Behaviours and attitudes towards sustainable food provision on the part of Dutch restaurateurs

Abstract

Though there is some evidence that consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the effects of their own “unsustainable” behaviour, this is not widely reflected in changes to such behaviour. This article reports a small-scale study into the “supply side” of this issue, focusing on the attitudes and behaviour of Dutch chefs with regard to their perceptions, understanding and potential role in encouraging sustainable public eating behaviours. A qualitative investigative approach was employed in which primary data was collected via semi-structured interviews with chefs of nine independent restaurants in a Dutch city. The issues explored pertained to chefs’ understanding of general sustainability issues, their views of the opportunities and constraints for changing their current business practices towards more sustainable behaviours, and the actions already taken (or intended to be taken) to implement these behaviours. In such a small-scale study, the findings are limited but suggestive. All respondents paid at least lip-service to the importance of sustainability and all had at least a vague knowledge of what this might imply for their provision of food. However, this was not reflected in their menus, in part because it was not perceived to be an issue with consumers, and in part because respondents were uncertain as to how they might successfully effect change (i.e. translate beliefs pro-actively into sustainable business practices).

Keywords: food, independent restaurant sector, sustainability