Leading hospitality groups including Hilton, Accor, Marriott, Mandarin Oriental and IKEA are now collectively saving more than $100 million each year by cutting food waste across their kitchens. The savings have been enabled by AI-powered food waste tracking technology from Winnow, marking a major milestone in the hospitality sector’s sustainability efforts.

The achievement highlights growing momentum around one of the industry’s most persistent challenges. Globally, food waste accounts for an estimated $1 trillion in economic losses every year, with $147 billion linked to surplus food in the U.S. foodservice sector alone, according to the United Nations Environment Programme and ReFED. Winnow’s stated mission is to help the hospitality industry recover $1 billion of that lost value by giving chefs and operators actionable data.

Founded in the UK in 2013, Winnow equips professional kitchens with connected hardware and artificial intelligence that tracks what food is thrown away, when it is discarded, and why. The resulting insights allow culinary teams to adjust production levels, refine menus, and improve operational efficiency without compromising quality.

The company’s technology is now deployed in thousands of kitchens across nearly 100 countries. Its latest solution, Throw & Go, enables fully touch-free food waste tracking, a feature designed to speed up measurement and simplify adoption in high-volume kitchens where time and hygiene are critical concerns.

While technology provides the data, Winnow stresses that chefs are driving the change. Marc Zornes, CEO and co-founder of the company, said the milestone reflects a shift in kitchen culture rather than a purely technical breakthrough. He noted that chefs are increasingly redesigning menus, rethinking processes, and leading teams to treat food waste reduction as part of their daily craft, with technology acting as an enabler rather than a replacement.

Since 2024, Winnow has partnered with zero-waste specialist Vojtech Vegh to raise awareness among chefs and promote creative approaches to repurposing surplus ingredients. The collaboration reflects a broader cultural shift in professional kitchens, where waste prevention is increasingly viewed as an opportunity for innovation rather than an operational burden.

Several global operators are already reporting measurable results. Hilton’s Green Ramadan 2025 initiative reduced plate waste by 26 percent across 45 hotels in 14 countries, supported by Winnow’s AI tools and resources developed in collaboration with UNEP West Asia. Accor now uses Winnow in more than 200 hotels worldwide, collectively saving the equivalent of one meal every six seconds. U.S. foodservice provider Guckenheimer has reported a 64 percent reduction in food waste since 2022, preventing nearly one million meals from being wasted each year.

Mandarin Oriental has reduced food waste by 36 percent across four pilot hotels within six months and is now rolling out the technology across its portfolio of more than 40 properties. Emma Banks, Hilton’s Vice President of Food & Drink Strategy and Development for EMEA, described food waste reduction as both a moral imperative and a strategic opportunity, noting that Hilton chefs are preventing 4.7 million meals from being wasted annually.

The impact extends beyond cost savings. Kitchens using Winnow are preventing around 28,000 tonnes of food waste each year, equivalent to two meals saved every second. This reduction corresponds to more than 122,000 tonnes of CO₂e emissions avoided, comparable to removing approximately 28,000 cars from the road for a year, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Rising food prices and tighter regulation are further accelerating adoption. The European Union has proposed binding targets to cut food waste by 2030, while Spain passed legislation in April 2025 requiring hospitality businesses to implement food waste prevention plans, with enforcement beginning in 2026. As a result, measurement is increasingly becoming essential not only for compliance but also as a proven cost-control strategy. Winnow’s data shows that while commercial kitchens typically waste between 5 and 15 percent of purchased food, reductions after systematic measurement often exceed 50 percent.

Reaching $100 million in annual savings represents a significant step toward Winnow’s longer-term goal of helping the hospitality industry prevent $1 billion in food waste each year. The progress underscores how data-driven decision-making, combined with chef-led cultural change, is turning food waste into one of the most tangible and actionable sustainability opportunities in global hospitality.