satisfaction and sustainability. Therefore the ROI is visible both in the P&L and in the hotel value over the longer run.

A call to action

At the crossroads of critical and strategic issues in the hospitality industry, food waste is still barely tackled with an estimated 5% of hotel operators who are actually monitoring it. In this budgeting season, the first step for hotel owners and their asset managers is to show that they care by starting to mainstream the discussion about food waste

  • You know that food waste isn’t monitored yet, ask your operator or GM: “Food waste is a key negative impact of our industry and typically bears a lot on our profitability. Do you have a plan to address this in 2026? What could we do?”
  • You know that food waste is already monitored, ask: “Do you have results about our investments in food waste management technology? By how much did we cut our wastes? Is there more we can do that could be integrated into the budget for next year?”

Several other steps are described in the full paper where it’s made easy to identify the priorities depending on one’s current situation.

Download the white paper here. Access the infographic summary here.

What readers will learn:

  • The hidden cost calculation – why 10% of food revenue disappears
  • Portfolio assessment framework – identify properties bleeding profit
  • Financial modeling templates – calculate savings using real benchmarks
  • Operator alignment strategies – from contracts to incentives for real results
  • Real case study breakdown – how Constance Hotels achieved $2.3M savings