Food losses and waste are indicators for inefficient use of the available resources. The objective of this study is to investigate the management and prevention of food loss and waste of HoReCa sector in Bulgaria. The losses could be observed throughout the entire supply chain, from initial production to final consumption. Huge quantities of resources, even natural as water and fertilizer, are used to produce food that never reaches to the consumer’s table. Although, the problem of food losses is globally recognized, there are still limited reports for the sufficient management of its reducing, prevention and alternative areas of usage. Mainly, the investigations are focused on the geographical coverage, but Bulgaria could be considered as unexplored in this direction. Managing food loss and waste is a priority task, because preventing them leads to increasing the food accessibility, improving the quality of life, and saving the natural resources of the Earth. Food waste is a complex issue requiring a variety of technological solutions and direct public interventions and incentive structures to change consumer behavior. All this requires attention at different levels.
This study aims to examine the attitude of the restaurant business for collaboration and development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the food production chain. The study tracks out the attitude of leading companies in the area of the restaurant industry for the usage of regional food products. The investigation is based on a survey conducted by 50 restaurants, identified as catering establishments for feeding large number of customers. The results show that 62% of respondents accepted the conception of using regional food products in their enterprises, while 15% of the participants expressed concerns about the product quality and only 6% of them consider that ensuring sufficient quantities of raw materials could be a problem that requires accuracy. Only 4% of participants would have difficulties when purchasing and incorporating local products into their meal concept. The main identified problem of 10% of restaurant’s owners and managers, participated in the survey, is related to the possibilities for incorporating new technologies and presentation of the final product through the use of regional food products.
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