The Role of the Restaurant Sector in Promoting the Local Cuisine. The Case of Shkodra City

One of the key components in the development of gastronomic tourism is the promotion of the local cuisine. The use of the local food by restaurants is a significant way of promoting the local cuisine as well as establishing collaborative relationships with the local producers. This alternative leads also in the increase of the local production and in the improvement of the returns of their investment. Restaurants which use the local cuisine in their menus face an opportunity of marketing their menus, potentially leading to ongoing purchase of the local food. Shkodra as a touristic destination holds great potentials in the development of gastronomic tourism. This destination owns a large heritage in cuisine, in local food production, techniques of productions and a variety of recourses. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the willingness and ability of the restaurant managers to use and promote the local cuisine in their menus. Research was carried out through a questionnaire delivered in 39 restaurants registered in Shkodra region and in-depth interviews with chef restaurants and managers. The questionnaire was divided in two parts. The first part investigated the extent to which managers and chefs of restaurants assess the role of local food in their business. The second part of the questionnaire evaluates how much do local food affect tourists in the choice of a destination, according to managers and chefs restaurants. This was done to explore the possibility that Shkodra destination has to develop gastronomic tourism and the effect that tourism has in their business. The conclusion of this study was that the restaurants are integrating in their menus the local food because there is an increase in the demand for local produce. This study indicate that restaurants need to cause much more attention to this relationship as a better way to raise authentic experiences.