INDUSTRY WATCH
CHEFS CAN BENEFIT FROM
FULL REPORTING IN THEIR
KITCHENS, HELPING CUT
FOOD WASTE AND SAVE
MONEY WITH MINIMAL TO
NO EFFORT.
W
innow, a London-based tech
company, in collaboration
with the Ministry of Climate
Change and Environment (MOCCAE) and
in partnership with Emaar Hospitality
Group, has officially launched its new
AI-enabled product, Winnow Vision, to
revolutionise food waste management
in the UAE for the benefit of both
businesses and consumers.
The launch follows a proof of concept
phase that was launched in March 2019.
Since then, the start-up has tested its
product across 12 Emaar properties. One
of them, the Armani Hotel Dubai, is said
to have saved a total of Dhs148,000
in 2018, while the entire group was
reported to have saved Dhs1.3 million
for the same time period, owing to the
new technology.
Using a camera, a set of smart scales
and the same type of Machine Learning
technology found in autonomous
vehicles, Winnow Vision ‘learns’ to
recognise different foods being thrown in
the bin and calculates the financial and
environmental cost of this discarded food
to commercial kitchens.
Businesses and chefs can then adjust
their food purchasing decisions
accordingly, reducing their spending and
tackling a fundamental problem of food
waste: over-production.
During the training and automation
phases, the Winnow Vision system takes
human input, providing a shortlist of
possible menu items for kitchen staff
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to select and to quickly improve its
predictions based on feedback. Over time,
the system continues to improve and
will automatically recognise food with
no human interaction. Chefs can benefit
from full reporting in their kitchens,
helping cut food waste and save money
with minimal to no effort.
Marc Zornes, CEO of Winnow, said: “With
kitchens around the world struggling,
food waste is not just an issue in the
UAE. Without visibility into what is being
wasted, we know that up to 20% of all
food purchased ends up in the bin.
“By understanding and reporting food
waste’s very real costs – both to the
bottom line and the environment –
Winnow Vision empowers chefs to take
action. Using technology that learns and
improves with each use, Winnow Vision
has the ability to tackle food waste on a
global scale.”
In the UAE, food waste costs the local
economy Dhs13 billion annually.
Numbers are even more alarming
globally. Every year 1.3 billion tons of
food produced never reach the table,
costing the global economy nearly
Dhs3.6 trillion.
Having emerged as a leading tourist
destination with thousands of hotel and
commercial kitchens that are spread
across the country, operators and
governments have become increasingly
conscious of the challenges relating to
food waste in the country and have taken
a pro-active approach in tackling those.
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