Hilton, Accor, Marriott, and Other Major Hospitality Brands Save Over $100 Million Each Year by Cutting Food Waste with Winnow’s AI Technology, Setting the Stage to Recover $1 Billion Globally

Hilton, Accor, Marriott, and several other prominent hospitality brands have collectively saved over $100 million annually by reducing food waste, thanks to Winnow’s advanced AI-driven tracking solutions. This innovative technology not only allows these industry giants to cut operational costs but also plays a pivotal role in addressing the global issue of food waste, which results in approximately $1 trillion in economic losses each year. By streamlining kitchen operations and making waste reduction an integral part of their sustainability strategy, these brands are setting the stage for the recovery of $1 billion in global food waste losses, demonstrating their commitment to both financial and environmental responsibility.

Major hospitality brands such as Hilton, Accor, Marriott, Mandarin Oriental, and IKEA are now collectively saving over $100 million annually by reducing food waste in their kitchens, thanks to AI-driven tracking solutions from Winnow.

This achievement highlights the growing industry momentum to tackle food waste, one of the hospitality sector’s most persistent challenges. Food waste globally is responsible for an estimated $1 trillion in economic losses each year, with $147 billion of that coming from surplus food in the U.S. foodservice industry alone (source: UNEP, ReFED). Winnow aims to help the sector recover $1 billion of these losses by empowering chefs with the right tools to make a difference.

Winnow, founded in the UK in 2013, provides kitchens with AI-powered systems that monitor discarded food—tracking what’s thrown away, when, and why. This data allows kitchen teams to refine production processes, enhance operational efficiency, and reduce waste. Now used in thousands of kitchens across nearly 100 countries, Winnow’s technology is making a global impact. Their latest product, Throw & Go, enables touch-free waste tracking, streamlining the process and making it especially convenient for high-volume kitchens.

However, it’s the chefs who are driving this change—not just the technology.

“This milestone is a tribute to the chefs who are making food waste reduction part of their daily craft,” said Marc Zornes, CEO and co-founder of Winnow. “They are the ones designing menus, rethinking processes, and leading their teams to cook more consciously. Our role is to give them the data to make that easier.”

Since 2024, Winnow has joined forces with zero-waste advocate Chef Vojtech Vegh to promote food waste awareness among chefs and encourage innovative ways to repurpose surplus ingredients. His efforts align with a broader shift in the culinary world, where food waste prevention is increasingly viewed as a creative opportunity rather than just an operational challenge.

Several global operators are leading this shift and setting new benchmarks for the industry:

• Hilton has reduced plate waste by 26% across 45 hotels in 14 countries through its Green Ramadan 2025 initiative, leveraging Winnow’s AI and resources developed with UNEP West Asia’s support.
• Accor, with more than 200 hotels globally using Winnow, is saving one meal every six seconds, contributing significantly to their sustainability goals.
• Guckenheimer, a prominent U.S. foodservice provider, announced in 2025 a remarkable 64% reduction in food waste since 2022, equivalent to nearly one million meals saved annually.
• Mandarin Oriental has achieved a 36% reduction in food waste in four pilot hotels within the first six months of using Winnow, and plans to expand the technology to over 40 hotels.

Emma Banks, Hilton’s Vice President of Food & Drink Strategy and Development for EMEA, said of the milestone: “Reducing food waste is both a moral imperative and a strategic opportunity for our industry. Through our partnership with Winnow, we’re empowering our chefs with the insights they need to reduce waste and lead change in kitchens around the world. These chefs are preventing 4.7M meals from being wasted each year.”

Coline Pont, Chief Sustainability Officer at Accor, said of the milestone: “At Accor, reducing food waste is a key lever in our journey towards more sustainable hospitality. Through our collaboration with Winnow, we empower our chefs with data-driven insights to make conscious decisions every day. Already, more than 200 of our hotels are equipped with Winnow technology, helping us prevent thousands of meals from being wasted and reinforcing our commitment to responsible operations across the globe.”

In total, kitchens using Winnow are preventing the waste of 28,000 tonnes of food per year – equal to two meals saved every second. This equates to more than 122,000 tonnes of CO₂e emissions avoided – or 28,000 cars taken off the road for a year.

As food prices rise and regulations evolve, food waste is no longer viewed as inevitable. The EU has proposed binding targets to cut food waste by 2030, aligned with the global goal to halve per-capita waste. In Spain, new legislation passed in April 2025 requires hospitality businesses to implement food waste prevention plans, with enforcement beginning in 2026. Measurement is fast becoming a baseline for compliance as well as a proven route to cost savings. Fortunately, Winnow’s data shows that whilst most commercial kitchens waste 5–15% of food purchased, reductions as a result of measurement are typically over 50%.

Hilton, Accor, Marriott, and other major hospitality brands are saving over $100 million annually by cutting food waste with Winnow’s AI technology. This innovative solution helps optimize kitchen operations, significantly reducing waste. As a result, these brands are playing a key role in tackling the global food waste crisis, with the potential to recover $1 billion globally.

The journey to $100 million saved annually is a step toward Winnow’s longer-term goal: helping the hospitality industry prevent $1 billion in food waste every year. The progress shows what’s possible when chefs are empowered to lead the change – and why food waste is one of the clearest opportunities for the industry to act on sustainability today.

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