Search Results (151)

Virginia’s coastal location and abundant marine resources make its seafood industry a vital contributor to the state’s economy, supporting both local communities and tourism. This study applied input–output models and updates the economic contributions of the Virginia seafood industry using 2023 data, building on models developed for 2019 that capture both direct effects and broader economic ripple effects. In 2023, the industry generated USD 1.27 billion in total economic output and supported over 6500 jobs—including watermen, aquaculture farmers, processors, and distributors—resulting in USD 238.3 million in labor income. Contributions to state GDP totaled USD 976.7 million, and tax revenues exceeded USD 390.4 million. The study also evaluates the economic role of Virginia seafood products sold in retail stores and restaurants, based on secondary data sources. In 2023, these sectors generated USD 458 million in economic output, supported more than 3600 jobs, produced USD 136.7 million in labor income, and USD 280.8 million in value-added. Combined tax contributions surpassed USD 74 million. Importantly, the analysis results for the Virginia seafood products from retail and restaurant should not be summed to the seafood industry totals to avoid double-counting, as seafood products move as output from one sector as an input to another. These results provide evidence-based insights to guide decision-making, inform stakeholders, and support continued investment in Virginia’s seafood supply chain and related economic activities. Full article

The HoReCa (Hotels, Restaurants, and Cafes) sector plays a pivotal role in the economy due to its strong connections with various other industries, including agriculture, food and beverage, construction, packaging, waste management, water, and textiles. Given its broad impact, understanding the perceptions of students—emerging consumers and future professionals—could provide valuable insights for businesses seeking to enhance sustainable practices in ways that resonate with younger generations and improve their competitiveness. However, there is still limited understanding of how students perceive and engage with sustainability in this sector. This study explores student perceptions of sustainability practices within the HoReCa sector, examining their awareness levels, expectations, and behavior. The objective is to assess how effectively current business approaches align with student values regarding sustainability initiatives and identify key factors influencing their engagement. A structured questionnaire was distributed among university students, and the collected data was analyzed using statistical techniques to identify meaningful trends and correlations. Findings revealed a notable disconnect between students’ professed sustainability values and their actual behavior. Primary obstacles included price sensitivity, skepticism toward environmental marketing claims, and insufficient access to clear sustainability information from businesses. Despite supporting sustainable initiatives in principle, students often struggle to translate their values into purchasing decisions. The research suggests that greater business transparency, enhanced sustainability education, and incentive programs could foster increased student engagement. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic had significant global impacts. In Japan, consumers refrained from going out, and dining out decreased significantly, which strongly affected the restaurant industry and resulted in a shift in food demand from eating out to home consumption. The seafood industry is no exception to this trend. This study surveyed 300 individuals with experience in seafood transactions across wholesalers, restaurants, and retailers to examine how the pandemic influenced supply and demand patterns from a distribution perspective. Results indicated that while the volume of luxury seafood handled by restaurants and wholesalers decreased, the volume handled by retailers increased. Conversely, the volume of inexpensive popular seafood declined across all three sectors. The findings suggest that some of the luxury seafood previously sold to restaurants was redirected to retailers as consumer demand shifted from dining out to home consumption during the pandemic. Full article

The field of tourism economics has consistently attracted big attention from scholars across various countries. Tourism is inherently linked to economic aspects. Concurrently, Indonesia has relocated its Ibu Kota Negara/National Capital City, now named “IKN”, from Jakarta to East Kalimantan. In addition to extensive public infrastructure development, the Indonesian government is also working to revitalize the tourism sector in IKN. To assess the economic feasibility of this sector, an in-depth study is necessary. This research aims to examine labor absorption, tourist visits, and economic growth as indicators of successful tourism economic performance. It also analyzes the variables that influence these indicators, including (1) wages, (2) occupancy rates, (3) room rates, (4) food and beverage facilities, (5) inflation, (6) hotel and lodging taxes, (7) restaurant and eating-house taxes, and (8) investment. The regression testing method employs Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). According to the data analyzed from 2013 to 2024, the authors identified three main points: First, tourist visits and inflation have positive and significant impacts on labor absorption. Second, labor absorption, wages, occupancy rates, economic growth, and investment positively and significantly influence tourist visits. Third, tourist visits, room rates, food and beverage facilities, and inflation have positive and significant effects on economic growth. The implications of this research can be enlightening for regulators and future initiatives. This is particularly important for guiding further empirical investigations and policy planning aimed at accelerating economic development in the tourism sector. Full article

