In order to define consumer expectations over a traceability and information system for the entire food supply chain, the information behaviour of consumers in the food service industry has been subject to an analysis for the first time. In comparison to consumers in retailing, significant differences appear in information seeking behaviour as well as in the information desired.meat traceability, consumer behaviour, food service industry, Consumer/Household Economics,

Becker, Tilman C.

Rogge, C.B.E.

English

Research Papers in Economics

  1 
12
th Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists – EAAE 2008 
Consumer Information in the food service industry vs. food retailing 
Rogge C.B.E. 
1 and Becker T.C. 
1 
1 University of Hohenheim/Institute for Agricultural Policy and Agricultural Markets, Stuttgart, Germany 
Abstract— In order to define consumer expectations 
over a traceability and information system for the entire 
food  supply  chain,  the  information  behaviour  of 
consumers in the food service industry has been subject 
to  an  analysis  for  the  first  time.  In  comparison  to 
consumers in retailing, significant differences appear in 
information  seeking  behaviour  as  well  as  in  the 
information desired. 
Keywords—  meat  traceability,  consumer  behaviour, 
food service industry. 
I. INTRODUCTION  
Due to changes in modern society the food service 
industry
1 market has grown to be ever more important 
in the last few decades. These changes originate in the 
increasing  number  of  working  women  and  single 
households  [2].  In  the  last  couple  of  years  a  slight 
decline  in  this  trend  has  been  observed.  However, 
while  a  reversion  of  the  trend  only  strikes  the 
individual  gastronomy,  the  sector  of  canteens  and 
catering is continually growing [3]. Currently about ¾ 
of  the  quantity  consumed  of  (unprocessed)  meat,  as 
well  as  meat  products,  are  distributed  via  retailing. 
The remaining ¼ is sold in the food service industry. 
However,  due  to  the  larger  gross  margins,  the 
significance is disproportionately high [1].  
A systematic overview of the different sectors of the 
food service industry is presented in Figure 1.  
The aim of the joint research project IT FoodTrace
2 
is  the  development  of  a  traceability  system  for  the 
entire food supply chain. In the supply chain the food 
service  industry  is  placed  on  the  same  level  as 
retailing.  Within  the  project,  the  sub-project 
                                                        
1 Food service industry includes all establishments that prepare 
meals for consumption out of home, as well as for delivery to 
homes. [1] 
2 www.itfoodtrace.de 
systematised  food  service  industry
3  aims  to  develop 
improved concepts for food safety and inspection. The 
first  attempt  to  design  such  a  system  for  the  food 
service industry was the development of a traceability 
system  for  a  large  fast  food  chain  by  Horváth  [4], 
which was more or less a supply chain management 
system  designed  specifically  for  the  needs  of  this 
company.  
The system to be developed in this project will not 
only respect the requirements of a single participant in 
the supply chain, but will also meet the expectations of 
consumers. It is therefore important to know whether 
consumers in the food service industry demand other 
information than the consumers in retailing. Various 
studies have analysed consumer behaviour concerning 
food.  Most  sectors  of  retailing  (supermarkets, 
discounters, etc.) have been covered in great detail, but 
no studies  have  examined the food service  industry. 
Now  for  the  first  time  a  study  has  been  conducted 
examining  the  demand  for  information
4  on  meat  in 
selected  sectors  of  the  food  service  industry,  and 
compared to retailing.  
Besides the demand for information, it was also an 
objective  to  investigate  the  willingness  to  pay  for 
additional  information  concerning  traceability  in  the 
food  service  industry.  The  best  method  to  measure 
willingness  to  pay  is  an  experimental  auction,  as 
conducted by Hobbs [5] and Dickinson and Bailey [6]. 
This  study  however  only  intends  to  identify 
differences  between  the  food  service  industry  and 
retailing.  Interviewees  have  therefore  simply  been 
asked about the price premium they  were  willing to 
pay. 
                                                        
