WASHINGTON (Oct. 23, 2024) – The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today announced a revamped Hotel Kitchen platform that will help hoteliers around the country prevent food waste, protect the environment by diverting food from landfills, and reduce operating costs.

The revamped Hotel Kitchen platform will make it easier to reach the goal of cutting U.S. food waste in half by 2030. Improvements include:

• Guidelines and best practices for hotel employees at all levels, including corporate leadership and owners, hotel operators, and staff who run meetings and events and food & beverage operations.
• Faster access to Hotel Kitchen’s most popular resources, including the 16-Week Champion’s Guide Checklist for Fighting Food Waste, the Fighting Food Waste in Hotels Video Training Series, and the Food Waste Audit Guide.
• An updated Lobster Ink online training workspace for hospitality and tourism employees to track their progress as they implement Hotel Kitchen’s food waste reduction programs.
   

WWF and AHLA launched Hotel Kitchen in March 2017. Since then, more than 36,000 hotel staff have completed the video training series provided through the initiative. By implementing Hotel Kitchen strategies, pilot-program properties found food waste reduction between 17-38%. Improvements to the program will make it easier than ever before for hoteliers to learn how to achieve these efficiencies and start implementing these important changes.

Hotel Kitchen is one of several ways AHLA is building upon the hotel industry’s growing sustainability legacy as part of its Responsible Stay initiative, which is focused on hotel energy efficiency, waste reduction, water conservation, and responsible sourcing. Through Responsible Stay, AHLA is jointly operating the industry leading Green Key Global hotel sustainability certification program along with the Hotel Association of Canada. AHLA has also partnered with IncentiFind to help hotels identify sustainability-related cost savings.

“Reducing food waste provides a number of important benefits: It’s good for the environment, reduces hoteliers’ operating costs, and conserves resources at a time when too many Americans are food insecure,” said AHLA Vice President for Committees and Member Engagement Lauren Pravlik. “The Hotel Kitchen platform is dedicated to helping hoteliers achieve all of these important goals, and we are pleased to continue sharing this important resource with the industry through our partnership with WWF.”

“With food at the forefront of every hospitality experience, reducing food waste in hotels helps move the entire sector in the right direction,” said WWF’s Vice President Food, Food Loss and Waste, Pete Pearson. “For years, Hotel Kitchen has demonstrated what can be achieved when the right tools are used by hotels and event staff. The latest updates make the program even more accessible, as we strive to bring the broader meetings and event community and clients along on this journey.”