Adding environmental footprint labels to menus and training chefs in how to prepare appealing plant-rich dishes are key to promoting sustainable food choices in a foodservice setting.
Displaying plant-based meat alternatives alongside meat options and incorporating plant-rich dishes into meal deals are also identified among a series of behaviour change techniques that can accelerate a shift to more sustainable diets.
The findings feature in a new report from the World Resources Institute (WRI). Based on almost 350 academic studies and informed by collaboration with a range of food businesses through its Coolfood initiative, WRI’s latest ‘foodservice playbook’ updates work previously published in 2020 and is designed to help businesses create a dining environment that supports low-carbon food choices, including more plant-rich dishes and less meat.
WRI presents 90 behaviour change techniques that foodservice operators can use to influence diners’ choices, 18 of which are designated as priority techniques that have been judged to be the most feasible and impactful. These are organised into six categories: product, presentation, people, promotion, price and placement.
Other priority techniques include using indulgent language on menus to describe plant-rich dishes and blending plant-based ingredients into ground or minced meat-based dishes to reduce the meat content.
Through Coolfood, WRI works with cities, hospitals, universities, restaurants and other food providers serving billions of meals each year to operationalise and scale the most promising behaviour change strategies.
It says early adopters have so far reduced their per-plate carbon emissions by 10% while increasing the share of plant-based ingredients on the average plate by 8%.
As well as encouraging foodservice businesses to adopt the techniques, WRI is calling on governments to create enabling policy conditions such as introducing taxes on meat and dairy while supporting subsidies on fresh produce.
“Behavioural change is often mistakenly characterised and criticised for pushing the responsibility of fixing the climate crisis onto individuals,” wrote WRI president and CEO Ani Dasgupta in a foreword to the report. “While we certainly all have a role to play in reducing emissions, the reality is that this is a problem of scale. Catalysing behaviour change at the speed and magnitude required must start with the decisions of companies, governments and other institutions.”