This article investigates predicted future developments in fine dining using a mixed-methods approach rooted in German gastronomic culture. By conducting an inductive media content analysis and ten semi-structured expert interviews with leading figures in Germany’s high-end food sector, we applied a qualitative mixed-methods approach. The study was based exclusively on data collected in 2018 and 2019, deliberately excluding pandemic-related developments in order to focus on long-term structural and cultural trends in fine dining. We identified two core thematic clusters: one related to sustainable food practices (ecology/sustainability, regionality, seasonality, from-farm-to-table, and vegetarianism/veganism) and the other to experiential dimensions of dining (experience, topic-based concept, and storytelling). Our findings contribute to the academic discussion on culinary futures and provide grounded insights into how fine dining is likely to evolve in response to broader societal, environmental, and cultural shifts. This study fills a significant research gap by systematically mapping emerging restaurant concepts based on non-COVID data, making it a valuable reference for scholars and practitioners alike. Full article

The restaurant industry, especially fine dining, is characterized by intense competition and an increasing number of closures. Wine is a profit lever, but the exploitation of sales potential can present a challenge. As consumers encounter more extensive wine lists, they often find themselves overwhelmed. A restaurant experiment in Stuttgart, Germany, examined strategies to simplify decision-making for customers and their impact on wine purchases and the dining experience. This experiment, conducted at a small fine-dining establishment, aimed to understand how wine descriptions and pairing recommendations influence customer choices and behavior, revealing key insights that wineries and restaurants can leverage to boost wine sales. The findings underscore the power of wine descriptions and strategic pairing recommendations in enhancing customer engagement. They suggest that restaurants can increase their wine sales by integrating well-crafted wine descriptions into menus, while wineries can benefit by providing comprehensive tasting notes and pairing suggestions that align with restaurant offerings. For both sectors, understanding the sensory and psychological factors that shape wine appreciation can offer a competitive edge. Full article

Free chlorine (FC) plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety of drinking water by effectively inactivating pathogenic microorganisms. However, traditional methods for measuring FC levels often require specialized equipment and laboratory settings, limiting their accessibility and practicality for on-site or point-of-use monitoring. QR Codes are powerful machine-readable patterns that are used worldwide to encode information (i.e., URLs or IDs), but their computer vision features allow QR Codes to act as carriers of other features for several applications. Often, this capability is used for aesthetics, e.g., embedding a logo in the QR Code. In this work, we propose using our technique to build back-compatible Color QR Codes, which can embed dozens of colorimetric references, to assist in the color correction to readout sensors. Specifically, we target two well-known products in the HORECA (hotel/restaurant/café) sector that qualitatively measure chlorine levels in samples of water. The two targeted methods were a BTB strip and a DPD powder. First, the BTB strip was a pH-based indicator distributed by Sensafe^®, which uses the well-known bromothymol blue as a base-reactive indicator; second, the DPD powder was a colorimetric test distributed by Hach^®, which employs diethyl-p-phenylenediamine (DPD) to produce a pink coloration in the presence of free chlorine. Custom Color QR Codes were created for both color palettes and exposed to several illumination conditions, captured with three different mobile devices and tested over different water samples. Results indicate that both methods could be correctly digitized in real-world conditions with our technology, rendering a 88.10% accuracy for the BTB strip measurement, and 84.62% for the DPD powder one. Full article

Introduction: The food environment is an important determinant of children’s eating behavior. Improving the environment to encourage healthier choices is crucial to prevent obesity, especially in restaurants where the majority of kids’ menus are unhealthy. This study explored the perceptions, attitudes, motivations, influencing factors, and opportunities of restaurant owners, managers, and chefs for implementing healthier kids’ menus in Dutch restaurants. Method: We used a mixed methods design in two consecutive study parts. Part I consisted of an online unstandardized questionnaire that was completed by 44 restaurant owners, 26 chefs, 18 managers, and 6 other restaurant employees (n = 94). This was followed by semi-structured interviews with 3 restaurant owners, 2 chefs, and 1 manager, to gather exploratory information in Part II (n = 6). The quantitative data were categorized into three groups: restaurants without kids’ menus (n = 18), restaurants with unhealthy kids’ menus (n = 24), and restaurants with (partially) healthy kids’ menus (n = 52). Group differences were assessed using the Kruskal–Wallis test. We used thematic analysis for the interviews. Results: Parts I and II showed that the restaurant sector is aware of the need, and willing and motivated to offer healthier kids’ menus. Nevertheless, the concerns about food waste, the unhealthy demand from children and parents, and seeing eating out as a free pass to consume unhealthy meals by children and parents were important factors limiting the implementation of healthier kids’ menus. Discussion: We discussed potential solutions to enhance demand and acceptance of healthier kids’ menus, such as attractive names, storytelling, offering children’s portions based on adult menus, and using participatory approaches in which parents, children, and chefs co-create meal composition. Full article

