How pitmaster Rodney Scott keeps sustainability in mind while running a barbecue empire

• Pitmaster Rodney Scott wants to minimize food going to waste at his restaurants.
• His team uses profit and loss records as projections for how much to cook on each day of the year.

Rodney Scott is a James Beard Award-winning pitmaster and the founder of Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ. Since his first restaurant opened in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2017, Scott has turned it into an empire with three newer locations across Alabama and Georgia.

With lines known to be out the door and sometimes around the block, the team at Rodney Scott's has to make sure they're prepping enough food without overshooting.

In America, the US Department of Agriculture estimates between 30% and 40% of our food supply ends up as food waste, and according to Recycle Track Systems (RTS), the restaurant industry spends around $162 billion every year in costs related to wasted food.

In an interview with Insider, Scott says his teams are meticulous when it comes to projections thanks to their weekly and daily profit and loss (P&L) analyses.

Everyone in charge of prepping quantities receives a relevant P&L sheet every Monday, Scott told Insider.

"We look at it and we try to see where we're short, where we're over, what's selling, and what's not," he said.

"How much we're cooking versus selling — all those things are on the P&L," he continued. "That's just one way that we keep up with how not to cook too much food. Also how not to sell ourselves short on a busy day."

Using data from the same day last year, from a week prior, and from even the first part of the current day, the team will predict and adjust the amount of food they're cooking.

When they do find themselves with leftovers, the team finds ways to repurpose as much as possible

"Right now it's cold, so when we have leftover brisket we put a brisket chili on the menu," Paul Yeck, executive chef for Pihakis Restaurant Group, which owns Rodney Scott's, told Insider. "That's a really good option for colder months."

Leftover pulled pork and ribs get broken down and added to greens, baked beans, and other dishes. As for chicken, Yeck said it can become chicken salad the next day.

"In our Birmingham market, we're really connected with the city and the mayor's team," Yeck said. "We work with them to provide meals when we can. We're serving quality stuff, it's just not something we want to pass on to our guests and charge them for."

Scott also takes care to help sustain the communities around his restaurants

"We're here to complement, not complicate," the award winner told Insider. "If we're going to ship all of our products in, we're not complementing your neighborhood at all, we're just another place you could possibly eat at. But to come in and deal with your local farmers — for us, we think it's a plus. We like to do it. We work with as many locals as we can, while still at the same time maintaining the quality of our food."

He also said that he prefers to hire locals first before looking elsewhere. Scott's goal is to be a positive force in his local communities, so hiring from within is preferential to outsourcing, he said.

While his staff in Charleston in particular isn't as dense with locals as it once was, he says he's always willing to offer someone an interview who is looking for work.