3  The  sub-project  is  restricted  to  the  sectors  systematised 
gastronomy,  catering  and  communal  feeding  (marked  grey  in 
Fig. 1). 
4 Information in this context is every part of knowledge (regarding 
the product, its production or the establishments it run through), 
that has an influence on the buying decision.   2 
12
th Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists – EAAE 2008 
food service
industry
without
accommodation
with
accommodation
hotels
bed &
breakfast
profit
orientated
non-profit
orientated
communal
feeding
staff canteen,
cafeteria
detention
centre, 
army, other
institutions
care-sector
kindergarten,
school,
etc.
gastronomy catering
individual
gastronomy
systematised
gastronomy club houses
food
orientated
(restaurants,
cafés)
drink
orientated
(bars, pubs,
discotheques)
fast food
restaurants
petrol station
& roadhouse
gastronomy
leisure-
gastronomy
fullservice-
restaurants
restaurants
in shops
& stores
 
 
Fig. 1 Structure of the food service industry (modified from: 2) 
II. METHODS 
Two parallel questionnaires were formulated – one 
for the food service industry and one for retailing. The 
consumers  were  questioned  directly  at  the  place  of 
consumption  or  purchase,  where  they  make  their 
consumption or purchasing decision. The survey was 
conducted  in  the  metropolitan  area  of  Stuttgart 
(Germany)  in  the  time  period  between  July  and 
November 2007. Overall 627 people patronizing the 
food  service  industry  (thereof  14%  in  fast  food 
restaurants, 35% in the restaurant of a furniture store, 
and  51%  in  staff  canteens)  and  77  people  in  retail 
locations (thereof 42% in a supermarket, and 58% in a 
shopping centre with consumer market and discounter) 
were questioned.  
The data evaluation was conducted by the means of 
descriptive  statistics,  and  differentiated  by  food 
service  industry  (with  its  sectors  of  fast  food 
restaurants, restaurants in shops and stores, and staff 
canteens) and retailing.    3 
12
th Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists – EAAE 2008 
III. RESULTS 
In  answering  the  question  of  whether  the 
information  about  meat  is  sufficient  during  the 
purchase/consumption decision, about ¾ in retail, and 
about ⅓ in the food service industry respond that they 
received the information they want (see Fig. 3). On the 
other  hand,  it  was  observed  that  the  information 
seeking behaviour in retailing is evenly spread, while 
the majority of consumers in the food service industry 
never seek information about the meat in their meals 
(see Fig. 2).  
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50%
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retail (n=77)
food service industry (n=627)
fast food (n=88)
restaurants in shops & stores (n=221)
staff canteens (n=318)
 
Fig. 2 Information (seeking) behaviour 
Against  this  background  it  is  not  unusual  that 
dissatisfaction with available information in the food 
service industry is only slightly higher than in retailing 
(see Fig. 3). Over saturation with information occurs 
almost exclusively in the case of restaurants in shops 
and stores.  
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retail (n=77)
food service industry (n=627)
fast food (n=88)
restaurants in shops & stores (n=221)
staff canteens (n=318)
 
Fig. 3 Information coverage 
When asked about the importance of single pieces 
of information (e.g. breed, transport, labels), the farm 
was  only  mentioned  in  second  place  in  the  food 
service industry, which differs from what was found in 
retailing. Consumers in the food service industry place 
the most importance on food inspections (see Fig. 4).  
Through all sectors there  exists a remarkably  low 
interest  in  information  about  slaughtering  and 
deboning (see Fig. 4). This  observation is consistent 
with statements from consumers in group discussions 
carried  out  in  cooperation  with  the  sub-project 
Consumer analysis. Interviewees tend to evade these 
questions,  preferring  not  to  be  confronted  with  the 
topic.  
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retail (n=77)
food service industry (n=627)
fast food (n=88)
restaurants in shops & stores (n=221)
staff canteens (n=318)
 
