Spontaneous Variety-Seeking Meal Choice in Business Canteens Impedes Sustainable Production

Abstract

Sustainable meal choices in the out-of-home catering market are essential to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals. This study investigated consumers’ acceptance of different features that help service providers to work more sustainably. For this purpose, data of a choice experiment and a supporting online questionnaire were analyzed using latent class analysis (LCA) and the data of n = 373 employees. Examined attributes in the choice experiment were menu variety, menu type, ordering system, ingredients and price. LCA led to four consumer segments: variety seekers (27.6%), spontaneous decisionmakers—vegetarian (25.7%), spontaneous decisionmakers—meat (24.1%) and vegetarians/vegans (22.6%). Results showed that consumers in all four segments expected to have the choice between different menus in company canteens. Moreover, they preferred spontaneous choice to preordering. Both preferences hamper sustainable production and consumption in the catering sector.

Sustainable Consumer Behavior and Food Marketing

“…Beyond individual food consumption practices at home, which were addressed by the pre-mentioned studies, sustainable meal choices in the out-of-home catering market are essential to attaining green consumption patterns. The conclusions of the experimental choice study of Ohlhausen and Langen [17] reveal that respondents (n = 373 employees) had a clear preference for menu variety and spontaneous choice in company canteens. Both propensities impede the uptake of more sustainable behaviors in the catering sector, while other attributes in connection with ingredients were of less importance.…”

Nudges for more sustainable food choices in the out-of-home catering sector applied in real-world labs

“…the shape of a plate) (Richardson et al, 2020) and associated consumers perception as well as consumer habits (e.g. consumption of animal-source foods or creation of leftovers) (Ivanova et al, 2020;Lorenz et al, 2017;Lorenz-Walther and Langen, 2020;Ohlhausen and Langen, 2021) determine sustainability. Like in every market, the final interplay between supply and demand side determines overall sustainability performance of the sector.…”