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- The impact of tourism in the restaurant business: a case study in the city of OportoPublication . Rocha, Ana; Azevedo, Daniel; Silva, SusanaThe evolution of the restaurant business has always been strongly associated with the evolution of the tourism sector. In fact, several authors have identified and described the relationship between these two sectors. Restaurants and gastronomy are a significant part of the local culture and can work as a major touristic attraction. At the same time, restaurants profit from the increase in tourists in a particular market. However, there is few information on how the tourism sector impacts the restaurant business. This study aims to shed some light on how restaurants are influenced by the growth of tourism and how they adapt themselves to this ”new” customers. For that, a quantitative study was conducted in the city of Oporto which has been considered for the past years on of the best destinations in Europe and in the world, and that recognition has led to a steady increase in tourism, making it an excellent case study. A sample of 69 restaurants located in the city answered an online questionnaire with questions about restaurant location and characteristics, business growth and response to the increase in tourists at three specific periods in time — 2012, 2015 and 2018. Statistical analyses were performed with IBM SPSS 25.0. The preliminary results showed that most (n=53, 78,1%) of the restaurants were small or medium enterprises, 82,4% were located nearby touristic enterprises, 89,7% were nearby public transport stop and nearby touristic monuments. Regarding the number of foreign clients, there is a significant increase between 2012 and 2015, and a slight increase for 2018. There is also an increase in average selling price of a meal for 2012 and 2018. Regarding seasonality, results showed a higher distribution of customers across the year. The results valued the changes made in the restaurants namely hiring new collaborators with foreign languages abilities. Regarding the differences between historical and non- historical city centre restaurants there were statistical differences in the number of tourists in 2015, the number of tourists and the selling price of a meal in 2018. The restaurants in historical city centre had more tourists and a higher price. Thus, we can conclude that the characteristics of the restaurants customers has changed overtime and there is a decrease of seasonality associated to this business. The increase in the average selling price of a meal suggest that there is room for restaurants to upgrade their value proposition. Therefore, it is important the business sector follow this evolution and the specific needs of the customers related to this changes.
- The pilgrim consumer behaviour along the Way of St. JamesPublication . Monteiro, Rafael; Silva, Susana; Azevedo, DanielThe purpose of this study is contributing to increase the knowledge about Pilgrim’s behaviour during their journey. It focuses mainly on food consumption expenses and habits. The study aims to describe the behavior of pilgrims along the Santiago route. A cross-sectional quantitative study was performed to achieve our objectives. 225 pilgrims fulfilled a survey to characterise their profile and their consumption pattern during the pilgrimage. Our results showed that most of the pilgrims describe themselves as tourist or mystical and transcendental. The pilgrimage lasts 13 days performing 23,6 kilometers for 6,5 hours per day. Regarding differences in the amount of money spent according to the pilgrim profile or the pilgrimage we only observe significant differences for the tourist profile intending to spend more money per day. In the same way, pilgrims performing less than 6 hours of walking per day intend to spend more money. In conclusion, it seems that the Saint James Way seems to attract more people to the local community increasing their availability to spend money locally.
- Human resources management and the impact of the restaurant opening hours: an exploratory studyPublication . Azevedo, Daniel; Silva, SusanaThe hospitality sector is struggling with a generalized shortage of manpower to cope with the post-pandemic economic recovery. Furthermore, the work-life balance has become a very important issue when it comes to choose a place to work. This has been creating huge constraints in the hospitality industry in running and/or developing new businesses due to lack of qualified human resources. Considering the importance of this sector in the Portuguese economy, it is of paramount importance to better understand the origin of such constraints and how businesses can adapt to a new labour market reality. An exploratory study was conducted to understand how restaurant opening hours, as a top-level management decision, affects the work-life balance in the industry thus contributing to enrich the attractiveness of the jobs offered. To develop the study two groups of restaurants were studied. The first group is comprised of limited opening-hours restaurants, and the second group (as a control group), a non-limited opening hours restaurant. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with proprietors and/or top-level managers to ascertain how the decision on opening hours was weighed in the work-life balance concerns and what are the most important managerial implications, business profitability impacts, and staff retention indicators. Preliminary results seem to indicate that restaurant opening hours are one important top-level management decisions and the work-life balance has played a crucial role in the definition of the business model of the studied restaurants. By choosing limited opening hours, managers are able to schedule staff much easier and respect, as much as possible their work-life balance which then contributes to a more stable and motivated workforce. The results also show that this is only possible because restaurants manage to be profitable within the limited opening hours period. Further studies should be conducted to better understand how these new business model approaches could be used in larger-scale restaurants with non-limited opening hours.
