Kowloon Shangri-La and CHOMP combat food waste with Buffet-Box concept

Kowloon Shangri-La and Hong Kong food-saving app CHOMP have collaborated to unveil a Buffet-Box – a solution designed to encourage the consumption of all food created at buffet-style restaurants.  

This comes following CHOMP and Kownloon Shangri-La's partnership since 2021 when Baked By Shangri-La first joined the CHOMP app. The partnership has now expanded to include Café Kool, aiming to provide new and innovative ways for buffet food to be enjoyed whilst minimising food waste generated from buffet-style restaurants. 

The initiative targets those living and working in the Tsim Sha Tsui neighbourhood, as well as anyone interested in being more sustainable about food consumption. 

The sustainable initiative sets out to demonstrate that there are innovative and consumer-friendly ways to ensure no crumb is left behind, whilst encouraging the public and businesses to take a stronger approach towards minimising food waste. 

The Buffet-Box can be enjoyed from 2 September 2024 via the CHOMP app. The Buffet-Box will be available seven days a week at both lunchtime (12:30pm-2:30pm) and dinner time (6:30pm-9:30pm), and can be purchased via the app half an hour before Café Kool opens for collection (12pm and 6pm). 

Strengthening the commitment to reduce the amount of waste in landfills, the Buffet-Box is served in a biodegradable container supplied by Sustainabl. – a Hong Kong-founded low-impact packaging brand.  

The initiative also comes as food waste is a significant issue in Hong Kong, with the city generating over one million tonnes of food waste every year. A 2011 study in the International Journal of Hospitality Management estimated food waste at buffets to be as high as 40% of total food prepared, whilst a 2014 study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that on average, buffet customers wasted 17% of the food they took. 

The initiative is amplified through press releases and influencer partnerships, social media marketing on owned channels, as well as a dedicated EDM to CHOMP's newsletter subscribers. 

It is also promoted via in-app notifications for those who have downloaded the CHOMP app. 

Carla Martinesi, founder and CEO of CHOMP, said: “We are extremely grateful to have the support of Kowloon Shangri-La in launching the Buffet-Box with us. Having worked in a number of restaurants myself over the years, I’m fully aware of the scale of waste that can be generated from buffets. To bring the Buffet-Box concept to life has been a goal of mine for many years – I hope that other buffet restaurants in Hong Kong will be inspired to join our movement and take action to reduce food waste.” 

Since its launch in 2021, CHOMP has helped rescue over 50,000 kg of food from landfills and has saved 100,000kg of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere, according to the release. CHOMP currently has over 250 vendors committed to reducing their food waste in a sustainable manner by making their unsold items available to the apps 50,000 users. 

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