Food waste in hotels and catering in the GCC: where it happens and what it costs
By Asaad Al Hashmi, Founder and CEO of Wady
Hotel food waste happens in three places: in prep, in food cooked but never served, and on the guest's plate. Food service, which includes hotels and caterers, made up 28% of the food wasted worldwide at consumer level in 2022, according to UNEP's Food Waste Index Report 2024. Hotels that measured and cut their waste got back nearly 7 dollars for every dollar spent over three years, according to Champions 12.3 in 2018.
It is 1 in the morning in a wedding hall. The last guests have gone. The long tables still hold whole trays of rice and lamb, cooked for 600 because the invitation list said 600, and many never came. The cook, on his feet since noon, stands with a roll of foil in his hand. A phone call, a van at the back door, and by morning that food is on family tables across the city. The generosity was real. The count was the guess.
Below: where the waste happens, why banquets waste more, what it costs, six steps that work, and what Gulf governments now ask of hotels.
Checked October 2026.
We are Wady. We make the free Purchase System and Wady Central for kitchens in Qatar, so the last part of this guide shows where Wady helps hotels and caterers with food waste and where it does not.
Key takeaways
Restaurants, hotels and caterers made up 28% of the food wasted worldwide at consumer level in 2022 (UNEP, 2024).
In a 2018 study of 42 hotel sites in 15 countries, cutting waste returned nearly 7 to 1 over three years, with 21% less waste in 12 months (Champions 12.3).
Smaller plates, or a sign inviting guests to come back for more, each cut hotel buffet waste by about 20% (Kallbekken and Saelen, 2013).
Banquets waste more per guest than daily hotel service: 530 g against 360 g per cover in Irish hotels, with 2016 to 2018 data (EPA Ireland).
Hotels and food waste in numbers: 28% of consumer food waste comes from food service, hotels that cut waste got back nearly 7 to 1, cut it 21% in a year, and smaller plates cut buffet waste about 20%.
How much food do hotels and caterers waste?
Food service, meaning restaurants, hotels, caterers and canteens, wasted about 290 million tonnes of food in 2022, 28% of the 1.05 billion tonnes wasted at consumer level (UNEP, 2024).
Gulf hotels have no published national number yet; a Qatar study of the whole supply chain, covering restaurants, hotels and hospitals, was due to run until September 2026, and we found no published results as of October 2026 (Al Arab, April 2026). See how much food Qatar wastes.
A 2016 study of 45 hotels and restaurants in Abu Dhabi found that serving style, serving time, the type of food and how accurately a kitchen forecast its guest numbers drove waste the most (Pirani and Arafat, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016).
Where does hotel food waste happen?
Hotel food waste happens in prep, in food never served and on the plate. Irish hotels, measured from 2016 to 2018, threw away 360 g of food per cover in daily service (EPA Ireland). Irish data is a reference, not a Gulf benchmark.
In prep
Peels, trim, bones and spoiled batches: 34% of daily hotel waste in Ireland.
Cooked but never served
The full tray left on the buffet at closing, the extra 50 portions for a banquet: 26% of daily waste and 32% at banquets.
On the plate
What guests leave behind: 38% of daily waste, and 53% at banquets.
In Irish hotels measured from 2016 to 2018, prep made up about a third of daily food waste, so the kitchen is where measuring starts.
Why do buffets, weddings and banquets waste more?
Buffets, weddings and banquets waste more because the kitchen cooks for a number it cannot confirm and keeps the display full until the end. Irish hotel functions threw away 530 g per cover, against 360 g in daily hotel service, and more than half of it was left on plates (EPA Ireland, 2016 to 2018 data).
The count is a guess: the invitation list says 600, so the kitchen cooks for 600.
A full table means respect: half-empty trays get topped up until closing.
Costly food ends in the bin: the Champions 12.3 hotel study calls buffets "a large source of food waste", especially of high-value foods like meat (2018).
None of this is a lack of care. The aim is to keep the generosity and plan it on a better number.
In Irish hotel banquets, with 2016 to 2018 data, 53% of the food wasted was left on guests' plates.
What about staff canteens and event catering?
We found no published Gulf data on food waste in staff canteens or wedding and event catering, so this is method only: count the people, cook to that count, record what comes back.
Staff canteens: the same people eat at the same times, so order and cook from what was eaten last week, by dish, and adjust weekly.
Wedding and event catering: ask the host for a confirmed number two days before, not the invitation count, and cook the main dishes in two rounds.
Central kitchens feeding several sites: plan each day's batches from orders received minus stock on hand.
Picture a canteen that feeds the same 400 workers every shift. When it orders from what was eaten last week, the farmer's cucumbers are picked for plates, not for bins.
No Gulf study has published food waste figures for staff canteens or wedding catering yet, so a kitchen's own week of records is the best number it has.
