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

Pascal Ohlhausen and Nina Langen
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Pascal Ohlhausen: Institute of Vocational Education and Work Studies, Department Education for Sustainable Nutrition and Food Science, Technische Universität Berlin, 10587 Berlin, Germany

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-15

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.

Keywords: out-of-home catering; sustainable nutrition; variety seeking; spontaneous choice; company canteens (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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