Food Sustainability

In food service it is important to realize and address hot button issues within the industry to begin to understand what the target market wants, increase revenue and decrease cost centers. In researching the increasingly pressing issue of food sustainability in global food service it was discovered that implementations are initially expensive and require large amounts of dedication but are ultimately huge factors in increasing brand loyalty and recognition and gaining popularity within the “green” market segment. It was the goal of this paper to outline specific concerns posed by the issue of food sustainability as well as methods of the industry’s participation in its solutions and to analyze the progress made to increase awareness of the issue among staff, suppliers and customers. Ultimately, it was found that restaurants are escalating their dedication to the trend in multiple areas of operations including: operational systems, waste management, and service.

Maintaining food sustainability is like any other business strategy and restaurants must be able to adapt the environmentally friendly practices to address political, economic, socio-cultural and technical issues within society. Restaurants must first look at providing environmentally friendly products and services in political terms (Sturgon, Corgel & Verma, 2011). “Going green” in food service practices requires addressing issues such as EPA standards versus what the restaurant can realistically afford to adopt in its existing operations. Restaurants must also take local environmental regulations and competitive advantages into consideration before employing green practices into business. Furthermore, restaurants must analyze their target markets to ensure business will...

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