Fig. 4 Information deficits 
In the group discussions, a higher level of trust in 
the  food  service  industry  was  stated  as  a  frequent 
explanation for the differences in information seeking 
behaviour.  This  statement  seems  to  be  a  paradox, 
however the true causes are convenience, lack of time, 
or simply the desire for enjoyment. The results of the 
survey support that the average level of consumer trust 
in the food service industry is higher than in retailing. 
Figure  5  illustrates  the  trust  in  different  sources  of 
information. Trust in service personnel is remarkably 
low in the food service industry as a whole, and even 
lower in canteens compared to fast food restaurants. 
On the other hand, trust in food inspections is rather 
high.    4 
12
th Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists – EAAE 2008 
food service
industry (n=627)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
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100%
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retail (n=77)
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Fig. 5 Consumer trust 
The  most common association  with traceability  is 
the origin of the animal/meat. This corresponds with 
the  results  of  preliminary  studies  conducted  by  the 
sub-projects  Consumer  analysis  [7]  and  Business 
models and cost-benefit analysis [8].  
Like many other pieces of information, traceability 
is of higher importance in retailing than in the food 
service  industry.  It  is  striking  that  traceability,  as 
defined  by  article  18  of  the  Regulation  (EC)  No 
178/2002,  is  more  important  to  consumers  than 
traceability  according  to  their  own  definition  (see 
Fig. 6).  
food service industry (n=627)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
traceability
(own definition)
traceability
(legal definition)
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less important not important
not applicable  
retail (n=77)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
traceability
(own definition)
traceability
(legal definition)
very important rather important
less important not important
not applicable
  
Fig. 6 Importance of traceability 
With regard to the sub-project Business models and 
cost-benefit  analysis  the  consumers’  willingness  to 
pay  for  information  concerning  traceability  for  the 
entire supply chain is of particular interest. In the food 
service  industry  the  maximum  price  premium  that 
consumers  are  willing  to  pay  for  information 
concerning the path of the animal/meat from farm to 
fork, is about ⅔ of the willingness to pay observed in 
retailing (see Fig. 7).  
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
mean trimmed mean
(5%)
trimmed mean
(10%)
median standard
deviation
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retail (n=77)
food service industry (n=627)
fast food (n=88)
restaurants in shops & stores (n=221)
staff canteens (n=318)
 
Fig. 7 Price premium for traceability information 
on the entire meat supply chain 
IV. DISCUSSION AND PERSPECTIVE 
In  the  food  service  industry  the  majority  of 
interviewees  neither  actively  seek  for  nor  want  any 
information, while in retailing the majority states that 
they receive the information they want. In restaurants 
inside  shops  and  stores  there  is  even  a  slight  over 
saturation with information. This is consistent with the 
result that the overall trust in the food service industry 
is higher than in retailing. The only exception is the 
extremely  low  level  of  trust  in  the  food  service 
industry staff.  
This observation is consistent with the high priority 
placed  on  food  inspections  among  other  important 
available  information.  It  is  the  information  topic  in 
highest demand by the consumers in the food service 
industry.  In  retailing  the  origin/farm  is  the  most 
important information.  
Against  this  background  it  is  understandable  that 
the  willingness  to  pay  for  additional  information  is 
significantly lower in the food service industry.  
The next step in the further course of the research 
project IT FoodTrace will be the investigation of the 
information flow through the food service industry as   5 
12
th Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists – EAAE 2008 
part of the supply chain, and of the requirements of the 
food service industry as to a traceability system for the 
entire supply chain. Of special interest is the question 
of  whether  the  provision  of  certain  pieces  of 
information  to  consumers  corresponds  with  the 
business objectives of the food service industry. The 
question  of  who  will  bear  the  costs  will  also  be  an 
issue.  
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Use macro [author address] to enter the address of the 
corresponding author: 
•  Author:  Claire Rogge 
•  Institute:  University of Hohenheim 
•  City:    Stuttgart 
•  Country:  Germany 
•  Email:  claire.rogge@uni-hohenheim.de 
 
   6 
12
th Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists – EAAE 2008 
 
 

Akzeptanz von Qualitätssicherungs- und Rückverfolgungssystemen. Verbrauchereinstellung und Zahlungsbereitschaft. Master- Thesis. Universität Hohenheim.

Consumer Demand for Traceability: International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium Annual Meeting

Die systematisierte Gastronomie. Ein Vergleich der Entwicklung

Ermittlung der Zahlungsbereitschaft für die Rückverfolgbarkeit von Fleisch mit Hilfe der Conjoint-Analyse. Master-Thesis. Universität Hohenheim.

Meat Traceability. Are U.S. Consumers Willing to Pay for It? In:

Supply Chain Management in der Fleischerzeugung: Konzeption, Implementierung und Perspektiven. Dissertation. Weihenstephan,

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

Verzehrverhalten der Deutschen zu Hause und außer Haus. Zentrale Marktund Preisberichtstelle (ZMP),

Consumer Information in the food service industry vs. food retailing

Consumer Information in the food service industry vs. food retailing

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