What is food waste?

Food waste is food fit for human consumption that is discarded or thrown away without being eaten, at any stage of the food chain: production, processing, distribution, food service and households. In catering, food waste means the leftovers from a buffet or a drinks reception that nobody takes home.

What the law says

Spain’s Law 1/2025 of 1 April on the prevention of food loss and food waste sets out, in article 5, a hierarchy of priorities: first, prevention; then donation or redistribution for human consumption; then animal feed and other industrial uses; and only as a last resort, recycling or recovery as waste. Article 6 requires businesses in the food chain to have a prevention plan and donation agreements, with exemptions such as micro-enterprises. For hospitality and food service, article 8 requires businesses to let customers take away what they have not eaten at no extra charge, except at all-you-can-eat buffets and similar formats. It is worth checking the current text in the BOE (Spain’s official gazette) to see how it applies to each case.

Why it happens at events

• Miscalculated quantities: ordering extra “just in case”, or confirming numbers late.
• Unpredictable attendance: no-shows and people who leave early.
• Lavish presentation: a buffet kept full right to the end, with no way of using the food again.

How to reduce it

• Match quantities to the actual number of attendees, using the benchmarks in our price guide.
• Confirm numbers as early as possible.
• Choose formats that let you top up as food is eaten, such as a live food station or individual portions.
• Agree with the caterer what happens to anything not served, while respecting the cold chain and food traceability.

How we can help

If you want catering sized to your actual numbers, tell us the date, number of people and format and have a look at our corporate catering in Madrid.

Related service: Corporate catering

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