Ninth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Food waste refers to “food appropriate for human consumption being discarded, whether or not after it is kept beyond its expiry date or left to spoil” (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2013). Previous research on food waste primarily focused on the production chain, industry comparison, consumers’ perceptions of food waste, and strategies to reduce food waste, etc. However, relatively less research examined food waste issues from the restaurant employees’ perspective. The restaurant industry is one of the largest employers in the United States. The National Restaurant Association estimated the restaurant industry hired more than 14.7 million employees in 2017. Nearly half of all adults have worked in the restaurant industry at least once during their life, and over one-third of adults worked their first job in a restaurant. Given the enormous number of people who have worked at a restaurant in their life, their view of food waste should be explored. This study attempts to narrow this gap in literature by investigating how restaurant employees perceive issues related to food waste. A qualitative research approach was employed in order to develop a deeper understanding of restaurant employees’ perception of food waste. An online focus group method was adopted. Participants were college students who have restaurant work experience. The preliminary findings indicated that the management issues causing food waste include ineffective inventory and forecast methods, inconsistent food quality, chef’s personal philosophy toward food, entering incorrect order information by the staff, etc. More insights of the results are discussed in the forthcoming paper.