Promoting Sustainable Food Practices in Food Service Industry: An Empirical Investigation on Saudi Arabian Restaurants

Abstract

While facing environmental challenges and rising concerns around food security and equitable access to nutritious food, sustainable food practices (SFPs) have emerged as a crucial focus area for the restaurant industry. Hence, this study aims to investigate key drivers of promoting SFPs, including customers’ and stakeholders’ sustainable behaviors, governmental laws and regulations around sustainability, the commitment of restaurants to combat climate change, the financial and non-financial outcomes of adopting SFPs, and restaurants’ values and culture toward sustainability. In addition, it explores the power of promoting these practices in driving restaurants’ economic, environmental, and social performance. To achieve these objectives, an online survey was administered to restaurant owners and top managers interested in implementing these practices. Accordingly, eight hypotheses, which explored the direct relationships between this study’s variables, were tested using PLS-SEM with bootstrapping. Based on 221 valid responses, this study revealed that all proposed paths were significant and aligned with each hypothesis. Notably, sustainable behavior exhibited by customers and stakeholders had the greatest influence on promoting SFPs, followed by the values and culture of restaurants related to sustainability and restaurants’ commitment to combatting climate change. Additionally, promoting SFPs was a crucial predictor for enhancing restaurants’ economic, environmental, and social performance, respectively. Upon these findings, restaurant owners and top managers should build a solid framework for promoting SFPs in their establishments by focusing on these factors, thereby improving their overall economic, environmental, and social performance.