Does ‘local’ matter in restaurant choice? Results of a discrete choice experiment targeting German and Italian consumers

Abstract

Consumer preferences about locally grown foods have been studied principally as they concern meals consumed in the home, while knowledge about consumptions outside the home is still fragmented. Studying the relationship between local foods and out of the home consumptions instead proves particularly interesting, considering the growth of eating out habits. In this scenario, our paper intends to verify whether using products of local origin in restaurants can represent an element capable of influencing consumer preferences positively. The analysis was developed by means of a choice experiment between alternatives that differ in certification of origin, process certification, price and the main characteristics of the restaurant. The survey was conducted on a representative sample of Italian (500) and German (500) consumers. Applying Latent Class Modelling has enabled us to segment the market and profile the segments. Profiling was performed considering the sociodemographic characteristics, the choice motivations not expressly inserted in the choice experiment and the Schwartz value system. The results show not only a marked heterogeneity of preferences but also a consistent consumer segment willing to pay a relevant premium price for meals made from a prevalence of products certified as being of local origin. This segment, labelled 'locavores', appears across both countries, despite differing gastronomic traditions. Locavores are mainly young people who prioritise self-enhancement, stimulation and conservation in the sense of respect for traditions and being members of their communities. The 'Discussions and conclusions' section handles the principal implications from the viewpoint of the decisions of restaurant owners, as well as from that of farmers.

Short food supply chain between micro/small farms and restaurants

“…In recent years, literature on the SFSC has expanded towards the restaurant industry. Studies reveal an emerging interest in consumers' perception, opinions, behaviours and habits around the inclusion of local food in restaurants' menus (Alfnes and Sharma, 2010;Schubert et al, 2010;Alonso et al, 2013;Campbell and DiPietro, 2014;Lillywhite and Simonsen, 2014;Contini et al, 2017). Local food consumption receives positive judgments in conferring "values", above all towards the intrinsic characteristics of products such as quality, freshness and taste, especially for restaurants (Gregoire and Strohbehn, 2002;Inwood et al, 2009;Kang and Rajagopal, 2014).…”

Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Food with Information on Animal Welfare, Lean Meat Essence Detection, and Traceability

“…Based on the major food safety risks in China’s pork supply chain and the reality of the pork traceability system in China, this paper aims to study Chinese consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) relating to animal welfare, lean meat essence test, traceability, and appearance attributes of pork products. There have been a lot of studies on consumers’ preference relating to traceability information [18,19,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30], animal welfare [21,31,32,33,34,35,36,37], hormones or antibiotics [5,38,39,40,41,42], appearance [22,43,44,45,46,47,48], and other attributes of meat products in the United States, Britain, Germany, Spain, Australia, and other countries. In China, the largest developing country, due to the imbalanced economic and social development, the relative vastness of the region, the diversity of the food culture, and the complexity of the food safety issues, consumers’ preferences relating to the properties of meat products are specific to China.…”

Locally produced food for restaurants: a theoretical approach for the supply chain network design

“…, 2010; Alonso et al. , 2013; Campbell and DiPietro, 2014; Lillywhite and Simonsen, 2014; Contini et al. , 2017; Filimonau and Krivcova, 2017; Birch et al.…”

“…The latter is the focus of this work. Various studies show a positive attitude of consumers towards the provision of local food in restaurants (Alfnes and Sharma, 2010;Schubert et al, 2010;Alonso et al, 2013;Campbell and DiPietro, 2014;Lillywhite and Simonsen, 2014;Contini et al, 2017;Filimonau and Krivcova, 2017;Birch et al, 2018;Kim and Huang, 2021). Environmental sustainability connected to short distances (Duram and Cawley, 2012), the support of local farmers (Reynolds-Allie and Fields, 2012; Dougherty et al, 2013), quality, freshness and taste (Inwood et al, 2009;Kang and Rajagopal, 2014) as well as the knowledge of the food source (Strohbehn and Gregoire, 2003) are key benefits that consumers recognize to the restaurateur's choice of using locally grown ingredients.…”