How much food is your kitchen likely throwing away?Seven questions about how your kitchen preps, orders and closes, plus what you spend on food in a month. Two minutes, no sign-up. Your answers stay on this page — nothing you type is sent or stored.The questionsWhen something gets tossed, does anyone write it down?

Every time

Sometimes, when it's a lot

No — it just goes in the bin

How do you decide prep amounts?

Sales data from last week

The lead's gut feel

Same amounts every day

How often does prepped food expire before it's used?

Rarely

Once or twice a week

Most days

What comes back on plates?

Nearly clean plates

Some sides left over

A lot — portions are generous

How do you size supplier orders?

Counted inventory + par levels

A quick walk-in glance

Repeat last order

What happens to unsold food at close?

Repurposed or donated

Staff meal, rest tossed

Tossed

Who ever sees a waste number?

The whole kitchen, weekly

Just the owner, occasionally

Nobody — there is no number

What the score meansEach answer scores 0, 1 or 2, worst last, for a total out of 14. The total places you at the low, middle or high end of the range below; the estimate is that percentage of what you told us you spend on food each month.0–4 points: Lower end of the range, about 4% of food purchasesThose are disciplined habits, and the estimate reflects it. Worth saying plainly: this is seven questions, not a measurement. The only way to know what your kitchen throws away is to write it down as it happens.5–9 points: Middle of the range, about 7% of food purchasesFood is going in the bin without a number attached to it. When nobody writes a toss down, the guess is usually the kind one — what gets remembered is the big spills, not the handful of trim and the half-pan nobody sold.10–14 points: Upper end of the range, about 10% of food purchasesUntracked tossing, prep by gut feel and repeat ordering stack on each other — each one hides the next, so nothing in the week contradicts the order you placed. That is also the shape where measuring tends to pay for itself fast: the first week of real numbers usually shows you which item to prep less of.Where the range comes fromStudies of restaurant kitchens put pre-consumer waste — food you bought that never reaches a plate — at 4–10% of food purchased: FoodPrint, "How Restaurants are Tackling Food Waste", https://foodprint.org/blog/restaurants-food-waste/ — 4–10% of food purchased by restaurants never reaches the customer. Seven questions cannot measure a kitchen, so this is an estimate against that range, not a measurement of yours.