Promoting Environmental Sustainability in the Restaurant Industry: Approaches of Offering Plant-Based Meals, Incentivizing Sustainably Sourced Ingredients, and Reducing Food Waste

Sustainability has become an increasingly important topic in the food service industry, particularly in restaurants as consumers have become increasingly aware of the impact of their choices. Restaurants have many different factors that contribute to climate change, ranging from food waste, purchasing of harmful crop production, and support of cattle products. Many ideas and suggestions have been proposed and pitched to reduce the negative effects the food industry has put on the environment. Common ideas include buying ingredients from local farmers, composting, and offering plant-based products. This paper explores the viability of these solutions, focusing on the perspective of local businesses and how possible these solutions are financially and in practice. To gather a broad perspective on different restaurants and their insights on the challenges that come with sustainable living, exploratory interviews of restaurants were conducted to assess their attitudes towards plant-based meals, sustainably sourced ingredients, and food waste reduction. These interviews helped give a new insight into the attitudes of both restaurant workers and owners towards sustainability and their willingness to pay for sustainable options. The research findings were the responses of restaurant workers and owners from the interview, their attitudes towards sustainability, their ability to invest in sustainable options, and the practicality of popular sustainable living ideas. The results illustrate the subtleties and intricacies of the restaurant industry taking sustainable actions.