Fight against food waste takes carrot-and-stick approach

Food worth almost 200 billion yuan ($32.6 billion) is discarded from Chinese dining tables every year, according to an official government survey released in 2014.

Managers at some higher-end restaurants say food wastage is less frequent. Feast, in the East Beijing Hotel, provides guests with a semi-buffet style lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. "Based on our observation, there are still roughly three to five guests who waste food on a monthly basis," Ji Angelina, a senior operations manager says.

People at buffets try to eat as much food as they can to get the most value for the money paid, Ji says. Often, "their eyes are bigger than their stomachs" and they order more food than they can finish, she adds.

Many restaurants are finding ways to control the flow of "all you can eat" food, to limit waste, save restaurant costs and protect customers from unhealthy overeating. At the "infinity brunch" at Beijing's Agua restaurant, for example, instead of helping themselves from an open buffet, diners are invited to choose three courses from the brunch menu, then order more if they are still hungry.

In Xi'an, Shaanxi province, the Golden Hans buffet franchise has similarly tried to deliver food to tables gradually.

"The loss of wasted food could reach at least 50,000 yuan ($8,100) per year in my restaurant," says Fan Li, a senior manager of Gold Hans. "So we try to eliminate waste any way we can."

Some hotel chefs put less food out on each buffet platter to discourage patrons from taking big helpings all at once, but they restock the platters continuously.

"A host shows hospitality by honoring his guests with lots of food choices, tastes, colors that are served on special occasions, says Elie Houbeich, food-and-beverage director at the Westin Beijing Financial Center, which recently promoted an expanded "Retrolicious" brunch on Sundays. "Less food does not give a good impression."

His colleague Virginia Yu agrees: "'Lots of food looks nice' really was the culture in China for older people since they had suffered hunger." Today, young and better-educated people have this sense that excess can be wasteful, she adds.