Almost two-thirds (65%) of Australian consumers say they find healthy, sustainable eating to be more expensive, but one in three (30%) are willing to pay more for takeaways in restaurants that have visible sustainability practices, according to research from global scale-up, Deliverect.
Another 38% would even consider changing what they order from the menu to be more sustainable. Some restaurants are already catching on. In fact, 40% of survey respondents already think there are ample sustainable and affordable options in food delivery/takeaways.
Almost half (46%) of respondents would like restaurants to better share how they are working to make takeaways/deliveries more sustainable. 56% also don’t think restaurants are very transparent about their sustainability practices, while 62% feel it’s important that restaurants are open about their practices to limit food waste.
Consumers are also on the lookout for restaurants using sustainable materials and it even impacts where they choose to order from, with the study finding 50% of consumers would prefer to order from restaurants that remove excess packaging from the food delivery.
Almost half (48%) would also show preference to a restaurant that uses eco-friendly packaging and doesn’t use single-use plastic and 59% believe having sustainable packaging (plant-based/non-plastic/compostable) is important to them.
Deliverect co-founder and CEO, Zhong Xu said, “To stay up on the competition and meet customer needs, consider making sustainable strides like revamping your menu to include locally-sourced ingredients and cutting down your delivery times.
“Even better, look to modern technology to improve your operational efficiencies and open the door to more time for you to focus on sustainability. Deliverect automates your online order flow (delivery, click and collect and table apps) to give you faster online order flow to the kitchen, better delivery times and faster menu management.”