As a major source of food and plastic waste and a large consumer of water and energy, the hospitality sector is key to combating climate change. Sustainable practices in the hospitality sector optimize food production and use, introduce innovative solutions and increase employee satisfaction in running environmentally friendly restaurants. This study examines the changes required for a restaurant to make a sustainable transition and the role of key stakeholders (i.e., chefs, head sommeliers, owners and main suppliers) in this process. It focuses on a prestigious Slovenian restaurant that has been awarded a Michelin Green Star and is 80% self-sufficient. The single case study uses semi-structured interviews, the critical incident method and participant observation to collect data. The results showed that in the case of the analyzed restaurant, the lifestyle of the owner/chef decisively shapes the culture of the restaurant, laying the foundation for its sustainable transformation. The success of the transformation itself, however, depends significantly on the employees’ ability to learn and innovate and their active involvement in the change process itself, which impacts both day-to-day business processes and relationships between stakeholders. The latter is reflected in the role the restaurant plays in the local environment as a driver for sustainable community and sustainable entrepreneurship development. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected Japan’s tourism-related industries, leading to significant revenue losses in the accommodation, restaurant, and tourist facility sectors. Many businesses experienced difficult situations, resulting in closures and layoffs as a result of the prolonged decline in tourism demand. Focusing on the first half of the pandemic (2020–2021), this study analyzes the loss of sales and the influencing factors among tourism-related businesses in the Nishimikawa region of Aichi Prefecture. A questionnaire survey was conducted in November 2021, and changes in sales from April 2020 to September 2021 were estimated to assess the economic impact across different sectors. A quantitative analysis was also performed to examine the relationship between sales and the state of emergency, the domestic travel subsidy program Go To Travel campaign, and business attributes. The results indicate that COVID-19 severely impacted business sales, especially in the accommodation and food service sectors, while the tourism facility and retail sectors were less affected. In the Nishimikawa region, popular for day trips from nearby areas, the Go To Travel campaign had a limited effect, highlighting the need for region-specific support measures. Full article

When the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were proposed, they provided a reality check, questioning the ways in which organisations were addressing the needs of society and the planet, across all sectors worldwide. In response, this study contributes to SDG 12, Responsible Production and Consumption, more specifically considering support for restaurant owners as they transition into environmentally focused and sustainable operations, in particular with the proposal of a researched and informed sustainability toolkit. To understand the factors underpinning successful sustainability practices in restaurants, we utilise the motivation, opportunity, and ability (MOA) framework, applying a two-step focus group methodology. The first focus group included restaurant owners/managers who had effectively applied sustainable operational practices. For the second focus group, we utilised MOA factors uncovered in the first group as discussion points to engage with restaurant owners/managers who had yet to embrace environmentally sustainable practices in order to understand the reasons preventing them from applying sustainability practices. Continuous networking and dynamic support were highlighted as crucial elements needed by restaurant owners to enable them to adopt and fruitfully implement sustainable practices. Theoretical contributions include the value of the MOA framework for evaluating sustainability practices, informing the development of a sustainability toolkit, and its suitability as a framework to support non-chain tourism businesses in developing practices to support sustainability, inclusivity, and access. Full article

The hospitality and tourism (H&T) sector, marked by intense employee–customer interactions, dynamic labor shifts, and high physical and emotional labor demands, faces chronic talent acquisition and retention. Therefore, tailored employer branding (EB) strategies that address the unique characteristics of the H&T sector are essential for improving the current situation. Despite the critical need for tailored solutions, a clear and unified approach for H&T companies to effectively manage their EB strategies, including the development of a compelling employee value proposition (EVP) that resonates with targeted professionals, has yet to be established. Following the PRISMA reporting guidelines, a systematic literature review of 30 peer-reviewed articles from the Scopus and Web of Science databases was conducted to synthesize existing research on EB practices in the H&T sector. The results reveal a fragmented literature that lacks a cohesive framework for categorizing and measuring EVP. The use of varied and inconsistent EVP models and scales across studies hampers comparative analysis and limits the development of generalizable insights. Furthermore, the review highlights a concentration of research within the hotel industry, leaving other important H&T industries, such as the restaurant and cruise industries, underexplored. This SLR emphasizes the urgent need for a unified approach to EB in H&T. Based on these results, promising research avenues are suggested to further advance EB research in H&T, along with managerial implications for enhancing talent attraction and retention in the sector. Full article

