Ethanol production from acid pretreated food waste hydrolysate using immobilized Saccharomyces cerevisiae 74D694 was investigated under different conditions in a batch experiment. Ethanol yield was measured at different time intervals (38, 48, 72, 96 and 105 h) using different immobilized bead ratios (25:100, 30:100, 40:100, 50:100 and 54:100, w/v). Food waste was pretreated using dilute sulphuric acid and the hydrolysate was filtered. The dry food waste had an initial reducing sugar content of 46% (w/w). After dilute acid pretreatment, reducing sugar content increased to 62%. The present study utilized liquid hydrolysate for ethanol production. The process was optimized using central composite design (CCD) a statistical tool used for optimization in response surface methodology (RSM). RSM predicted a maximum ethanol yield of 0.044 g/g of soluble solid in liquid hydrolysate at 40 h fermentation time and immobilized bead ratio of 54:100 (w/v). An experiment was run at the optimal condition and an ethanol yield of 0.047 g/g of soluble solid in liquid hydrolysate was obtained. The predicted result was thus experimentally verified. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V.