How to get more plant-based meat dishes on restaurant menus? A mini-theory and initial empirical validation
通过访谈37位澳大利亚餐厅厨师和管理者,发现厨师不愿提供植物基肉类菜肴的原因涉及流行度、熟悉度、口味等,并基于此提出微型理论,指出教育厨师是增加供应的关键杠杆点。
Replacing some meat dishes with plant-based alternatives would make the hospitality industry more environmentally sustainable. Yet plant-based meat dishes are rarely served in restaurants. We conducted a sequential mixed-methods study focusing on the demand side to develop and empirically test a mini-theory that explains why this might be the case. We first interviewed 37 Australian restaurant chefs and managers to identify why chefs hesitate to offer plant-based meat dishes. Findings suggest that the reasons for chefs not to use plant-based meat relate to popularity, familiarity, taste, enjoyment of cooking, naturalness, environmental sustainability, cost, and availability of these products. Using these qualitative insights, we developed a mini-theory and tested it in a quantitative survey study to highlight opportunities for enticing chefs to offer plant-based meat dishes. Educating chefs on plant-based meat presents a promising leverage point to increase availability of meat alternatives in restaurants.