Mar 30 2026
Managing waste in a professional kitchen is essential for any café or restaurant looking to be successful. Good quality cheese is a high value product and uses natural ingredients so it is important that waste is minimised and that the product is used efficiently in order for your kitchen to be cost-effective and sustainable.
There are various practices a professional kitchen can adopt and incorporate in order to reduce waste, and in some cases these can have the effect of improving flavour and the characteristics of a dish, as well as maximising the value you are achieving from your ingredients. These practices could include:
You shouldn’t discard a lump of cheese just because it has become too hard to grate and you are about to start grating your fingers. These expensive off-cuts will still melt in a sauce, a gratin or a soup. And even if the remaining part has a hard rind on it, you can usually drop this in a sauce and allow it to soak up the extra flavour, just remember to fish it out again later, or chop the rind off before you put it in. On the subject of rinds, many soft cheeses such as Brie de Meaux have very soft and accommodating rinds, which will melt in a sauce and contain wonderful potent flavours, so don’t discard them. This is not always the case, of course, and some cheeses such as Tomme de Savoie, have hard, bloomy rinds which aren’t pleasant to eat, but in many cases the rind is perfectly edible, so don’t waste it.
The remaining parts of harder cheeses can always be grated into fillings or toppings, and even if a dish doesn’t call for grated cheese, save these bits for salad toppings or a garnish for a soup or pasta dish. So there is no excuse for not using every part of the cheese in your cooking.
A kitchen with appropriate standards will discard cheese that has gone hard or is discoloured, and rightly so, but this can be avoided with professional storage practices. Planning your deliveries and rotating stocks helps to maintain cheese in its freshest form, which of course will make a dish taste nicer, but also means the cheese will stay fresh for longer and give you more chance of maximising its value. So this requires an element of menu management also, but essentially you need to adopt good storage disciplines, such as wrapping the cheese correctly and storing it away from strong-smelling products. You should label and date your cheese too, so you know how to use and manage your stocks.
Did you know you can freeze grated cheese? Hard and semi-hard cheeses can be grated into small, airtight bags or containers and it can freeze very well, for later use as toppings or for melting into sauces or onto gratins or pasta bakes.
Reducing waste cheese is not just about how you use it and store it, you can also reduce waste by engineering your menu accordingly, and by how you serve it up. Being flexible with your menu and diligent with your storage methods means you can prioritise the use of a cheese that is nearing its use-by date, by introducing a daily special dish. This keeps the menu fresh and interesting for diners, and makes the best use of all your fresh ingredients, as obviously this can apply to other ingredients also.
You can also be mindful of portion sizes and how cheese is served and measured, to ensure you are not using excess cheese in some dishes. This helps with dish consistency and is the kind of discipline that improves quality and therefore enhances the reputation of your café or restaurant. You can also suggest substitute cheeses for some dishes, if it means using a cheese that is reaching its use-by date. Some hard or semi-hard cheeses can be used as alternatives to each other in some dishes, where the difference in flavour and texture is subtle and doesn’t have a discernible effect on the dish.
Adopting these practices in a professional kitchen can reduce food wastage and maximise value, while in some cases this can also enhance dishes and turns possible waste into profitable ideas for your menu.
VIEW ALL OUR NEWS