Search Results (19)

To reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, the adoption of efficient refrigeration and cooking equipment and other innovative technologies need to be considered in the food service sector. In quick-service restaurants (QSRs), there is a strong interaction between the structure, internal machinery, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The impact of these interactions in a UK-based QSR was modelled using EnergyPlus™ 2022 v22.2.0. The modelling examined the effects of applying carbon reduction technologies, predicted climate change impacts, and electrical grid carbon intensity (EGCI) from 2022 to 2050. The findings revealed that among the individual technologies applied, an enhanced efficiency of 20% in refrigeration and kitchen equipment gave the most favourable outcome, contributing to a 15.7% reduction in carbon emissions. The results also showed that climate change impacts on the energy consumption of the QSR were minimal. Additionally, combining technologies could achieve savings of 35.9% in carbon emissions, while predicted changes in the EGCI could potentially yield a 98% reduction in carbon emissions between 2022 and 2050. The findings highlight the significance of the early adoption of carbon reduction technologies to minimise cumulative emissions. These insights offer a foundation for developing more effective carbon reduction strategies in the food service sector. Full article

This study investigates the multifaceted relationships between product innovation, customer satisfaction, and experience within the quick service restaurants (QSR) sector. Moreover, it explores the reciprocal dynamics, scrutinizing the impact of customer experience on shaping customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the research delves into the mediating function of customer experience in establishing the connection between product innovation and customer satisfaction. The participant pool encompassed 221 respondents, patrons of well-established QSRs, such as McDonald’s, Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, and KFC, strategically situated in three prominent north Indian cities—Jammu, Chandigarh, and Delhi. Employing a structural equation modelling technique, the study meticulously examines the relationships between these crucial elements (product innovation, customer experience and customer satisfaction). This research contributes to existing knowledge by offering a detailed study of the dynamics governing product innovation, customer satisfaction, and experience in the QSR sector. The findings bear practical implications for QSR operators, providing valuable insights into strategies for enhancing customer satisfaction through effective product innovation and an elevated dining experience. Full article

This study explores how a state-based franchisee association of a multinational quick-service restaurant franchisor introduced three world-first innovations through the activation of the five dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (EO). The antecedents to this activation were also explored. A historical extended case study focusing on a revelatory case was undertaken. In-depth analysis using a rigorous qualitative methodology was facilitated by the triangulation of informant interviews, publicly available data, archival data, and artefacts. The three innovations explored involved the apparent activation of all five dimensions of EO by the franchisee association. The franchisee association’s structure and the provenance of its franchisee members, in being either externally recruited or internally recruited, appeared to have a bearing on whether product or process innovations were pursued. Five antecedents that enhance the propensity of franchisee associations to activate the dimensions of EO were also identified, and a preliminary model was constructed. Whilst the EO of franchisors and franchisees has previously been examined, this study is the first to explore franchisee associations as a vehicle for EO. With around 75% of franchisors incorporating some form of franchisee association, better understanding how to harness their innovative potential could bestow a competitive advantage upon those franchise systems able to do so. Full article

With rising consumer demand for fast-food options, quick-service restaurants are constantly developing new menu items to attract consumers. Sous vide cookery has become popular for the in-home and fine dining consumer but has not been considered the first cooking option for quick service applications. Therefore, ground beef patties were manufactured to measure the influence of sous vide cooking time on the patty characteristics of moisture, color, and objective tenderness. Patties were randomly assigned a sous vide cooking time of 30, 60, or 90 min and then grilled to an internal temperature of 71.1 °C. Patties sous vide cooked for 30 min exhibited the greatest (p < 0.05) cook loss, Allo–Kramer Shear Force (AKSF) and were darker (L*) than patties sous vide cooked for 60 or 90 min. Additionally, neither internal redness, calculated spectral values of chroma, hue angle, or red-to-brown differed (p > 0.05) regardless of sous vide cooking time. Sous vide cooking duration prior to grilling the ground beef patties altered the moisture, color, and objective texture characteristics of ground beef patties. Full article

