Food waste to sales ratio
The food waste to sales ratio is the cost value of food disposed of in a period divided by food net sales for the same period; donated and marked-down products are not counted as waste.
Also calledfood disposal rate, waste-to-sales ratio, food waste percentage of sales, loss/disposal rate
Formula
Cost value of disposed food ÷ Food net sales × 100- Cost value of disposed food
- Purchase cost of food disposed of because of expiry, spoilage, cold-chain failure or damage
- Food net sales
- Sales of food categories in the same period, excluding VAT and net of returns
Calculator
Enter your own figures and the result updates instantly. The defaults are the figures from the worked example below.
Result%0,7
Worked example
How to read it, and what good looks like
The food waste to sales ratio is the subset of the overall shrinkage rate that covers disposed food only. Theft and recording error stay in the count variance and do not enter this ratio. The distinction matters: disposal is loss with a known cause, managed through ordering, rotation and markdowns.
The definition changes the result. BİM's 0.56 per cent for 2024 is value-based. Migros divides food disposal tonnage by food supply tonnage and, in its 2025 integrated annual report, said the ratio had fallen by 55.36 per cent against its 2018 base. Cheap but heavy fruit and vegetables look large on a weight basis and small on a value basis, so the two chains' figures are not set side by side.
The target is set against your own history and tracked by cause. According to Migros's 2020 report, 80 per cent of disposals came from fruit and vegetables; a single ratio with no category split does not show where to intervene. Donated products and products sold at near-expiry markdowns are not waste and are reported on separate lines.
| Context | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| BİM, food waste ÷ sales (value-based) | 0.56% | 2024, BİM integrated annual report |
| Migros, food disposal tonnage ÷ food supply tonnage | −55.36% against 2018 base | 2025, Migros integrated annual report |
| Migros, share of disposals from fruit and vegetables | 80% | Migros 2020 food waste report section |
Where it misleads
- Calculating at selling price: disposal is a cost loss; a ratio calculated at selling price inflates by the margin.
- Comparing tonnage and value metrics: the two give different results for different product mixes.
- Counting donations and markdown sales as waste: rescued product looks like waste and the improvement is hidden.
- Settling for a single total ratio: without cause and category, the ratio does not show where to act.
Data you need
- Disposal record: product, quantity, cost and reason code
- Net sales of food categories
- Donation and near-expiry markdown records (separate lines)
- Net weight on the product master, for weight-based tracking
Mindpera products that calculate this KPI
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Frequently asked questions
- How is the food waste to sales ratio calculated?
- The cost value of disposed food is divided by food net sales for the same period and multiplied by 100. A store with ₺6,000,000 of food sales and ₺42,000 of disposal cost has a ratio of 0.70 per cent. Donated and marked-down products are not counted as waste; disposals are recorded with a reason code so the ratio can be split by cause.
- Why can't BİM's and Migros's waste figures be compared?
- They use different metrics. BİM reports food waste as a share of sales, a value-based ratio: 0.56 per cent in 2024. Migros divides food disposal tonnage by food supply tonnage and cut that ratio by 55.36 per cent between 2018 and 2025. Heavy but cheap products look large by weight and small by value, so the two figures are not on the same scale.
- Is the food waste ratio the same as the shrinkage rate?
- No. The shrinkage rate covers spoilage, breakage, theft and recording error together. The food waste ratio measures only food with a known cause that was physically disposed of; theft and recording error remain in the count variance. Kept apart, disposal is managed through ordering and markdowns and the count variance through recording and control processes.