- Cooking up a sustainable future: insights of circular economy in the restaurantsPublication . Maia, Beatriz; Silva, Susana; Melo, António; Silva, Goretti; Azevedo, Daniel; Camões, Henrique; Melo, CarlaRestaurants increasingly prioritize promoting sustainability within their kitchen’s operations, focusing their offers on valuing raw materials as a central point of gastronomy, thus highlighting the importance of local, responsible consumption and respect for nature and the environment. The Circular Economy (CE) emerges as a new sustainability paradigm, uncovering valuable opportunities for organizations and customers, in harmony with the environment. This study aims to characterize good sustainable and circular practices in the restaurant sector, understanding how endogenous products can enhance food waste reduction. Through a qualitative methodology, nine semi-structured exploratory interviews were carried out with restaurant experts, to gain in-depth knowledge into sustainable and CE practices used in restaurants. By conducting a thematic analysis, three main themes emerged 'Positioning and Branding,' 'Circular Economy,' and 'Product and Food Waste'. 'Positioning and Branding' covers the evolution of an eco-conscious mindset in organizations, from the inception of sustainable thinking to the imperative for change. It emerges from the categories: ´Organization, actions, and partnerships’, ‘Challenges and success factors’, and ‘Awareness’. The theme 'Circular Economy,' presents circular practices within daily restaurant operations, their understanding of circular concepts, and the progress made in adopting these behaviors. It arises from three categories: ‘Circularity’, ‘Resource Management’ and ‘Transition’. The 'Product and Food Waste' theme addresses concerns related to product and food waste, including supplier selection, innovative gastronomic offerings, and food waste minimization strategies. It is based on the categories: ‘Suppliers and Raw Materials’, ‘Food Waste Minimization”, and ‘Gastronomic Offer’. The findings reveal a growing awareness of the need for sustainability and circular practices in the restaurant sector. Organizations are actively seeking ways to reduce food waste, optimize sourcing, best operating procedures and offer more sustainable menus representing significant progress toward a more sustainable future in the restaurant business.
- Digital technologies to minimize the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in restaurant sectorPublication . Brochado, Diana; Silva, Cândida; Silva, Susana; Azevedo, DanielAt the end of the first quarter of 2020, there were signs that the year would be with many difficult challenges. The emergence of a new pandemic, a coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), known as COVID-19, shivered the planet, in many ways, from personal to professional, economic and financial, affecting everything and everyone, causing a general quarantine around the world. The restaurant sector was no exception and following this unexpected situation, this study aims to understand how information and communication technology (ICT) is being used in the sector and how it can help to response to its current needs, without neglecting public health and avoiding insolvencies or dismissals, looking for digital solutions that can guarantee the efficiency of the sector, always respecting the costumer's experience. Therefore, a study is proposed to analyze how ICT can contribute to the recovery of the restaurant sector and how it can be incorporated, having as the main question ”How can technology be used to minimize the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the restaurant sector?”. A qualitative methodology was applied to the present study, having as sample several restaurants, in the north of Portugal of different types, to better understand how the introduction of technologies has been done, the impact of COVID-19 in ICT adoption and the actual needs on digitalization and technology, both in service and delivery and in internal and external communication. As preliminary results, we can identify some reluctance to introduce technologies and digitalization in the sector, with much to be explored in the sense of digitalization. We also verified that the biggest investments in this direction are on billing and on Enterprise Resource Planning systems. Furthermore, this study also presents some proposals for digital solutions that can assist this sector.
- The Way of St. James: food consumption patterns of pilgrimsPublication . Monteiro, Rafael; Azevedo, Daniel; Silva, SusanaThe Way of St. James is in full growth in Portugal, and the pilgrimage route along the Portuguese North Coast has aroused the interest of several tourist agents. The city of Porto is the location chosen by most pilgrims to start this route. The aim of this study is to know the pilgrims' eating habits along the Way of St. James and its economic impact on the territory. A quantitative methodology was used and a questionnaire about the pilgrims' eating habits was applied regarding three different moments of the day - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, in three pilgrim hostels (”albergues") of the Way (Porto, Vila do Conde and Caminha) and in a F&B spot. The convenience sample consists of 225 individuals aged between 18 and 73, 70.2% being female. 36.9% of respondents are German and 86.22% are European. 50% of the respondents have a university degree and 61.8% are Christian. The study shows that pilgrims seek to enrich their gastronomic culture by consuming local products. Despite preferring carbohydrate-rich foods with high protein levels, they also worry about eating healthy and choosing vegetarian food. At the beginning and end of each stage, the pilgrims usually ask the Albergue's host for information about spots close to the accommodation, whenever they need to eat. During each stage, they are guided by a pilgrim guidebook, they ask local people and follow street advertising, rarely distancing themselves from the Way. The results show that, on average, pilgrims spend €4.53 on breakfast, €6.46 on lunch and €9.57 on dinner. The total average daily expenditure is estimated at €31.08, meals included. We can conclude that the average daily expenditure of the pilgrims is low, and that the amount spent on food represents about 2/3 of the total average expenditure, emphasising the importance of this topic. According to the sample collected, the pilgrims' food consumption has little impact on local economies. Considering the growing demand for this route, F&B businesses could take advantage of this study‘s findings to increasing their turnover.