CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR GREEN RESTAURANT PRACTICES

WHO WE ARE
Environment Agriculture Food (EAF) Group at the

University of Chicago Consumer Research Team Green Restaurant Research Team Program on Global Environment at University of Chicago

OTHER FINDINGS
The most important claims to impact willingness to pay are: 1. Local and Organic 2. Fair Trade 3. Carbon Reduction

Onozaka, Yuko Et. Al., Defining Sustainable Food Market Segments: Do Motivations and Values Vary by

Shopping Locale, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, January 2011

OTHER FINDINGS
Opportunities to drive demand are: Recycling Use of double door Local sourced menu options

Ray Wang, Investigations of Important and Effective Effects of Green Practices in Restaurants, Procedia : Social and Behavioral Sciences 40 94-98, 2012.

OTHER FINDINGS
About 85% of Americans are willing to pay something for green

practices (Our survey confirms this for Chicagoans)

Schubert, Kandampully, Solnet, Kralj Exploring Consumer Perceptions of Green Restaurants in the US, School of Tourism, University of Queensland, 2010

OUR SURVEY
Survey of 321 patrons from Chicago Area via Surveymonkey General dining characteristics Consumer environmental concerns Willingness to pay for green practices General demographics

KEY QUESTIONS
In the past MONTH, how many times have you purchased food from any of the following types of restaurants?
Restaurant Purchases Monthly WTP Corr 0.095 0.157 -0.035 -0.030 -0.018

Restaurant Type Fast Food Fast Casual Pizza Casual Sit Down Fine Sit Down

Mean 5.07 2.21 2.56 1.83 2.69

SD 3.99 1.87 1.46 1.25 1.31

KEY QUESTIONS
Amount Paid

On AVERAGE, how much do you spend when you eat out?

Meal Breakfast Lunch Dinner

Amount $7.97 $10.93 $21.28

KEY QUESTIONS
Restaurant Characteristics Characteristic Score

On a scale of 1-10, when choosing to visit a restaurant for DINNER, how important are the following characteristics about the restaurant?

Menu Value for Money Convenient Location Informed Staff Ambiance Local Food Choices Energy/Water Conservation Recycling/Composting Organic Food Choices

8.4 8.2 7.5 7.0 6.8 5.7 3.8 3.8 3.6

KEY QUESTIONS
From most to least common: What characteristics do you expect green restaurants to exhibit? Tasty Modern Vegetarian Friendly Independent New Artisanal Expensive

KEY QUESTIONS
From Most to Least Common How do you usually find out that a restaurant is engaged in environmentally friendly practices? While Dining Restaurant Website Publicity Friends/Family Social Media Another Website Community Outreach

CONSUMER SEGMENTATION
Who are you serving? We divided patrons into three clusters- different groupings

based on data analysis

We segmented these clusters even more to determine their

preferences with regards to certain environmental factors

CLUSTER DESCRIPTIONS
1: Not Engagednot engaged with environmental issues; the

food factor is ambiguous

2: Highly Engagedpeople who are highly engaged in the

environment and food issues

3: Eco-Consciouspeople who are engaged in the environment

but not food

DEMOGRAPHICS
Clusters Not Engaged Highly Engaged EcoConscious Full Sample Count 78 173 45 Average Income $85,576 $97,398 $64,444 Average Age 47 49 41 Percent Female 27 42 58

296

$89,272

47

40

AVERAGE SPENDING EATING OUT

Clusters Not Engaged Highly Engaged Eco-Conscious Breakfast $8.42 $7.86 $7.65 Lunch $10.85 $10.99 $10.80 Dinner $20.85 $21.76 $20.05

Average

$7.94

$10.93

$21.28

CONSUMER TRUST SURVEY QUESTIONS

On a scale of 1-10, how does the fact that a food item is

USDA Certified Organic affect your decision to buy the item?

On a scale of 1-10, how much do you trust claims from

restaurants about environmentally friendly practices?

CONSUMER TRUST
Clusters Not Engaged Highly Engaged Eco-Conscious Average USDA Certification 3.58 5.47 5.00 4.90 Trusting Restaurants 4.17 5.07 5.36 4.87

CONJOINT INTRODUCTION
Conjoint analysis for entrees between $15 - $19 Tested willingness to pay for: 80% of ingredients organic, 50% or no organic. Locally sourced ingredients v.s Not local

CONJOINT DATA RESULTS

Price Premiums Not Engaged Highly Engaged $0 0 3.31 $2.07 3.93 7.43 EcoConscious $2.79 4.47 3.54

Feature 50% Organic 80% Organic Local

All $1.58 2.52 5.24

Male $1.31 1.94 4.47

Female $2.14 3.77 7.16

CONJOINT INCOME
Price Premiums 0 25,000 $1.31 1.94 2.72 25,000 50,000 $1.13 2.19 1.95 50,000 75,000 $1.87 2.03 4.46 75,000 100,000 $1.72 3.44 10.56 100,000 or more $1.87 3.21 7.73

Feature 50% Organic 80% Organic Local

CONJOINT AGE
Price Premiums Feature 50% Organic 80% Organic Local 18 -29 $2.20 4.19 2.51 30 44 $2.00 4.51 7.63 45 - 60 $1.30 1.44 4.64 >60 $1.40 1.75 7.32

CHICAGO VS USA
While Chicago ranks 8 for frequency for carry out

lunch, it is not in the top 20 for dine in lunch Chicagoans tend to describe themselves as Foodies more often then other Americans In terms of WTP for green practices Chicagoans are not different with the exception of highly educated consumers have higher WTP in Chicago then elsewhere
Source: Dining Out, Living Social, Washington, September 15, 2011.

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
Chicagoans are willing to pay a premium! Communicate: website draws consumers, during dining repeat

business Consumers are more likely to believe green claims when they are specific and what they can relate to Eco-conscious consumers care more about green practices than foodies, but foodies care too Affluent women age 30-44: highest demand for green practices Consumers care most about local food and recycling

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition Green Seal Public Policy Department at the University of Chicago Pam Cohen Nancy Himmelfarb Sabina Shaikh