Sustainability: How important is it?

While the whole idea of sustainability in restaurants has been bandied around a lot over the last few years, operators need to consider a few factors before they instigate a complete overhaul of practices in their establishment. For instance, is it high up on consumers' priority lists? Is it economically viable to implement on a day-to-day basis?

These questions are important to think through instead of making a hasty decision when it comes to food suppliers and general operations. 

Research from Technomic suggested the majority of consumers are keen for restaurants to have a policy whereby they donate leftover food to charitable organizations. Generally women were more in favour of this practice across all the age groups in comparison to their male counterparts. 

This seemed to be especially popular among the young and old. Research showed 91 per cent of women aged 18 to 24 agreed with this policy, while 93 per cent of females over 55 voted yes in this way. 

The food research firm revealed three out of five said they would support restaurants in the limited-service segment of the market that donated food to non-for-profit businesses. 

A survey from the National Restaurant Association showed how the predicted top three trends for this year were all centered around sustainability. Locally-sourced meats and seafood topped the poll, with locally-grown produce coming in second. In third place was environmental sustainability, showing how these practices really are at the forefront of consumers' minds. 

When speculating about what the food industry could look like in ten years' time, the number one predicted trend was environmental sustainability, with local sourcing in second. This suggests how these issues could well be important in the future, suggesting operators would do well to bear them in mind. 

Will consumers pay extra?

One big issue with employing sustainable practices is that it can sometimes cost more, which is then passed onto the consumer. This is a line that needs to be tread very carefully, but Technomic's findings suggested the coffee-cafe concept demographic are among the more willing to pay a little bit extra.

Research from the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) showed how 43 per cent of diners said they would be willing to pay up to ten per cent more for a dish in a sustainable restaurant. 

In addition to this, more than half of those polled admitted they would pay extra for a meal if they knew the eaterie was putting money and time into lowering its carbon footprint and was putting social responsibility towards the top of its priority list. 

What can restaurants do?

This research from the SRA has shed some light on what operators can do to be seen as more sustainable and hopefully enhance consumer appeal.

As many as 85 per cent of survey respondents said they knew "little or nothing" about the social and environmental standards at the restaurants where they chose to eat. What's more, 84 per cent said they would appreciate eateries telling patrons more about the measures they were undertaking to foster a sustainable approach. 

The public want establishments to tackle food waste (53 per cent) and health and nutrition as their joint number one environmental concern, followed by local sourcing (46 per cent).

When the same question was asked in 2009, food waste didn't make it into the top three, suggesting how this is an issue that has really grown in prominence over the last couple of years.  

As well as donating food waste to local charities, there is also the option of allowing customers to take anything that's left home with them. More than one-third (34 per cent) admitted they never thought to ask their server whether or not this was an option, while 25 per cent conceded they would be too embarrassed to request this. These two responses could easily be solved by a proactive waiter encouraging patrons to consider this so it wouldn't go to waste.