Q&A with the Experts: The Food Service Playbook

WRI’s brand new “Food Service Playbook for Promoting Sustainable Food Choices” gives food service operators the very latest strategies for creating dining environments that empower consumers to choose sustainable, plant-rich dishes. This research builds off our first guide for food service, now with industry experience and insights from nearly 350 academic trials.

1. The Food Service
Playbook for
Promoting
Sustainable Food
Choices
A Q&A with the Experts

2. Welcome

3. Daniele Pollicino
Behavioral Science Consultant
WRI
Today’s Presenters
Dr Sophie Attwood
Senior Behavioral Scientist
WRI
Edwina Hughes
Head of Coolfood
WRI

4. THE FOOD
SERVICE
PLAYBOOK 23
Priority
behavior
change
techniques
57
Behavior
change
techniques
89
Research
papers
About the2020
Guide for Food
Service

5. Playbook Refresh 2023
In recent
years, we’ve
seen a huge
increase in
public interest
in plant-based
diets
And lots of
new behavior
change
research

6. Introducing WRI’s Updated
Guide for Food Service
Available now at:
wri.org/food-service-playbook

7. Evidence showing a
techniqueis effective
We’veadded a
new, improved
analysis of the
evidence
Divided by….
Evidence showing a
technique is ineffective
‘PROMISE RATIO’

8. Playbook Refresh 2023
And
gathered
updated fee
dback from
industry and
academic
experts

9. And
feature
even more
‘real life’
case
studies

10. We've also
updated the ‘5P’
framework
A new P-category
of ‘Price’
techniques is now
included

11. Playbook Refresh 2023
Behavior change
techniques are
nowevaluated
based on
expert rating+
academic
evidence
EXPERTS
Ranked in the top third
on Feasibility and
Effectiveness
EVIDENCE
Score indicating double
the amount of
supportive research

12. Playbook Refresh 2023
The Playbook
2.0 is based on
almost triple
the amount of
research
evidence

13. 18 ‘NO REGRET’
TECHNIQUES
What’s New?

14. Playbook Refresh 2023
The Playbook
2.0 is based on
almost triple
the amount of
research
evidence

15. Playbook Refresh 2023
The Playbook
2.0 is based on
almost triple
the amount of
research
evidence
The ‘Product’ P-category Features the Most
Frequently on the ‘No Regrets’ Shortlist

16. Playbook Refresh 2023
The Playbook
2.0 is based on
almost triple
the amount of
research
evidence
One of the ‘Promotion’ Techniques Is the Highest
Scoring According to Both the Evidence and the Experts

17. Playbook Refresh 2023
The Playbook
2.0 is based on
almost triple
the amount of
research
evidence
Another ‘Promotion’ Technique Has Been
Researched the Most (in 50 trials)

18. Playbook Refresh 2023
The Playbook
2.0 is based on
almost triple
the amount of
research
evidence
And These Techniques Are Entirely New
Additions to the ‘No Regrets’ Shortlist

19. ‘No Regret’
Techniques
in Action

20. PROMOTION
PRM26: Publicize the taste and
flavor benefits of plant-rich
dishes using marketing materials
•Overcome the misperceptionthat
‘healthy and sustainable’ ≠ tasty’
•Use indulgent terminology
•Refer to appealing context
•Case Study: MAX Burgers
PROMOTION

21. PRD2: Blend plant-based ingredients
into ground or minced meat–based
dishes to reduce the meat content
•Hybrid burgers containing 60/70% meat and
40/30% mushrooms
•Diners usually do not notice the difference
•Achieves high and quick reductions in GHG
emissions footprint of dishes served
•Case Study: ISSGuckenheimer
PRODUCT

22. 33 ‘PROMISING’
TECHNIQUES
What’s Possible?