The present study investigates the association between perceived authenticity (PAU), GCON, and behavioral intention within heritage restaurants in Hail, Saudi Arabia. By integrating cognitive appraisal theory (CAT) and the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework, this research explores how authenticity perceptions influence both cultural and gastronomic experiences and contribute to sustainable consumption behavior. Also, it investigates the moderating role of consumer knowledge (CKNOW) in enhancing GCON and its subsequent impact on the behavioral intention (BINT) to dine at heritage restaurants. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study first conducted a content analysis on online reviews to identify key attributes that shape authenticity perceptions. Subsequently, Smart PLS software was employed to conduct an analysis of 417 valid customers of heritage restaurants in Hail. The current study aims to investigate the customers of heritage restaurants in Hail, Saudi Arabia. The current findings showed that students formed a significant market share of heritage restaurants in Hail, Saudi Arabia. The findings confirm that perceived authenticity significantly enhances consumers’ cultural and gastronomic experiences, which in turn fosters GCON and strengthens the behavioral intention to visit authentic restaurants. Furthermore, GCON mediates the association between authenticity, cultural experiences, and purchase intention. Consumer knowledge further moderates this relationship, amplifying the positive effect of GCON on behavioral intention. This study contributes to the growing literature on sustainable gastronomy tourism by demonstrating the crucial interplay between authenticity, sustainability, and consumer knowledge in the heritage restaurant sector. It also offers practical recommendations for restaurant managers, policymakers, and tourism marketers to enhance the authentic dining experience while promoting environmentally responsible behavior. By fostering an awareness of cultural and environmental values, heritage restaurants can serve a critical role in advancing sustainable tourism development in Hail and beyond. Full article

Comprehending the dynamics of risk spillover across the value chain is indispensable for effective risk management, especially amid increasing economic and geopolitical uncertainty. This study investigates the mechanics of risk transmission within the value chain of the Chinese hospitality industry by employing a Time-Varying Parameter Vector Autoregression (TVP-VAR) model using daily data from January 2015 to December 2023. Our research identifies key sub-sectors, such as hotel resort and luxury cruises, film and entertainment, malls and supermarkets, environmental and facilities services, air freight and logistics, and road transportation, as significant risk transmitters that affect the overall stability of the industry. Conversely, sectors such as restaurants, liquor and wine services, leisure services, and railway transport are designated as risk receivers. These results offer critical insights for stakeholders, emphasizing the necessity of comprehensive risk management strategies to reduce negative spillover effects, particularly in the context of economic shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical events like the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Full article

The aim of this study is the quantitative and qualitative characterization of food waste from the restaurant sector in Riobamba, Ecuador as part of circular economy efforts. A weekly analysis of waste generation data collected from 13 participating restaurants showed that the average daily food waste generated was 18.48 kg/restaurant/day. The highest percentage (55%) was produced by organic waste, which was primarily composed of waste from vegetables. Plastics represented most of the recyclable waste (21%), and 24% of the waste was disposable. With a low dry matter content of 24.33 ± 5.12% and an average moisture level of 75.68 ± 5.12%, the high organic content indicates its potential for value-adding through biological recycling processes like anaerobic digestion and composting. Fruit and vegetable waste had high moisture levels (80.3 ± 2.54% and 81.2 ± 2.75%, respectively), which made them perfect for composting and biogas production. However, the moisture and dry matter contents differed greatly amongst the waste categories. The increased dry matter concentration of animal protein waste (54.5 ± 4.30%) indicated that it may be converted into products with added value, such as animal meal and oils. Plant protein waste needs to be processed quickly to avoid spoiling because of its extraordinarily high moisture content (95.7 ± 3.20%) and low dry matter (4.3 ± 3.20%). The findings underscore the necessity for focused measures, such as composting, anaerobic digestion, and enhanced recycling, to optimize resource recovery and mitigate environmental consequences. Full article