While taste and price remain top priorities, more consumers are starting to consider the safety and sustainability of ingredients when dining out — a challenge that restaurants are working to address.
To support this shift, researchers at the University of Missouri are investigating how a revolutionary technology that could allow consumers to track ingredients all along the supply chain will affect their decision-making processes.
“Customers have become increasingly concerned about where their food is coming from, whether it’s sustainably sourced and how safe it is to eat,” Pei Liu, an associate professor of hospitality management in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, said.
Many diners find it difficult to verify that information because restaurants rarely publicize how their food is sourced in a clear or consistent way. This lack of information breeds uncertainty for the customers. But Liu and her team have found a potential solution: blockchain.
Blockchain uses a decentralized, secure and transparent method of recording transactions across multiple computers. Once validated, each transaction is cryptographically linked to the one before it, making the data extremely resistant to tampering or unauthorized changes. This immutability helps promote trust and transparency in shared systems.
When restaurants use blockchain to give consumers greater visibility into their supply chains — a practice known as food traceability — it builds trust in sustainable foods, researchers found. That trust not only enhances the overall dining experience but also strengthens the restaurant’s reputation. In fact, the study found that consumers are more willing to pay premium prices when blockchain transparency reduces their concerns about food safety. Because food safety was the most influential factor in their decision making, this increased confidence could ultimately boost restaurant revenue.
Showing their work
Liu was inspired by her collaborator from the College of Arts and Science’s Department of Textile and Apparel Management, who informed her that the blockchain is being used for traceability in the fashion industry. There, it can be used to track cotton from its farmers; for Liu, it can be used to track ingredients throughout the supply chain, thanks to a radio-frequency identification (RFID) label.
The RFID would be scanned at every stage: first when an ingredient is sealed and palletized for shipping, again when entering quality-assurance cold storage and once more upon exit. It would then be scanned as it’s leaving the manufacturing facility, entering the distribution center and departing for a restaurant. Upon arrival at the restaurant, it would be scanned when placed into the walk-in cooler, and finally, one last time before leaving the cooler to be cooked.
For the consumers, this entire process becomes accessible through a simple QR code on the menu, and because the blockchain is unchangeable, consumers can rest easy knowing important information about the source of their food.
“It’s going to show customers when the dishes were made and what farm the ingredients came from, where the farm was located and how the ingredient was transported,” Liu said. “We believe our findings could help the restaurants build trust with customers.”
This type of process is currently being used by some restaurants in large American coastal cities and in others in Europe.
After explaining the process to her survey participants, Liu wanted to answer the question of how three types of consumer concerns affected the consumers’ perception of the transparency provided by the blockchain.
When surveying consumers, Liu expected those three concerns — food safety, health consciousness and environmental — to matter equally to consumers. She was surprised to discover that health consciousness and environmental concerns didn’t create as much uncertainty as food safety concerns. Consumers with a higher level of uncertainty about concerns over food safety were the most likely to pay attention to the added transparency provided by the blockchain, Liu said.
The study also showed that when consumers felt a blockchain’s transparency provided clear, easy-to-understand information that alleviated their concerns about the food’s safety, they were willing to pay more for their meal.
Demographics also influenced consumers’ uncertainty about food sustainability and their openness to blockchain technology as a possible solution.
“Older diners and those who had higher educational backgrounds were more responsive to blockchain transparency,” Liu said.
Liu’s future studies will examine whether a restaurant’s assertion that it has a blockchain-verified menu is enough to reduce uncertainty or whether consumers actually need to see the data for themselves to feel confident.
