Max(imum) vegan : a case study on vegan products in the food service sector
Animal based foods have been important components of the Swedish diet for many years. As the meat, dairy and eggs require more resources than plants the sustainability advantage of the vegan diet is becoming incresingly acknowledged. However, research has shown evidence of it being difficult to chan...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Formato: | H3 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco |
| Publicado: |
SLU/Dept. of Economics
2017
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| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855571696413573120 |
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| author | Marcopoulos, Julia |
| author_browse | Marcopoulos, Julia |
| author_facet | Marcopoulos, Julia |
| author_sort | Marcopoulos, Julia |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | Animal based foods have been important components of the Swedish diet for many years. As the meat, dairy and eggs require more resources than plants the sustainability advantage of the vegan diet is becoming incresingly acknowledged. However, research has shown evidence of it being difficult to change peoples’ dietry habits. This is especially true if the people are asked to give up on foods they value highly, such as meat.
Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB is a Swedish food service company that realised that their own environmental footprint largely originated in the meat in their meals. In order to adress this problem they decided to launch five new vegetarian/vegan meals in the beginning of 2016. The campaign was a success and as a next step towards more sustainable business they are targeting to increase their number of vegan meals. The focus of this study is on the developments of vegan food in the food service sector. A shift from animal based diets to food that contain more vegan sources can be of importance in the context of sustainable development. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate hinders and opportunities for development of vegan fast food in the Swedish food service sector from a marketing perspective. The thesis is conducted using a qualitative research approach and the design is case study. Semi-structured interviews with key respondents have been used to collect data.
This study identifies several hinders towards development of vegan fast food products. One is the state of meatnorm in society – that consuming meat is norm an consuming vegetarian/vegan is considered non-mainstream. Another is peoples’ wish to belong in a group, and therefore being afraid of stepping outside of the group when consuming vegan. The percieved worse taste of vegan fast food products compared to animal based equivalents was another hinder. Lastly the current political structures are viewed as hindering the development of vegan fast food products. Numerous opportunities were also identified. The sustainability, health and animal welfare advantages of vegan food are evident and could thusly be elivated more. There is a vego trend, or even shift towards vego being more common, occuring in Sweden today. Companies such as Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB can benefit from riding on the wave of change, and they in turn can have a key role in shaping the food of the future. The younger generation is according to the respondents positive towards veganism and this creates and opportunity. Making products that feel familiar to the consumers can be advantageous as that makes it easier for the consumers to percieve them as necessary. Lastly, communicating the vegan fast products in a positive way can create an opportunity for their further development. |
| format | H3 |
| id | RepoSLU10472 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Economics |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Economics |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU104722018-07-06T23:15:05Z Max(imum) vegan : a case study on vegan products in the food service sector Marcopoulos, Julia consumers food food service sector marketing plant based diet sustainable eating sustainability vegan Animal based foods have been important components of the Swedish diet for many years. As the meat, dairy and eggs require more resources than plants the sustainability advantage of the vegan diet is becoming incresingly acknowledged. However, research has shown evidence of it being difficult to change peoples’ dietry habits. This is especially true if the people are asked to give up on foods they value highly, such as meat. Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB is a Swedish food service company that realised that their own environmental footprint largely originated in the meat in their meals. In order to adress this problem they decided to launch five new vegetarian/vegan meals in the beginning of 2016. The campaign was a success and as a next step towards more sustainable business they are targeting to increase their number of vegan meals. The focus of this study is on the developments of vegan food in the food service sector. A shift from animal based diets to food that contain more vegan sources can be of importance in the context of sustainable development. