Investigating the Impact of Restaurants' Sustainable Practices

Abstract

This study analyzes the impact of sustainable practices (food safety, sustainability, quality, and environmental sensitivity) on consumer satisfaction and revisit intention in green restaurants.
Data was collected from 417 participants via a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Sustainable practices significantly influence consumer satisfaction and revisit intentions.
Willingness to pay moderates the relationship between consumer satisfaction and revisit intention.
The study provides strategies for restaurant business owners to improve consumer satisfaction and build a strong brand reputation.
This study examines restaurants’ environmental legitimacy from consumers’ perspectives and expands the knowledge of consumers’ pro-environmental behavior in developing nations.

Introduction

The foodservice industry is a major consumer of resources and a significant source of food waste.
Adopting sustainable practices is crucial for foodservice businesses.
Sustainable practices include recyclable cutlery, organic food, water-saving equipment, and eco-friendly ambiance.
Green initiatives reduce environmental impact and provide a competitive edge.
Green restaurants practice activities to protect the environment by providing food in an environment-friendly manner.
Green restaurants emphasize reduce, reuse, recycle, energy, and efficiency.
Consumers are increasingly aware and concerned about environmental issues, which creates positive attitudes toward eco-friendly products and services.
Limited studies explore the effect of organizations’ environmental legitimacy from consumers’ perspectives.
This study analyzes the impact of green restaurants’ environmental legitimacy on consumers’ satisfaction and revisit intentions, with a focus on the Indian restaurant industry, which is worth more than Rs. 80,000 crores and growing.

Conceptual Framework

Green restaurants aim to reduce their operational impact on the environment.
Sustainability has emerged as a vital issue for the foodservice industry.
Sustainable practices include food safety, green certification, eco-friendly environments, and food quality.
Consumers show positive signs towards restaurants being more environmentally aware and functional.

Environmental Legitimacy

Legitimacy theory: An entity’s value system is congruent with the value system of the larger social system.
Environmental legitimacy: stakeholders’ perceptions that the environmental practices of the organization are satisfactory.
Environmental legitimacy can be considered the strategy of an organization “to increase their investment in green innovation which involves the generation of new ideas, goods, services, processes, or management systems to reduce environmental pollution and achieve sustainability".

Food Safety and Consumer Satisfaction

Consumers emphasize food safety, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Restaurants implement food safety protocols and hygiene requirements.
Food safety steps influence consumers to create a positive image of restaurants.
Hypothesis H1: Food safety practices are positively linked with consumer satisfaction.

Food Quality and Consumer Satisfaction

Food quality includes physical appearance, smell, taste, healthiness, freshness, processing, packaging, and labeling.
Consumers evaluate restaurants based on perceived quality.
Hypothesis H2: Food quality is positively linked with consumer satisfaction.

Environmental Sensitivity and Consumer Satisfaction

Environmental sensitivity incorporates moral values concerning sustainable and green practices.
Environmental sensitivity increases consumer attentiveness towards environmentally friendly behavior.
Hypothesis H3: Environmental sensitivity is positively linked with consumer satisfaction.

Food Sustainability Practices and Consumer Satisfaction

Green restaurants follow waste reduction, water and energy conservation, and consumption of organic food.
Eliminating food waste establishes competitive advantages for restaurants.
Hypothesis H4: Food sustainability practices are linked with consumer satisfaction.

Consumer Satisfaction and Revisit Intention

Consumer satisfaction: An equivalent evaluation between pre-purchase expectations and post-purchase outputs.
Positive intent grows with satisfaction.
Hypothesis H5: Consumer satisfaction is positively linked with consumer’s revisit intention.

Willingness to Pay as a Moderator

Demographic and psychographic factors influence consumers’ willingness to pay for green practices.
Environmental sensitive consumers agree to pay extra cost for the sustainable practices of a restaurant.
Hypothesis H6: Willingness to pay moderates the relation between consumer satisfaction and revisit intention for green restaurants.

Methodology

Online self-completion survey analysis was conducted with frequent consumers of top-rated green restaurants.
Purposive sampling technique was used to select participants actively engaged on social media pages.

Data Collection

Participants were shortlisted over four months.
A total of 631 invites were sent, with 417 responses considered useful.
The demographic profile of participants consisted of gender, age, occupation, marital status, and education.

Measures

Constructs measured: food sustainable practices, environmental sensitivity, food quality, food safety, consumer satisfaction, revisit intention, and willingness to pay.
Multi-item scales were used, with items rated on a five-point Likert scale.

Data Analysis

Measurement Model

Reliability was measured with Cronbach's alpha, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed.
The CFA model included all constructs.
Harman’s one-factor test was applied to find out the biases in data collection.

Results of the Structural Model and Hypotheses Testing

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to examine the formulated hypotheses.
Path coefficients were measured to investigate the framed hypotheses.
H1: Food Safety – Satisfaction (Supported)
H2: Food Quality – Satisfaction (Supported)
H3: Environmental Sensitivity – Satisfaction (Supported)
H4: Food Sustainability Practices – Satisfaction (Supported)
H5: Satisfaction- Revisit Intention (Supported)
H6: Willingness to pay moderates the relation between consumer satisfaction and revisit intention for green restaurants. (Supported)

Discussion

The study examined green restaurants’ practices, consumer satisfaction, and revisits intention.
The study has also found that food safety procedures in a green restaurant influence consumer satisfaction, leading to a significant, constructive association between sustainable practices and consumer satisfaction.
Restaurant’s food quality and healthiness factors of green restaurants significantly influence consumer satisfaction.
Restaurant’s environmental sensitivity and consumer satisfaction can increase their revisit intentions.
There is a significant association between food sustainability practices and consumer satisfaction.
Willingness to pay is a strong moderator and moderates the relationship between consumer satisfaction and revisit intention.

Managerial Implications

Obtain locally grown, free-range, and ecologically friendly crops and foods, to appeal more to the environment-conscious consumers.
Restaurants must use eco-friendly biodegradable take-out cutlery for serving food to consumers.
Create awareness about their sustainable practices by communicating the progressive outcomes of their sustainable practices.
Display their green and organic practices on their social media pages to sensitize consumers towards green consumption.
Owners/managers must provide food safety training to the food handlers to achieve good hygiene practices in restaurants.
Owners/managers must focus on the several attributes to improve and maintain the food quality in restaurants such as taste, temperature, visual presentation, nutrition, portion size, and aroma etc.
Charge a small premium for providing green food and services to the consumers, and create awareness about the benefits of green consumption.
Provide training to their staff members to minimize food waste, reduce water and energy use etc.

Conclusion, Limitations, and Future Research Implications

The current study makes a significant theoretical contribution by examining the firm’s environmental legitimacy from consumers’ perspectives.
-The findings indicate that green restaurants’ environmental legitimacy (food sustainability practices, food quality, food safety, and environmental sensitivity) can help satisfy consumers’ expectations and can increase their revisit intentions.