Nature Ambience in a Lunch Restaurant Has the Potential to Evoke Positive Emotions, Reduce Stress, and Support Healthy Food Choices and Sustainable Behavior: A Field Experiment among Finnish Customers

Abstract

Laboratory experiments have indicated that exposure to restorative ambiences in food environments can lead to beneficial outcomes for consumers, but there is little evidence if this positive effect holds true in real-life consumption conditions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the effects of lunch restaurant ambience on customers’ emotional responses, stress recovery, food choices, and generation of plate waste. The expectation was that ambience inducing positive emotional responses would lead to alleviated stress, healthier food choices, and reduced plate waste. A field experiment with a baseline and two experimental ambiences (‘nature ambience’ to induce positive emotions and ‘fast food ambience’ to induce less positive emotions) including visual and auditory stimuli was conducted in a lunch restaurant for one week per ambience. Emotional responses, and objective and subjective stress were measured from a subgroup of participants (n = 32). Food choices and plate waste were measured for all customers (n = 1610–1805 depending on the study week). During ‘nature ambience’ week, customers more often chose vegetarian dishes and generated less plate waste. The results on emotional responses and stress recovery were partially in line with the expectations. The study provides real-life evidence that restaurant ambience modification could lead to beneficial consequences for customers.

Terrariums approach in cafe design on people’s eating behaviour

“…The results revealed that the nature ambience elicited more positive emotions compared to the fast-food ambience, while the fast-food ambience evoked more negative emotions than the customary ambience. In addition, the nature ambience week showed a slight reduction in objective stress levels after lunch, although subjective stress levels remained consistent throughout the research (Vanhatalo, Liedes and Pennanen 2022).…”

The Crick-Eatery: A Novel Approach to Evaluate Cricket (Acheta domesticus) Powder Replacement in Food Products through Product Eating Experience and Emotional Response

“…Plate waste has been used to assess the implementation of new food products in food service settings, especially for child nutrition programs [ 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 ]. Plate waste has also been determined to be a predictor of food choice regarding portion control [ 127 , 128 ]. From the results, a negative relationship between consumer liking scores and plate waste was found.…”

Emphasizing Food Expenditure as a Food Waste Mitigation Initiative at Restaurants in Banyumas, Indonesia

“…Food expenditure must be applied proportionally to fulfill consumer desires and prevent food waste. In this study, food expenditure is related to restaurant services, meal menu adjustments with consumers, menu procurement quantities, food type expenditures, storage of raw materials and food waste, restaurant owners' concern, and utilize of food waste (Vanhatalo et al, 2022). Poor procurement planning can be caused by inaccurate sales forecasts.…”

“…The restaurant concept applied to the restaurant is part of the planning related to the restaurant atmosphere that can affect the creation of food waste (Vanhatalo et al, 2022). The Restaurant Food Waste Management (RFWM) map identifies the mitigation of food waste and its causes along with relevant actors.…”