What fires up my cooking? The choice for a sustainable cuisine: passion and self-transcendence in the restaurant business

Abstract

The restaurant business is highly unsustainable and the sector contributes to a large extent to environmental pollution. However, some restaurateurs have chosen a more sustainable cuisine. As food sustainability is a contested issue, we have considered several descriptions of food sustainability and have assessed how these
are influenced by a passion for hospitality. Theoretically, the choice for sustainable food can be based on a passion for the hospitality business and a passion for sustainability. Surveys were used to gather data that were analysed using logistic and linear regression models. Findings suggest that some entrepreneurs claim to serve sustainable food, but do not. Others serve only one type of sustainable food, but not the other types. Interestingly, these groups also differ in their motivations for starting their restaurants. The choice to serve sustainable food is negatively influenced by entrepreneurial passion and positively by sustainability passion. Conventional restaurants have a passion for the hospitality industry, while the restaurants that serve sustainable food do not share that hospitality passion, but rather a passion for sustainability. Our research adds to the academic debate on the tensions that restaurateurs and entrepreneurs in general face in their different motivations.

Keywords: food sustainability, emotions, entrepreneurial passion, quantitative, sustainable entrepreneurship, values