In its latest study of consumer attitudes toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the restaurant industry, Technomic asked consumers to rank their three most pressing social issues and found that restaurant users rated both nutritional disclosure and responding to nutritional concerns among the four most important of 17 social issues for the restaurant industry to address.
Living wages topped the list with 49 percent of respondents placing it in their top 3 priorities; responding to nutritional concerns garnered 33 percent, health insurance coverage 31 percent, and nutritional disclosure 29 percent.
Overall, restaurant users claim a fairly high degree of social consciousness. Further, the research found that close to 80 percent of consumers claim they would respond favorably to a socially responsible restaurant by visiting more often and/or paying more.
“We find increasingly strong evidence that consumers expect both chain and independent restaurants to be more socially responsive, and nutrition is a clear priority,” says Bob Goldin, executive vice president of Technomic.