This research aims to examine an extended model of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to understand the determinants of consumers’ intentions to buy and recommend nutrition-labelled menu (NLM) items for making healthy food choices. The research examines the influence of attitude towards behaviour (ATT), subjective norms (SNs), perceived behavioural control (PBC) and health consciousness on consumers’ intentions to buy and recommend NLM. The research also examines the role of culture in shaping buying and recommendation intentions of NLM by undertaking a comparative study of the extended model among consumers in two different countries that have enough variation based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, i.e., the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Kingdom (UK). The results of questionnaire surveys analysed with SmartPLS version 4 showed that ATT, SNs and health consciousness significantly predict intentions to buy NLM items among KSA consumers in quick service restaurants (QSRs). However, PBC did not have a significant influence on KSA consumers’ intentions to buy NLM items. On the other hand, ATT, PBC and health consciousness significantly predict intentions to buy NLM items among UK consumers in QSRs. Nonetheless, SNs did not have a significant influence on UK consumers’ intentions to buy NLM items. The intention to buy NLM significantly predicts the intentions to recommend NLM among consumers in both countries (KSA and UK). The results of a multi-group analysis showed significant differences between the KSA and the UK regarding the influence of both SNs and PBC on consumers’ intentions to buy NLMs as well as on their indirect influence on intentions to recommend NLM items. The results value the role of culture in shaping consumers’ intentions to buy and to recommend NLM items for healthy food choices, which has numerous implications for international QSRs, policy makers, and academics. Full article

In this paper, we present a new AI (Artificial Intelligence) edge platform, called “MiniDeep”, which provides a standalone deep learning platform based on the cloud-edge architecture. This AI-Edge platform provides developers with a whole deep learning development environment to set up their deep learning life cycle processes, such as model training, model evaluation, model deployment, model inference, ground truth collecting, data pre-processing, and training data management. To the best of our knowledge, such a whole deep learning development environment has not been built before. MiniDeep uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the backend platform of a deep learning tuning management model. In the edge device, the OpenVino enables deep learning inference acceleration at the edge. To perform a deep learning life cycle job, MiniDeep proposes a mini deep life cycle (MDLC) system which is composed of several microservices from the cloud to the edge. MiniDeep provides Train Job Creator (TJC) for training dataset management and the models’ training schedule and Model Packager (MP) for model package management. All of them are based on several AWS cloud services. On the edge device, MiniDeep provides Inference Handler (IH) to handle deep learning inference by hosting RESTful API (Application Programming Interface) requests/responses from the end device. Data Provider (DP) is responsible for ground truth collection and dataset synchronization for the cloud. With the deep learning ability, this paper uses the MiniDeep platform to implement a recommendation system for AI-QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) KIOSK (interactive kiosk) application. AI-QSR uses the MiniDeep platform to train an LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory)-based recommendation system. The LSTM-based recommendation system converts KIOSK UI (User Interface) flow to the flow sequence and performs sequential recommendations with food suggestions. At the end of this paper, the efficiency of the proposed MiniDeep is verified through real experiments. The experiment results have demonstrated that the proposed LSTM-based scheme performs better than the rule-based scheme in terms of purchase hit accuracy, categorical cross-entropy, precision, recall, and F1 score. Full article

This study identified aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities using online communication tools (i.e., websites and online CSR reports) with an emphasis on the foodservice industry and compared quick-service restaurants and dessert cafes. With the content analysis of 48 foodservice companies, the community, environment, marketplace, vision and values, food, and workforce-centered CSR activities implemented by the selected foodservice companies were measured. In addition, the types CSR information delivered to customers employed by the foodservice companies were investigated. Lastly, there were significant differences between two segments in the foodservice industry in some aspects of CSR activities and types of CSR activities. Full article

