Restaurant Industry Practices to Promote Healthy Sustainable Eating: A Content Analysis of Restaurant Websites Using the Value Chain Approach

• Main Authors: Borham Yoon, Yeasun Chung, Kyungyul Jun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-09-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: healthy food; sustainable food; healthy eating; sustainability; restaurant; content analysis
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/7127

The purpose of this study is to help researchers and restaurant owners gain an understanding of healthy sustainable initiatives within restaurant businesses. This study applied a content analysis of 93 restaurant chains’ websites with a systematic coding procedure. The study identified fifteen healthy sustainable initiatives under a value chain framework, four of which follow value chain dimensions: sourcing, production, marketing, and service. The most frequently mentioned healthy sustainable practice was presenting nutrition-related information, followed by providing healthy menu options and using organic/natural produce. Sit-down restaurants were more likely to engage in healthy sustainable eating initiatives than were fast-food restaurants (e.g., increasing the availability of healthy options, smaller/reduced portion sizes, using fresh and local food, and using healthy cooking methods). This study contributes to the restaurant/foodservice management and food marketing literature by showing a comprehensive picture of what U.S. restaurant chains are doing to promote healthy sustainable eating. The findings can be used as a benchmark tool for practitioners to evaluate and develop healthy sustainable restaurant initiatives and as the foundation of measurement items for scholars.