A restaurant in Toronto is avoiding food waste by chopping menu prices on Sunday night until all the food it wants to sell is gone, much to the delight of its diners, reports Jonathan Bloom in FERN’s latest story, produced in partnership with NPR’s The Salt.
The unusual gambit by Farmhouse Tavern means patrons can get new deals on the menu the longer they hang out and eat and drink. “The goal is to sell out of perishable food and open bottles of wine so that Farmhouse can shut up shop with an empty refrigerator for the three consecutive days it is closed. Oh, and this weekly event is called “F*ck Mondays,” Bloom writes.
“Farmhouse relies on chalkboard menus, the better to cross off dishes as the night wears on. Yet on Sunday, there’s far more 86-ing on the central board,” the story says. “There are definitely noticeable sighs, and guests vocalize their heartbreak when they miss out,” says owner Darcy MacDonell.
Although the restaurant is trying to optimize its own food supplies, food waste is a big problem in the industry. A recent study found that restaurants, hotels, and institutions are responsible for 13 percent of avoidable Canadian food waste. The U.S. restaurant sector generates 18 percent of total U.S. food waste, at a cost of roughly $25 billion, Bloom writes.
You can read the full story at FERN or at NPR’s The Salt.