Good to Go pilot report
A project to pilot promoted doggy bags for leftover food to customers.
The ‘Good to Go’ pilot scheme ran in 16 restaurants in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Irvine and East Kilbride in 2014 with over 1400 containers given out during the 8 week trial.
The restaurants offered and actively promoted doggy bags, on posters and table top adverts and through restaurant staff talking to diners.
Results
- Food waste from diners’ plates fell by an average of 42% per participating restaurant.
- Around half this reduction was due to diners taking food home, with further reductions achieved from other measures such as adjusting portion sizes, changed menu options, and checking if diners actually wanted sides such as chips or vegetables.
- 92% of diners surveyed who took food home ate it.
- Staff from all of the participating restaurants reported excellent feedback from customers about the pilot.
- If restaurants across Scotland routinely offered doggy bags to customers it could save the equivalent of alost 800,000 full meals going in the bin.