Our attention was focused on the identification of activities affecting air quality, which occur in quick-service restaurants (QSR). The work was based on a measurement study of selected kebab stores in the Polish city of Wrocław. It demonstrated that activities taking place in kebabs altered air quality. The associated changes in air parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, CO₂ concentration, and the content of volatile organic compounds could be detected by utilizing a simple, multi-sensor device. In the measurement data, there were identified multidimensional patterns, which proved to be specific for the following categories of activities: Night Hours, Outlet Preparation, Food Preparation, Operation Hours, and Cleaning. Their occurrence was recognized by pattern recognition methods with a true positive rate greater than 99%. We demonstrated that the recognition may be based on measurements performed in various locations within the kebab store. Although patterns of the individual categories of activities largely varied between kebab stores, a similar performance of recognition was achieved for all restaurants. The obtained results entitled us to conclude that it is possible to detect activities of QSR, which influenced air quality, with the application of sensor technique and pattern recognition. The proposed approach may be applied to this type of object in general. Full article

Unsustainable food systems are responsible for unhealthy diets and significant environmental degradation globally. The environmental impact of food companies extends along the food supply chain. The International Network for Food and Obesity/Non-communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) is a global research network that aims to monitor, benchmark and support public and private sector actions to reduce obesity and non-communicable diseases. The Business Impact Assessment on Obesity and Population Nutrition (BIA-Obesity) tool for monitoring the nutrition commitments of food manufacturers, retailers and quick-service restaurants has been successfully used in various countries. This research aims to develop a companion tool to monitor the commitments of food companies to sustainability and verify the relevance and feasibility of the proposed indicators with experts. An inventory of existing indicators was created to guide the creation of domains and indicators. The eleven proposed domains were: packaging, energy use, emissions, water and discharge, biodiversity, climate change adaptation, food loss and waste, environmental compliance, relationships with other organisations, corporate sustainability strategy and reducing ruminant-based products. The Global Reporting Initiative is the most widely used sustainability reporting framework, so selected indicators were modified, and additional indicators and a scoring system were added. Feedback was provided from six academic experts in New Zealand and Australia, sustainability managers from three major food companies in New Zealand and from the INFORMAS Food Sustainability Advisory team (international sustainability experts). In each feedback step, the indicators were modified to improve the specificity of commitments, clarify definitions, add or remove indicators and to modify the scoring of indicators. Feedback highlighted the complexity for food companies in setting commitments, how to incorporate the supply chain into the indicators, how to focus on priority areas of environmental impact for an individual company, and challenges in developing indicators for biodiversity. The resulting 35 indicators will be piloted in selected countries. Full article

Diet quality in the United States is improving over time but remains poor. Food outlets influence diet quality and represent the environments in which individuals make choices about food purchases and intake. The objective of this study was to use the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) to evaluate the quality of foods consumed from the four major outlets where food is obtained—stores, full-service restaurants, quick-services restaurants, and schools—and to assess changes over time. This cross-sectional study used 24 h dietary recall data from eight cycles (2003–2004 to 2017–2018) of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Linear trend estimation was used to test for changes in HEI scores over time, and balanced repeated replicate weighted linear regression was used to test for differences in total and component scores between types of food outlets. Overall, Americans are not consuming a mix of foods from any major category of food outlet that aligns with dietary guidelines. The total score for schools (65/100 points) and stores (62/100 points) was significantly higher than full-service (51/100 points) and quick-service (39/100 points) restaurants (p < 0.0001). HEI scores significantly improved over time for schools (p < 0.001), including an increase in whole grains from less than 1 point in 2003–2004 to 7 out of 10 points in 2017–2018. In 2017–2018, schools received the maximum score for total fruits, whole fruits, and dairy. Continued research on strategies for improving the quality of foods consumed from restaurants and stores is warranted. Full article

