Reducing Food Waste in Production: A Field Experiment in Ghana

Food insecurity remains a critical issue in developing countries. Yet, 30-40% of food is lost across production and service, much of it in restaurants and hotels. We test low-cost interventions to reduce restaurant food waste. In a six-week randomized controlled field experiment conducted across 71 Ghanaian restaurants, we evaluated two interventions: public-interest and private-interest. Kitchen workers in the treatment restaurants received either intervention via posters in kitchen areas and periodic text messages on their mobile phones. Both interventions significantly reduced kitchen food waste, with the private-interest (public-interest) intervention achieving 17.2% (10.5%) reductions. The stronger effect of the private-interest intervention is in contrast to Ghana's collectivistic, consensus-oriented norms while consistent with the high power distance culture and insecure economic conditions in the country. Heterogeneity analyses provide insights into how the effects of the interventions vary by demographics (age, gender, income and tenure), perceived power distance, managerial satisfaction, and operational factors (demand and workforce size). The food waste reductions realized during the three-week intervention period represent food savings enough to feed nearly 5,000 people and 3.4 tons CO2e avoided. Overall, our results suggest that simple, messaging-based behavioral interventions offer a scalable way to reduce waste in food preparation processes.