IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jresou/v13y2024i10p134-d1486437.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From Your Plate to Our Bin: Tackling Food Waste in Saudi Family Restaurants

Author

Listed:
  • Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih

    (Management Department, College of Business Administration, King Faisal University, Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia
    Hotel Management Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Helwan University, Cairo 12612, Egypt)

  • Ahmed E. Abu Elnasr

    (Higher Institute for Specific Studies, Future Academy, Cairo 11771, Egypt)

Abstract

This research tackled the food waste problem in Saudi Arabia, with a particular focus on family restaurants, where this issue is evident. The study adopted a semi-structured survey, including structured and open-ended questions with family restaurants’ owner–manager/managers. The results of quantitative and qualitative data analysis showed that the most frequent types of food waste in family restaurants are starchy foods, especially bread and rice with a waste ratio above 50% of these items. Additionally, the average ratio of food waste was at least 20% of served food at sampled restaurants per customer. Three major reasons for this high rate of food waste were consumers’ behavior, e.g., positive attitude towards food waste; external factors, e.g., absence of a legal framework; and factors related to restaurants, e.g., food portion served and food cycle management. The results identified no applied strategies for handling food left over and reducing food waste at most (70%) of Saudi restaurants. This study calls for a national policy and program on managing food waste at Saudi family restaurants by adopting the 5Rs model for proper food waste management. Restaurants are encouraged to adopt green initiatives, such as “clean your plate” or “eat or waste” to stimulate their customers’ behavior for reducing their food waste and sustain the environment. This would support a green and circular economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih & Ahmed E. Abu Elnasr, 2024. "From Your Plate to Our Bin: Tackling Food Waste in Saudi Family Restaurants," Resources, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-19, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:13:y:2024:i:10:p:134-:d:1486437
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/13/10/134/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/13/10/134/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kallbekken, Steffen & Sælen, Håkon, 2013. "‘Nudging’ hotel guests to reduce food waste as a win–win environmental measure," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 119(3), pages 325-327.
    2. Brenna Ellison & Brandon McFadden & Bradley J. Rickard & Norbert L. W. Wilson, 2021. "Examining Food Purchase Behavior and Food Values During the COVID‐19 Pandemic," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 58-72, March.
    3. Thyberg, Krista L. & Tonjes, David J., 2016. "Drivers of food waste and their implications for sustainable policy development," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 110-123.
    4. Mohamad G. Abiad & Lokman I. Meho, 2018. "Food loss and food waste research in the Arab world: a systematic review," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(2), pages 311-322, April.
    5. Mensah, Ishmael & Dei Mensah, Rebecca, 2018. "Effects of Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction on Repurchase Intention in Restaurants on University of Cape Coast Campus," MPRA Paper 88449, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Areej Malibari & Ghada Alsawah & Wafaa Saleh & Maha M. A. Lashin, 2023. "Analysis of Attitudes towards Food Waste in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Using Fuzzy Logic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-16, February.
    7. Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih & Fatheya Moustafa, 2022. "Panic Food Purchasing amid COVID-19 Pandemic: Does the Impact of Perceived Severity, Anxiety and Self-Isolation Really Matter?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-16, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lingfei Wang & Yuqin Yang & Guoyan Wang, 2022. "The Clean Your Plate Campaign: Resisting Table Food Waste in an Unstable World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Theodoridis, Prokopis K. & Zacharatos, Theofanis V., 2022. "Food waste during Covid- 19 lockdown period and consumer behaviour – The case of Greece," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    3. Ludovica Principato & Alessio Leo & Giovanni Mattia & Carlo Alberto Pratesi, 2021. "The next step in sustainable dining: the restaurant food waste map for the management of food waste," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2021(3), pages 189-207, September.
    4. Brenna Ellison & Linlin Fan & Norbert L.W. Wilson, 2022. "Is it more convenient to waste? Trade‐offs between grocery shopping and waste behaviors," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(S1), pages 75-89, November.
    5. Wang, Feiyang & Shreedhar, Ganga & Galizzi, Matteo M & Mourato, Susana, 2022. "A take-home message: workplace food waste interventions influence household pro-environmental behaviors," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115762, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Mario dos Santos Bulhões & Maria da Conceição Pereira da Fonseca & Darlan Azevedo Pereira & Márcio A. F. Martins, 2023. "Evaluation of Waste in Food Services: A Structural Equation Analysis Using Behavioral and Operational Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-29, May.
    7. Kuang-Sheng Liu & Ming-Hung Lin, 2021. "Performance Assessment on the Application of Artificial Intelligence to Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Construction Material Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-15, November.
    8. Karolus Karni Lando & Achmad Sudiro & Wahdiyat Moko & Nur Khusniyah Indrawati, 2024. "The Effect of Service Quality on Recertification. Mediated by Customer Satisfaction and Relationship Commitment," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 6, pages 160-179.
    9. Zeballos, Eliana & Dong, Xiao & Islamaj, Ergys, 2023. "A Disaggregated View of Market Concentration in the Food Retail Industry," USDA Miscellaneous 333546, United States Department of Agriculture.
    10. Sylvain Charlebois & Mark Juhasz & Janet Music, 2021. "Supply Chain Responsiveness to a (Post)-Pandemic Grocery and Food Service E-Commerce Economy: An Exploratory Canadian Case Study," Businesses, MDPI, vol. 1(2), pages 1-19, July.
    11. Dalal Aassouli & Ayodele Akande & Ray Jureidini, 2023. "Comparative Analysis of Sustainable Food Governance and the Alignment of Food Security Policies to Sustainable Development: A Case Study of OIC Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-27, November.
    12. Chakravarty, Sujoy & Mishra, Rajan, 2019. "Using social norms to reduce paper waste: Results from a field experiment in the Indian Information Technology sector," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Yao, JingJing & Ota, Takahiro, 2024. "A new interpretation of the AISAS model: An empirical analysis of Chinese consumers’ perceptions of the food traceability system for aquatic and edible bird’s nest products," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 15(02), June.
    14. Denis Hilton & Nicolas Treich & Gaetan Lazzara & Philippe Tendil, 2018. "Designing effective nudges that satisfy ethical constraints: the case of environmentally responsible behaviour," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 17(1), pages 27-38, November.
    15. Leslier Valenzuela-Fernández & Manuel Escobar-Farfán, 2022. "Zero-Waste Management and Sustainable Consumption: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Mapping Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-24, December.
    16. Marek Zborowski & Anna Mikulec, 2022. "Dietary Catering: The Perfect Solution for Rational Food Management in Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-10, July.
    17. Nik Masdek Nik Rozana & Wong Kelly Kai Seng & Mohd Nawi Nolila & Sharifuddin Juwaidah & Wong Wang Li, 2023. "Antecedents of sustainable food waste management behaviour: Empirical evidence from urban households in Malaysia," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 18(1), pages 53-77, March.
    18. Dolnicar, Sara & Juvan, Emil, 2019. "Drivers of plate waste," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-1.
    19. EiÄ aitÄ—, Ovidija & Baležentis, Tomas & RibaÅ¡auskienÄ—, Erika & MorkÅ«nas, Mangirdas & MelnikienÄ—, Rasa & Å treimikienÄ—, Dalia, 2022. "Food waste in the retail sector: A survey-based evidence from Central and Eastern Europe," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    20. Vasiliki V Daskalaki & Maria C Voutsa & Christina Boutsouki & Leonidas Hatzithomas, 2020. "Service quality, visitor satisfaction and future behavior in the museum sector," Post-Print hal-02440954, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:13:y:2024:i:10:p:134-:d:1486437. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.