Sustainability of Food and Beverage Sector in Japan

Foods and drinks can satisfy the most basic need of human beings, hunger and thirst. Consuming foods and drinks can also be an enjoyment for people and can give them socialising opportunities. Regarding these points, the food and drink sector plays a significant role in tourism activities as well as people’s daily lives. This chapter examines eateries and takeaways/deliveries. Eateries are divided into restaurants; bars, cabarets and night clubs; and cafés. Concerning the economic sustainability of their businesses, basically all of them have suffered from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic since spring 2020. Especially, eateries whose main product is alcohol drinks have been hit severely by business restrictions requested by regional/local government to prevent the spread of the virus. On the contrary, overall takeaway and delivery services have been massively developed because the services can minimise chances to contact other people. Consequently, the socio-cultural sustainability of takeaway and delivery services has been enhanced, making themselves part of familiar cityscapes. Overall, eateries, particularly restaurants and cafés, have been working hard on SDGs often as their CSR activities, adopting ‘reduce’ and ‘reuse’ of 3Rs and practicing the mottainai spirit. Although takeaway and delivery services are beneficial for the economic sustainability of food and drink businesses, they can also damage the environmental sustainability of relevant natural environment, increasing the amount of package waste and polluting water and soil.