EggAI: Reducing food waste in canteens with AI driven forecasting

The EggAI is a game‑changing solution aiming to drastically reduce food wastage within canteens and food establishments utilizing the prowess of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning techniques. Today, kitchen managers order raw materials up to a month in advance, based on inaccurate forecasts, while customers often place meal orders only one day before pickup. The result is an enormous amount of food waste, significant energy loss, and the unnecessary deployment of kitchen staff.

Solution

The EggAI system represents a groundbreaking leap in AI‑driven meal planning and consumption forecasting, vastly surpassing the capabilities of traditional models used in the past. Where conventional systems might have leaned on singular, often linear predictive models, EggAI pivots towards a more sophisticated, multi-layered approach by ingeniously employing deep recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and transformer neural networks for meal consumption rate forecasting, alongside the utilization of unsupervised multivariate clustering with autoencoders for diner profiling.  

Impact so far 

Early results are striking: the team is targeting an 80 % cut in food waste, alongside a 60 % rise in operational efficiency thanks to automatic inventory control. That translates into 25 % overall cost savings, driven by an 8 % drop in energy use and up to 20 % fewer labour hours, while emission reductions are expected to reach 30 %. By transforming waste into efficiency, EggAI gives catering operators both a sustainability win and a competitive edge.

EGGOS excels in AI-driven ERP systems, covering 85% pre-order lunch systems in Slovenia. Sovita expertise in diet advice, menu planning, inventory management and sustainability. UM FERI stands at the forefront of advanced computer science research, particularly  in artificial intelligence. Sovita (40.000 daily meals) is crucial for global market access. Collective knowledge ensures the success of the EggAI solution.

What’s next

The forthcoming EggAI+ release will add camera‑based visual recognition at serving and waste stations. By analysing what diners actually select and discard in real time, the system will enable dynamic portion control and push waste‑reduction even further.

Testimonial