23. Playbook Refresh 2023
The Playbook
2.0 is based on
almost triple
the amount of
research
evidence

24. Playbook Refresh 2023
The Playbook
2.0 is based on
almost triple
the amount of
research
evidence
These approaches
are highly effective
We need to address
barriers to
implementation in
food service
PRS13:
Offer default plant-rich menus, with
meat-based dishes available on a
separate menu or via request from a
server
PLC12:
Play relaxing music in the dining site
(e.g., low volume, low tempo)
PRC6:
Reward diners with financial coupons,
cash back, or loyalty card points to
redeem on plant-rich dishes (e.g., 10
cents earned per dollar spent)
PRC9:
Sell plant-rich dishes at a lower, or
subsidized, price compared to meat
dishes
PRESENTATION
PLACEMENT
PRICE
PLC15:
Use aroma and scents in the dining
environment to enhance diners’
appetites for plant-rich dishes and/or
reduce appetites for meat-based dishes

Top 5 'Promising’ Techniques

25. ‘Promising’
Techniques
in Action

26. PRESENTATION
PRS13: Offer default plant-rich
menus​
•100% plant-rich menus
•Meat dishes available on request from server
•Meat dishes available on separate menu
•Case Study:LinkedIn’s office in San Francisco
PRESENTATION

27. PRICE
PRC6: Reward diners with financial
coupons, cash back, or loyalty card
points to redeem on plant-rich dishes
•Incentivize the behavior you want to see
•Case Study: Friends of the Earth&the
University of Portsmouth
Before
During

28. THE FOOD
SERVICE
PLAYBOOK
FURTHER
INSIGHTS
What Else?

30. These
techniques are
ranked highly
by experts, but
are under-
researched
We need more
evidence!
PRS12:
List plant-rich dishes in the main
body of a menu, not in a separate
“vegetarian” box or “specials” section
PRD4:
Develop new or improve existing
accompaniments (e.g. sauces, dips, wine
pairings) to plant-rich dishes
PPL3:
Encourage front-of-house staff to try plant-
rich dishes themselves
PPL4:
Give chefs and food preparation
staff access to the tools, equipment, and
ingredients to prepare appealing plant-
rich dishes
PRESENTATION
PRODUCT
PEOPLE
PRD9:
Introduce direct plant-rich alternatives
(i.e. 'alt proteins') to popular meat-based
dishes

PRM2:
Co-ordinate plant-rich promotions to
correspond with national campaigns
(e.g. sporting events, Earth Day,
national holidays)
PROMOTION
0
Trials
1
Trial
1
Trial
1
Trial
1
Trial

31. PROMOTION

32. PROMOTION
These techniques
have been
researched
extensively, but
did not reach our
shortlist
PRM21:
Publicize the health benefits of plant-
rich dishes using marketing materials
PRM16:
Provide diners with shopping lists and
recipe cards to help them prepare plant-rich
dishes at home
PRS6:
Add symbols or icons to menus to
highlight healthy plant-based options (e.g.
heart healthy logo, high fibre symbol, low
salt icon)
28
Trials
15
Trials
80
Trials

33. SO,
IN SHORT...

34. Playbook Refresh 2023
The Playbook
2.0 is based on
almost triple
the amount of
research
evidence
2024 Food Service Playbook:
No Regret Techniques
•Highly effective, highly feasible behavior change techniques
should be implemented without hesitation in food service
•Product is key – provide a variety of tasty, appealing plant-rich
dishes
•How you message about plant-rich options is also important –
upsell indulgence and taste

35. Playbook Refresh 2023
The Playbook
2.0 is based on
almost triple
the amount of
research
evidence
2024 Food Service Playbook:
Promising Techniques
•For highly effective, lower feasibility approaches, we need to
understand barriers to implementation
•Default plant-rich menus, financial incentives and sensory marketing
have strong potential
•For un- and under-researched approaches that are highly feasible, we
need more evidence to determine their effectiveness

36. Put the Food Service Playbook into Action
1.Food Industry – Adopt the 18 ‘No Regret’
techniques without delay. Check out
Coolfood's'Quick Start Guide' for how to do this
2.Academia and Research – Explore the under-
researched approaches as a priority
3.Everyone else – Get engaged on this issue and
help us build the movement for healthy,
sustainable food
Reach out for more to
[email protected]