What Really Drives Food Waste in the Restaurant Industry? Evidence from Lithuania

Abstract

The present paper embarks on revealing the main driving factors behind the customer generated food waste (CGW) and kitchen generated food waste (KGW) in mid-range casual dining restaurants in leading Lithuanian tourist destinations. The international and local tourist destinations were investigated separately. Interviews with restaurant managers were utilized for gathering primary data, and a fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a form of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM), was employed for computing the final ranks and Eigenvectors of the driving factors behind the food waste. Feelings of shame and the absence of a child's menu appeared to be among the most important driving factors of CGW in local tourist destinations, while the language barrier, improperly presented traditional dishes, and friend gatherings had the biggest effect on the occurrence of CGW in international tourist destinations. KGW is driven by improper demand planning, deficiencies in operational processes, and a lack of proper infrastructure, particularly storage facilities. We close the paper by proposing techniques to tackle food waste tailored to the driving factors we reveal.