Restaurants Going Local: Motivations and Challenges for Sourcing Local Food

Visitors to destinations are frequently looking to partake of the local fare when travelling, either away from home or to another country (CRFA, 2016). Couple this with the local food movement and the increasing propensity for sustainable travel (Dodds and Holmes, 2017; Loureiro and Umberger, 2005), it begs the question of why restaurants might look towards sourcing locally and the barriers they face. This paper looks to investigate the greatest motivations for restaurants to implement local food in regard food quality, guest interests and appreciation, and social and environmental justice. As well, looking to gain an understanding of the barriers they face and strategies they use to overcome these barriers. This study also considers the wider sustainability implications of using local food. By focusing on how current restaurants can utilize local food, and mitigate barriers to achieving such outcomes, locations can begin to increase the representation of local food on menus. It is also useful to understand restaurants opinions on offerings such as local food to consumers from a Canadian context. By looking to have restaurants increase their use of local ingredients, destinations can improve regional economic development all the while providing the tourist with greater opportunity to experience what the local terroir has to offer