There’s no denying that food waste is a prevalent issue in the hospitality industry. About 1.3 billion tons of food ends up in landfills around the world with food service in hotels accounting for nearly 10 percent of all commercial food waste.
To tackle this ongoing problem, Desa Potato Head has come with “upcycled menus”, an initiative across six restaurants and bars at the Desa with the aim of achieving 25 percent of menus made with byproducts of the Desa by the end of 2025, while also working with local regenerative farmers to source 100 percent organic ingredients, nurture the local farming community and influence positive change in Bali’s supply chain.
Guided by four key pillars: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recreate, and Regenerate. Potato Head embraces a nose-to-tail, root-to-fruit approach at their ecosystem of restaurants.
The upcycled menus comes with the aim of creating a circular ecosystem using various techniques inspired by ancient Asian preservation techniques, such as fermentation, pickling, curing, and slow drying (dehydration).
Potato Head’s R&D Chef, Felix Schoener creates new ingredients from waste that would otherwise end up in landfill that are then integrated into the menus, believing that one man’s waste is another man’s marinade.
“Having worked with Michelin-starred restaurants around the world, I’ve seen the amount of food that goes wasted in the hospitality industry. For me now at PotatoHead, the goal is to not only reduce waste, but upcycling ingredients creates a unique depth of flavour when you get creative. Remarkable flavour profiles come from fermentation and other ancient preservation techniques which can transform a dish from something great into something extraordinary,” says Schoener.
Felix Schoener, Potato Head’s R&D Chef.
“Our ethos is inspired by the cycle of nature. Where every resource is freely given in abundance, it will nourish many different species in its immediate surroundings, then transform, decompose and create new life. In Nature’s cycle there is no waste or excess – there is only constant regeneration and transformation. This is how we approach waste at the Desa – our very own ecosystem,” he adds.
When it comes to the “upcycled” ingredients, expect things like unused egg whites from the bakery are used to create an umami rich Japanese shoyu-style sauce at Dome, fish scales are reused in a recipe for tasty crackers at Ijen.
Meanwhile, part of Potato Head’s focus on culinary sustainability begins at the growers that supply the Desa where the team travels around the islands to develop relationships with local farmers to help them change the way they grow. The resort has helped over 110 farmers switch from conventional to organic farming since the program started in 2024.
