Food waste within Maltese restaurants

Abstract

The study aims to explore the awareness of restaurant managers on food waste and how food waste is being reduced within Maltese restaurants. It attempts to analyse the manager’s knowledge and skill on how to reduce food waste. A qualitative approach was adopted throughout this study. The researcher visited family style, fine dining, take away and buffet restaurants from all over Malta. In each restaurant, the researcher held semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the data took place by means of thematic analysis. The results indicated that Maltese restaurant managers have limited awareness on what causes food waste and what needs to be done to reduce food waste. Recommendations on what can be done to improve the restaurant manager’s knowledge on how to reduce food waste, together with further implications and further research are included in the conclusion.