What does food waste cost a hotel?
Food waste costs a hotel the food, labour and energy behind it, and cutting it pays back fast. In a 2018 study by WRI and WRAP for Champions 12.3, 42 hotel sites in 15 countries reported these results:
Return: on average nearly 7 dollars back for every dollar spent over three years. Half the sites got at least 4.7 to 1.
Waste: 21% less food waste by weight within 12 months, on average.
Payback: over 70% of the sites earned back their investment in the first year.
Cost of starting: nearly 90% of the sites spent less than $20,000 over three years.
One caveat: the savings count only food wasted before it reached the guest. They leave out plate waste and donated food, so the full benefit can be larger.
How can a hotel or caterer reduce food waste?
A hotel or caterer cuts food waste by measuring it first, then cooking closer to the real number of guests, as the Champions 12.3 hotel study advises.
1. Measure for one week
Weigh prep, unserved and plate waste for a week and divide by covers: a one-week food waste audit. Then keep a daily log, without blame, so staff write down every loss.
2. Confirm the head count
For banquets and weddings, get a confirmed number two days ahead and write it on the order.
3. Cook in waves and refill small trays
Cook the second round only when the first runs low, and refill with smaller trays near closing. A small full tray still looks generous. For breakfast, plan from tonight's occupancy and last week's breakfast covers.
4. Use smaller plates and a "come back for more" sign
In hotel restaurants, smaller plates cut food waste by about 20%, and a sign telling guests they are welcome to come back for more did the same, with no change in guest satisfaction (Kallbekken and Saelen, Economics Letters, 2013).
5. Use live stations and reuse good trim
A cook at a live station portions to the guest in front of them, so unserved food stays clean in the kitchen. Good trim and bread can become stock, croutons or staff meals, inside your food safety rules.
6. Donate safe surplus
In Qatar, Hifz Al Naema Centre collects surplus meals from restaurants and banquet halls for people in need. Give only food never served and kept at a safe temperature.
Smaller plates, or a sign telling guests they can come back for more, each cut hotel restaurant food waste by about 20% in a 2013 study.
What are Gulf hotels and governments doing?
Gulf governments now ask hotels and event halls to plan portions and give surplus away.
Qatar: Hifz Al Naema collects surplus from restaurants and banquet halls, and a national food loss and waste study was due to run to September 2026, with no published results as of October 2026.
UAE: in January 2025, Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism signed an agreement with ne'ma, the National Food Loss and Waste Initiative, for hotels to adopt portion control, menu changes and surplus redistribution. The UAE aims to halve food loss and waste by 2030 (Abu Dhabi Media Office, 2025).
Saudi Arabia: 2025 rules for event and exhibition halls require a contract with a food-saving charity (جمعيات حفظ النعمة) to repack surplus food for people in need, or recycle it (MoMAH, 2025, p. 21).
Ramadan: hotel pilots in Doha and the Gulf cut iftar buffet waste with smaller servings and live stations; see Ramadan food waste in Qatar.
How Wady helps hotels and caterers with food waste
Wady keeps the records these steps need: orders, counts and waste, in one place. Over 100 businesses in Qatar already use Wady.
For us this is more than software. Our mission is to cut food waste in the Gulf by digitizing the order between a kitchen and the suppliers it already buys from. Our vision is a Gulf food supply chain where every order is visible, so suppliers and kitchens see demand before it arrives, order what will be used, and throw less away. Food grown for what people will eat, not for a guess. Every tray that goes back to the bin started as a crop on a farm, and one tomato's story shows how food gets lost one small step at a time.
What it does
Purchase System (free): all your suppliers in one app, and every order saved with its items, quantities and prices. See the Purchase System.
Waste (Wady Central): a shift's waste in one entry, with your reasons, and waste cost by period, reason and item.
Counts (Wady Central): count on paper or on screen, in sacks and grams.
Production (Wady Central): plan from real orders, minus what is in stock. See Wady Central.
What it does not do
Wady does not forecast guest numbers or demand; every figure is arithmetic on real records. It does not weigh trays or arrange donations, and Wady Central has no POS API connection yet, so it works alongside your POS.
Who it is for
Hotels, restaurants, cafes and catering kitchens in Qatar. Wady Central is for any kitchen, from one cafe to a group with a central kitchen. Wady works in Qatar only for now.
Related articles
How much food does Qatar waste? The sourced numbers and where waste starts
How to measure food waste in a restaurant kitchen: a step-by-step waste audit
Ramadan food waste in Qatar: why so much is left over, and how to plan better
What is a central kitchen? A guide for restaurant groups in Qatar
See where your kitchen loses food
Message us on WhatsApp at +974 7000 7658 for a Wady Central walkthrough, or read more on Wady Central. The free Purchase System is at order.wady.ai, on the App Store and on Google Play. Qatar only for now.
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