London, UK – 4 December 2025: Leading hospitality groups including Hilton, Accor, Marriott, Mandarin Oriental and IKEA are now collectively saving more than $100 million a year by cutting food waste across their kitchens - enabled by AI-powered food waste tracking from Winnow.
The milestone reflects growing momentum in the sector to address one of hospitality’s most persistent challenges. Globally, food waste represents an estimated $1 trillion in economic loss each year, with $147 billion attributed to surplus food in the U.S. foodservice sector alone (source: UNEP, ReFED). Winnow’s mission is to help the hospitality industry recover $1 billion of that loss by giving chefs the tools to take action.
Founded in the UK in 2013, Winnow equips kitchens with connected hardware and AI that tracks what food is discarded, when, and why. This data helps teams adjust production, improve processes, and run more efficient operations. The company’s technology is now used in thousands of kitchens across nearly 100 countries. Its latest innovation, Throw & Go, allows teams to capture food waste completely touch-free - making measurement faster and easier, particularly in high-volume kitchens.
But it’s chefs - not technology - who are leading the change.
“This milestone is a tribute to the chefs who are making food waste reduction part of their daily craft,” said Marc Zornes, CEO and co-founder of Winnow. “They are the ones designing menus, rethinking processes, and leading their teams to cook more consciously. Our role is to give them the data to make that easier.”
Since 2024, Winnow has partnered with zero-waste expert Chef Vojtech Vegh to help raise awareness among chefs and inspire them to find creative ways to repurpose surplus ingredients. His work complements the broader shift in kitchen culture, where food waste prevention is increasingly seen as a creative, not just operational, opportunity.
Global operators that are embracing this shift and setting new standards for the industry include:
- Hilton, whose Green Ramadan 2025 initiative reduced plate waste by 26% across 45 hotels in 14 countries, with support from Winnow’s AI and resources developed in partnership with UNEP West Asia.
- Accor, who has over 200 hotels using Winnow around the world which are collectively saving 1 meal every 6 seconds.
- Guckenheimer, a leading U.S. foodservice provider, who announced in 2025 a 64% reduction in food waste across their sites since 2022, saving the equivalent of nearly one million meals annually.
- Mandarin Oriental, who reduced food waste by 36% in 4 pilot hotels in the first 6 months of installing Winnow, and are now rolling the technology out to their 40+ hotels.
Emma Banks, Hilton’s Vice President of Food & Drink Strategy and Development for EMEA, said of the milestone:
“Reducing food waste is both a moral imperative and a strategic opportunity for our industry. Through our partnership with Winnow, we’re empowering our chefs with the insights they need to reduce waste and lead change in kitchens around the world. These chefs are preventing 4.7M meals from being wasted each year.”
Coline Pont, Chief Sustainability Officer at Accor, said of the milestone:
“At Accor, reducing food waste is a key lever in our journey towards more sustainable hospitality. Through our collaboration with Winnow, we empower our chefs with data-driven insights to make conscious decisions every day. Already, more than 200 of our hotels are equipped with Winnow technology, helping us prevent thousands of meals from being wasted and reinforcing our commitment to responsible operations across the globe.”
In total, kitchens using Winnow are preventing the waste of 28,000 tonnes of food per year - equal to two meals saved every second. This equates to more than 122,000 tonnes of CO₂e emissions avoided - or 28,000 cars taken off the road for a year (source: epa.gov).
As food prices rise and regulations evolve, food waste is no longer viewed as inevitable. The EU has proposed binding targets to cut food waste by 2030, aligned with the global goal to halve per-capita waste. In Spain, new legislation passed in April 2025 requires hospitality businesses to implement food waste prevention plans, with enforcement beginning in 2026. Measurement is fast becoming a baseline for compliance as well as a proven route to cost savings. Fortunately, Winnow’s data shows that whilst most commercial kitchens waste 5–15% of food purchased, reductions as a result of measurement are typically over 50%.
The journey to $100 million saved annually is a step toward Winnow’s longer-term goal: helping the hospitality industry prevent $1 billion in food waste every year. The progress shows what’s possible when chefs are empowered to lead the change - and why food waste is one of the clearest opportunities for the industry to act on sustainability today.
-ENDS-
100 Recipes for $100M
To mark this milestone Winnow is launching a competition - 100 Recipes for $100M - to spotlight the chefs behind the change. Kitchens from around the world are invited to submit their best zero-waste recipes, celebrating creativity and innovation in reducing food waste. Winners will be selected by Chef Vojtech Vegh and announced on Stop Food Waste Day (April 29, 2026). Further details can be found here.
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