Some upmarket restaurants are ditching à la carte menus in favour of set menus to cut food waste.
À la carte menus create a lot of waste as diners have many dishes to choose from so kitchens have to stock for, and prepare, several portions of each dish in advance. These can end up being wasted if the dish is less popular than expected.
To reduce this waste and to improve their profit margins, some Michelin-starred restaurants, such as The Checkers in Montgomery, Powys; The Araki, London and The Man Behind the Curtain, Leeds, are offering a smaller selection of dishes and providing set menus or taster menus. This should help them to predict what will be ordered and eaten, reducing waste and its associated cost.