During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the self-service restaurant sector, as well as other types of food services, are facing an unprecedented crisis needing to adapt their service to avoid closing their doors. With varied and quick meals, the self-service buffet is one of the most important types of outside services. However, the type of service where the clients follow a line on the buffet and serve their meals has impaired traditional restaurant operation during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and, perhaps, after it. In this sense, this study presents an overview of the self-service buffet restaurant operational system in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Full article

Restaurants are regular eating environments for many families. Children’s consumption of restaurant foods has been linked with poorer diet quality, prompting emerging research examining strategies to encourage healthier eating among children in restaurants. Although taste is a primary determinant of restaurant meal choices, there is a lack of research considering children’s perspectives on the taste of different healthier kids’ meal options. The current study sought to examine, via objective taste testing, children’s liking of and preference for healthier kids’ meal options at a quick-service restaurant (QSR) and to describe bundled kids’ meals with evidence of both taste acceptability and consistency with nutrition guidelines. Thirty-seven 4-to-8-year-old children completed taste tests of ten healthier main and side dish options. Liking and preference were assessed using standard methods after children tasted each food. Children also reported their ideal kids’ meal. Results show the majority of children liked and preferred three main (turkey sandwich, chicken strips, peanut butter/banana sandwich) and side dishes (yogurt, applesauce, broccoli), with rank order differing slightly by age group. Accepted foods were combined into 11 bundles meeting nutritional criteria. Results highlight healthier kids’ meals with evidence of appeal among children in a QSR. Findings can inform future research and may increase the success of healthy eating interventions in these settings. Full article

This study presents fundamental data on the technology acceptance of kiosks in QSR (Quick Service Restaurants) and the marketing plans for efficient management performance. In this paper, the combined concept model was established through the acceptance literature, and an expanded UTAUT2 (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) model was then presented by empirical analysis. This study was evaluated by 303 customers with experience using QSR kiosks. The results show that the seven factors suggested by the UTAUT2 and trust have a positive direct and indirect effect on behavioral intention. In addition, this study confirmed the significant influence relationship between the variables in UTAUT2. It was also found that facilitating conditions and price value have a significant positive effect on trust. Lastly, trust has a significant positive effect on performance expectancy and behavioral intentions. As a result, this research demonstrates an extended and integrated UTAUT2 by verifying the relationship between basic UTAUT2 and trust. The limitations of this study and recommendations for future research are also discussed. Full article

This study investigated restaurant customers’ perceived importance of key factors in accordance with dining occasions and restaurant segments. Our investigation into restaurant selection and situational factors present two types of empirical evidence regarding customers’ choice of restaurant. First, menu price was customers’ top priority in restaurant selections for full-service, quick-casual, and quick-service restaurants. Second, restaurant customers rated the importance level of restaurant selection criteria differently according to eating-out occasions. The importance of menu price was greatest for both quick meal/convenience and social occasion, brand reputation was the most important factor for business necessity, and word-of-mouth recommendation was greatest for celebration. Full article

The food industry has an important role to play in efforts to improve population diets. This study aimed to benchmark the comprehensiveness, specificity and transparency of nutrition-related policies and commitments of major food companies in Australia. In 2018, we applied the Business Impact Assessment on Obesity and Population Level Nutrition (BIA-Obesity) tool and process to quantitatively assess company policies across six domains. Thirty-four companies operating in Australia were assessed, including the largest packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers (n = 19), supermarkets (n = 4) and quick-service restaurants (n = 11). Publicly available company information was collected, supplemented by information gathered through engagement with company representatives. Sixteen out of 34 companies (47%) engaged with data collection processes. Company scores ranged from 3/100 to 71/100 (median: 40.5/100), with substantial variation by sector, company and domain. This study demonstrated that, while some food companies had made commitments to address population nutrition and obesity-related issues, the overall response from the food industry fell short of global benchmarks of good practice. Future studies should assess both company policies and practices. In the absence of stronger industry action, government regulations, such as mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling and restrictions on unhealthy food marketing, are urgently needed. Full article