Getting Logistics Right – Smart Storage and Delivery in Hospitality

There’s a moment every kitchen knows. You open the fridge, and it’s full. Not with neatly stacked trays and clearly labelled prep, but with yesterday’s delivery, tomorrow’s plan, and a few things you forgot you ordered at all. You’re heading into service with wasted food, no space, and rising energy bills, even though you’ve made all the right choices on paper.

When a restaurant tries to be sustainable, their first instinct is to think about the product first. Teams start sourcing locally, cutting back on meat, reducing packaging, or choosing suppliers with better environmental practices. But even with the best ingredients, sustainable hospitality practices can fall apart the moment those ingredients arrive at the back door.

If orders are too big, if stock isn’t stored or rotated properly, or if no one tracks what came in when, a kitchen quickly slips into patterns that waste food, waste energy, and wear out the team. The intention was good, but the system it ran on was never built to support it. Effective hospitality logistics management isn’t about reinventing the wheel, but rather about creating systems that support values you’ve already committed to.

The good news is that these are practical problems, and they can be solved with a good system and practical changes. And at Gezelle, we know a lot about systems because we love to build them, test them, and rely on them ourselves. Here are a few practical ways to make logistics part of your restaurant's sustainability strategy:

Buy in bulk, but store with intention

One of the simplest ways to improve logistics is to start with what doesn’t go off quickly. Staples like grains, pulses, flour, oils, and tinned goods don’t spoil quickly, which makes them ideal for bulk ordering. This can help reduce delivery frequency, which in turn lowers your transport emissions and the amount of packaging waste coming through your doors.

But bulk only works if your restaurant storage systems are ready to handle it, and when paired with intentional menu design that maximises ingredient crossover. A dry store needs to be well ventilated, clearly labelled, and set up so older stock gets used first. The first-in, first-out (FIFO) inventory method is simple, but when shelves aren’t well organised, or training hasn’t been reinforced, even the most basic system breaks down.

If your team is unsure how long certain products last or how best to store them, Love Food Hate Waste is a good reference point. They’re designed for home use but translate well into hospitality, especially when you're training new staff or setting up clearer systems. These guides break down which ingredients need to be refrigerated, what can be frozen, and how long items stay usable depending on storage conditions. You can print out key sections and keep them near prep areas, dry stores, or cold rooms as everyday reminders.

Alongside this, small adjustments to shelf layout and labelling go a long way. Writing open dates on the top of containers (not just the side), keeping older stock at the front, and using coloured tape for visibility can make a real difference, especially when you’re short on time. And what’s best, the above restaurant storage best practices cost almost nothing to implement.

More deliveries, more problems

Once storage is under control, the next step is reviewing how often things are arriving. Every delivery has a carbon footprint. It also interrupts the team, takes time to unpack and store, and adds pressure to fridges and dry stores that may already be full. Reducing delivery frequency in restaurants is one of the simplest ways to cut emissions and improve team flow at the same time. It also gives kitchens more control over their prep rhythms, which means less reactive ordering and fewer missed items.

If you’re placing daily orders out of habit, take a closer look at what could be consolidated. Dry goods, long-life items, and non-perishables can often be delivered weekly instead of every few days. Even chilled items can be managed with better planning and a clearer view of what’s actually being used. It can also help to keep a simple delivery calendar visible to the whole team, something as basic as a whiteboard with order days and supplier names. When everyone knows what’s coming and when, it’s easier to spot double-ups or gaps, and to adjust before they turn into waste or last-minute runs.

Cutting down on deliveries also reduces the number of vehicles coming through your area each week. This is also a good moment to speak with your suppliers about transport options. Some are already moving to electric or hybrid vehicles, while others work with last-mile partners using bikes or low-emission vans. Services like Zedify, which recently relaunched in the UK, offer zero-emission last-mile deliveries by cargo bike in cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow. It’s a small change, but for urban kitchens receiving regular stock, switching to low-emission couriers can help reduce transport impact without changing what’s being delivered, just how it gets to you.

Look closer to home

The next piece of the puzzle is understanding where your ingredients are coming from. Even kitchens that care deeply about sourcing can be surprised to learn how far some of their basics are travelling and how easily a few small changes could reduce food miles. For more on ethical produce and supplier relationships, see our guide on smarter procurement.

Local and seasonal ingredients tend to hold up better in transit, arrive fresher, and last longer once they’re in your fridge or on your shelves. The Food Miles Calculator is a simple tool that helps you estimate the distance each ingredient travels from source to kitchen. It’s a useful place to start, especially when you’re reviewing regular items like herbs, greens, or fruit. If you do decide to bring things closer to home, it’s worth making that part of the guest experience too. A short note on the menu, a quick mention during service, or even a casual sign near the counter helps show that the change was intentional. It’s good for transparency and helping people connect the dots between what they’re eating and how it arrived on the plate.

Fix the cold spots

If dry storage is often overlooked, cold storage is often overworked. Fridges and freezers use more energy than almost any other part of the kitchen, and when they’re disorganised or overcrowded, they become a source of waste rather than a tool to prevent it. Without clear systems in place, good ingredients get forgotten at the back, or thrown away because no one’s quite sure how old they are. Over time, this creates confusion, unnecessary reordering, and higher energy bills, especially if airflow is restricted and equipment has to work harder to keep temperatures stable.

Small adjustments like shelf labelling, regular stock checks, and equipment audits can make a big difference here. If your fridges and freezers haven’t been reviewed in a while, it’s worth checking whether they’re still operating efficiently. Some models may be using more power than necessary, and a poorly performing unit often costs more in the long run through wasted food and higher energy bills.

Cold storage might not be the most visible part of the kitchen, but it holds everything together. When it’s set up properly, the team moves more confidently, decisions are faster, and food gets used when it should. That clarity is what keeps kitchens calm during prep and efficient during service, which is what every good system is really there to support.

Logistics make sustainability easier

Getting hospitality logistics right doesn’t require a new set of values. It just means making space for the ones that are already there to be put into practice every day. Most of the work in this piece isn’t complicated, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to keep up with, especially when things get busy. The systems that keep a kitchen running well are usually the ones no one notices when they’re working and the first to show when they’re not.

At Gezelle, we’ve learned how much those systems matter by building them from scratch. There’s no perfect setup, but when the logistics are clear, everything else runs with a bit more ease. If you’re looking for hospitality operations consulting or need help optimising your kitchen logistics, reach out to us at hello@gezelle.co.