Behavior of Polish Consumers in Relation to Meals Ordered in Food Service Establishments in the Context of Plate Waste

Marzena Tomaszewska, Beata Bilska and Danuta Kołożyn-Krajewska
Additional contact information
Marzena Tomaszewska: Department of Food Gastronomy and Food Hygiene, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW-WULS), 159C Nowoursynowska St., 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Beata Bilska: Department of Food Gastronomy and Food Hygiene, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW-WULS), 159C Nowoursynowska St., 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Danuta Kołożyn-Krajewska: Department of Food Gastronomy and Food Hygiene, Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW-WULS), 159C Nowoursynowska St., 02-776 Warsaw, Poland

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-17

Abstract: In the food service industry, food is wasted at every stage of the process. A significant part of food wastage is the so-called plate waste, i.e., food left by the consumer on the plate. The purpose of this research was to analyze the behavior of Polish consumers in relation to meals ordered in food establishments. The following issues were taken into account: leaving an unfinished meal on a plate and reasons for it, taking an unfinished meal home, and ordering half portions. The study was conducted on a representative group of 1115 adult Polish citizens using the CAPI method. Segmentation (cluster analysis) of respondents differing in their behavior in relation to ordered meals was carried out. It turned out that about 53% of Polish citizens do not use food services at all. Men with secondary and higher levels of education and other sources of income (cluster C) less frequently declared leaving unfinished meals on a plate and taking an unfinished meal home, especially in canteens, compared to other clusters. Few respondents declared buying half portions. Excessively large portions and inadequate taste of dishes were indicated by almost 50% of respondents as the main reasons for the generation of plate waste. Measures should be promoted to encourage consumers and food service providers to reduce the generation of plate waste.

Keywords: consumers; food waste; food service establishments; plate waste; cluster analysis; food security; gastronomy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/8153/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/8153/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:13:p:8153-:d:855424

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().