Choosing to upcycle foods, repurposing food scraps and byproducts, is more than a strategic approach to waste management and sustainability. Upcycling food can also enhance menu offerings and strengthen a business’s ties to sustainable practices.

Why upcycle? For today’s foodservice operators, it’s not just about sales, but also how much they keep at the end of the day. Consider this: food costs making up a quarter of overall operator expenses.¹ It’s no wonder that operators considered “managing food costs” and “managing waste” as two of the biggest challenges for their business.¹

The good news? Even small changes can make a big impact, like managing ingredients wisely by upcycling food. This allows operators to continue serving the quality meals people love while boosting profitability and setting businesses up for long-term success.

Understanding Upcycling

One of operators’ top methods for cutting costs: maximizing ingredients.¹ And one of the smartest ways to achieve this is by upcycling food.

At its core, to upcycle is to follow the creed, “use every part.” Ingredients, scraps, and byproducts that would otherwise be thrown away are instead repurposed into different foods, beverages, garnishes, and more.

Here are three upcycling insights for 2025:

Upcycle Salad

The fastest growing segment among the 500 largest restaurant chains was Limited-Service Restaurants (LSR) Salad/Healthful.² This opens lots of possibilities for foodservice operators looking to serve this audience while maximizing efficiency. Salads can be made more interesting with simple upcycle of existing ingredients, as with these examples:

• Leftover roasted veggies can be mixed with grains and protein for a hearty, feel-good salad.Think broccoli or carrots, paired with quinoa or rice, and topped with grilled chicken or chickpeas.
• Surplus stir-fry noodles can be tossed with shredded veggies like cabbage and bell peppers. This wholesome noodle salad can be topped with a vibrant dressing made from soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.

Upcycle Coffee

Offering iced coffee and cold brew is a strategic move to maximize ingredients — particularly when coffee is already on the menu.

Leftover hot coffee can be repurposed for iced coffee, reducing waste. This popular product is still on the rise, with iced coffee experiencing four-year historic growth of 18% on menus.³

Cold Brew is another popular format with even more dramatic growth: 78% in the past four years.³ It’s made differently than iced coffee — coffee beans are steeped overnight in cool water — but can be served over several days. More to the point, leftover cold brew can upcycle into cocktails and mocktails, the latter of which shouldn’t be underestimated: non-alcoholic cocktails have grown 38% on menus in the last 10 years.⁴

Upcycle Ideas

Quick Tips

• Get scrappy:Vegetable scraps can be turned into flavorful stocks.
• Get colorful: Fruit peels can be dried and used as colorful garnishes or infused into syrups and liqueurs.
• Get creative: Stale bread can be dried and crumbled into breadcrumbs for coating dishes or adding texture to recipes.

Industry Examples

• Ren Beque:This NYC-based French restaurant uses leftover wine to create vinegar.
• Chez Panisse:Run by Chef Alice Waters, this restaurant creatively turns surplus and scraps into soups, sauces, and other dishes.
• Atomo Coffee:This company produces a bean-less coffee alternative by upcycling food like date pits, chicory root, and grape skin.

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Content courtesy of Nestle Professional

Sources:

¹Datassential PULSE Industry Overview: Segment Detail (2024)

²Datassential 2023 Top 500 Report, as cited in Datassential Big Picture Factors (2024)

³Datassential Coffee (February 2024);

⁴Datassential Non-Alcoholic Cocktails (December 2024)