Restaurant menu design and more responsible consumer food choice: An exploratory study of managerial perceptions

Abstract

The restaurant sector imposes substantial impacts on the environment and society. A large share of the sector's negative impacts is attributed to irresponsible consumer choice. To enhance sustainability of food service provision, consumer choice ought to be architected to make it more responsible. Restaurant menu can be (re-)designed to inform customers about the environmental and societal implications of their choice and thus 'nudge' selection of more benign food options. This study explores managerial opinions on the role of menu design in shaping more responsible consumer choice. It finds that while restaurateurs acknowledge rising customer awareness about the ramifications of their food choice on personal health and the environment, they are sceptical about the use of menu design as a means to positively affect consumer choice. The lack of internal resources to implement and maintain the required menu changes, inconstant customer demand, organisational and operational complexities represent the key barriers.

The determinants of more responsible restaurant food choice in Poland

“…Second, despite the low level of public environmental awareness in Poland, the survey recorded consumer preference for local and sustainably-produced (which embeds methods of organic production and ethical animal husbandry) food when dining out with a subsequent desire to see these attributes displayed on a menu. This is in line with previous studies conducted on this topic in the western context (Edwards-Jones 2010; Filimonau and Krivcova 2017;Sims 2009). The key difference is however in that the Polish consumers have limited knowledge of how food provenance and the methods of food production are connected with the overall sustainability of restaurant food choice (Niewczas 2013).…”

“…This is reflected in the increased attention paid by consumers to the nutritional and calorific values of restaurant food (Gallicano et al 2012;Hoefkens et al 2012;Hwang and Lorenzen 2008). The precise impact of personal health considerations on restaurant food choice has not however been established (Filimonau and Krivcova 2017). Systematic literature reviews (Kiszko et al 2014;Long et al 2015;Swartz et al 2011) have provided contradictory evidence on the effect of the nutritional and calorific labels on restaurant food choice which calls for more research on this topic (Kim et al 2013), especially outside North America where the bulk of research on this topic was conducted.…”

“…Consumer choice in restaurants can instead be architected to encourage consumption of more society-beneficial and environment-benign food (Freedman and Brochado 2010; Ittersum and Wansink 2012; Kallbekken and Saelen 2013). This is best achieved via menu design (Filimonau and Krivcova 2017) as menu cards represent a key, and often the only, communication medium between food service providers and consumers (Bowen and Morris 1995), while effective communication is paramount to nudge voluntary changes to protect the environment (Olander and Thogersen 2014). For example, it has been recognised that labeling restaurant menus with nutritional, calorific and environment-related information can be successfully adopted in the food service provision sector as a means of architecting consumer choice (Hwang and Lorenzen 2008).…”

Selection criteria of customers of Chinese restaurants and their dining habits

“…In contrast, familiar food names and ingredients arouse negative valence emotions, such as boredom and calm. Filimonau and Krivcova (2017) mentioned that while restaurateurs acknowledged rising customer awareness about the changing food choice on personal health and the environment, but they were not confident about the use of menu design as a means to positively affect consumer choice. Kim et al (2016) study revealed that the number of online reviews customers had a significant positive impact on restaurant performance.…”

(Lu)gu: Leguminosas que brilham no escuro: Desenvolvimento de um produto à base de leguminosas

“…Por outro lado, da parte do consumidor, observa-se a procura de produtos mais equilibrados do ponto de vista nutricional (Huang, Wu, Lu, Shyu & Wang, 2017;Stranieri, Riccci & Banterle, 2017;Machín, Aschemann-Witzel, Curucthet, Giménez & Ares, 2018), mas que mantenham as suas propriedades gastronómicas e sensoriais (Huang et al, 2017;KERRY GROUP, 2018;Ballco, Caputo & De-Magistris, 2018). Ainda que, talvez não de um modo generalizado, temos atualmente um consumidor cada vez mais exigente, que procura estar informado das suas escolhas alimentares, mas cujo ritmo de vida e falta de tempo dificultam as escolhas alimentares saudáveis (Filimonau & Krivcova, 2017;Stranieri et al, 2017;). Outro fator que acresce a esta dificuldade é a oferta alimentar disponível, repleta de fast-food, alimentos processados e industrializados.…”