Restaurant menu-planning in Japan: A qualitative analysis

ABSTRACT

In Asia, the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is a serious problem. Eating out is now common, including in Japan, and eating out has been reported to be positively related to the onset of NCDs. To improve the nutritional quality of out-of-home meals, we must be able to identify the factors affecting menu planning. However, there are no reports on how restaurateurs plan their menus in Asian countries. So, we used semi-structured interviews with 26 restaurateurs. As a result, we identified the following five factors: Sales Promotion, Internal Factors of Restaurateurs, Customer Prioritization, External Factors, and Management for Profit, which indicate that to improve the nutritional quality, efficient strategies should consider these factors.

KEYWORDS:

• Restaurants
• qualitative research
• public health
• menu planning

Acknowledgments

Mika Saiki designed the study, collected and analyzed the data, and co-wrote the article. Misa Shimpo formulated the research questions, designed the study, collected and analyzed the data, and revised the article. Rie Akamatsu formulated the research question, designed the study, and co-wrote the article. Mihono Komatsu analyzed the data and revised the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI [18K02219].