Restaurant's decision to purchase local foods: Influence of value chain activities

In this paper we investigate how restaurant managements’ attitudes and behaviors influence decisions to purchase local foods as inputs to their products. An enhanced investigation of chefs’ and managers’ decision-making criteria could improve understanding of local food systems linkages with the restaurant industry. We apply a value chain framework to investigate activities that influence restaurants’ decision to purchase local foods. Results indicate that attitudes and behaviors associated with sourcing and product characteristics play an important role in local food purchase decisions in the restaurant value chain. Order processing time and uniqueness of products are the most significant reasons in restaurant managements’ decisions to purchase local foods. The implications of these findings for restaurants and producers are discussed. Our study contributes to the literature by expanding upon the criteria used by restaurants to make local food purchasing decisions.