The critical capacities of restaurants as facilitators for transformations to sustainability

Abstract

The United Nations released the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) following the 2012 Rio +20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. This articulated 17 SDGs that balance the environmental, social and economic aspects of development, setting a timespan between 2015 and 2030 to end global poverty through sustainable development approaches.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the tourism industry as a critical component of the global economy can play an important role in influencing consumers to participate in sustainability through their food consumption choices. Research shows restaurants and cafés around the world have offered sustainability best practice initiatives drawing attention to the political consequences of personal eating habits. This article presents the findings from case study research of twenty Australian restaurants featuring sustainability in their business concept and in their practices. Findings indicate that restaurants make surprising and valuable contributions to the SDG agenda. These restaurants’ efforts range from: implementation of specific SDGs; using food as a way to unite and empower people; educating their stakeholders about environmental and community impacts of sustainability practices; and modelling alternatives that in some cases address critical questions of how are we to live.

Keywords:

• Sustainable development
• sustainable tourism
• education
• restaurants
• triple bottom line
• holistic sustainability

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank Dr Emily Moskwa or her research assistance on this project. We also acknowledge fundingsupport from the Le Cordon Bleu - University of South Australia Research Grant Program.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Freya Higgins-Desbiolles

Freya Higgins-Desbiolles is a tourism academic concerned with issues of sustainability, human rights and justice in tourism. She has researched and taught in tourism management for twenty years. Her approach as a critical scholar is to seek the emancipatory capacities of collaborative research to co-create change for better futures.

Gayathri Wijesinghe

Dr Gayathri (Gee) Wijesinghe is a lecturer in Tourism and Events Management at the Business School, at the University of South Australia. Dr Wijesinghe has a professional background in the international hotel industry, and her research focuses on hospitality related aspects such as food, leisure, well-being and customer service. Her recent research explores the role of the restaurant sector in fostering sustainability and community well-being. Dr Wijesinghe is particularly interested in gender related issues in the hospitality industry. In a recent study, she explored how gender stereotypes and sexualisation of labour was leading to sexual violence at work in the hospitality industry.