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate hinders and opportunities for development of vegan fast food in the Swedish food service sector from a marketing perspective. The thesis is conducted using a qualitative research approach and the design is case study. Semi-structured interviews with key respondents have been used to collect data. This study identifies several hinders towards development of vegan fast food products. One is the state of meatnorm in society – that consuming meat is norm an consuming vegetarian/vegan is considered non-mainstream. Another is peoples’ wish to belong in a group, and therefore being afraid of stepping outside of the group when consuming vegan. The percieved worse taste of vegan fast food products compared to animal based equivalents was another hinder. Lastly the current political structures are viewed as hindering the development of vegan fast food products. Numerous opportunities were also identified. The sustainability, health and animal welfare advantages of vegan food are evident and could thusly be elivated more. There is a vego trend, or even shift towards vego being more common, occuring in Sweden today. Companies such as Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB can benefit from riding on the wave of change, and they in turn can have a key role in shaping the food of the future. The younger generation is according to the respondents positive towards veganism and this creates and opportunity. Making products that feel familiar to the consumers can be advantageous as that makes it easier for the consumers to percieve them as necessary. Lastly, communicating the vegan fast products in a positive way can create an opportunity for their further development. Under många års tid har animalier varit en viktig beståndsdel i svenskens diet. Intresset för hållbarhet ökar alltmer, och vilken roll våra matvanor har i detta likaså. Då animalier kräver långt mycket fler resurser än växter har veganism fått allt mer uppmärksamhet som ett alternativ för den som vill äta hållbart. Forsking har dock visat att det är svårt att övertyga människor om att ändra sina matvanor. Detta gäller särskilt om människan i fråga ombeds ge upp livsmedel hon är speciellt fäst vid, såsom kött. Fast food-kedjan Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB undersökte sin klimatpåverkan och fann att köttet i deras mat var den post som resulterade i störst klimatpåverkan. I försök att minska sin klimatpåverkan bestämde sig företaget för att lansera fem nya maträtter som var vegetariska eller veganska. Satsningen blev mycket framgångsrik och nu ämnar företaget fortsätta på denna väg genom att i framtiden lansera ännu fler veganska alternativ. Fokuset för denna studie är utvecklingen av veganska produkter inom sektorn för livsmedelsservice. Ett skifte från en animaliskt baserad diet till en som innehåller mer veganska produkter kan vara av intresse i en hållbarhetskontext. Målet med denna stuide är således att undersöka hinder och möjligheter för utvecklingen av veganska fast food-produkter i den svenska food service-sektorn från ett marknadsföringsperspektiv. Den teorteiska bakgrunden för studien består av två teorier med företagsperspektiv – Strategic Niche Management och New Product Development, samt en med marknadsperspektiv – Consumer Culture Theory. Med tanke på studiens mål och enhet för analys, konsumtionskultur kring veganska fast food-produkter i en svensk kontext, valdes den sistnämnda teorien till studiens analytiska ramverk. Studien har ett kvalitativt perspektiv och utförs som en case-studie. Metod för datainsamling är semi-strukturerade intervjuer och analysen gjordes med hjälp av tematisk struktur och progressive funnel approach. Efter studiens genomförande identifierades ett flertal hinder och möjligheter. Ett av hindren är den så kallade köttnormen – att det anses vara norm att konsumera kött och avvikande från normen att äta vegetariskt eller veganskt. Ett annat hinder är människors tendens att söka grupptillhörighet, och därmed står deras rädsla för att sticka ut i vägen för att konsumera mer veganskt. Bilden av att veganska fast food-produkter smakar sämre än likvärdiga produkter som innehåller animalier är ytterligare ett hinder. Till sist ansågs dagens politiska strukturer missgynna utvecklingen av veganska fast food-produkter. Det identifierades vidare också flertalet möjligheter. Fördelarna med vegansk mat ur hållbarhets-, hälso- och djurvälfärdsperspektiv är svåra att bestrida och kan därmed lyftas fram mer. Respondenterna pekade på att det finns en vegotrend, eller till och med ett skifte, som pågår i Sverige idag och företag såsom Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB kan ta vara på denna möjlighet, och case-företaget kan i sin tur ha en nyckelroll i att påverka framtidens matvanor. Den yngre generationen lyftes också fram av respondenterna som generellt mer positivt inställd till veganism, vilket också skapar möjligheter. Att utveckla produkter som känns bekanta för kunderna kan vara fördelaktigt då det då blir enklare för kunderna att se produkterna som nödvändiga för dem. Slutligen lyftes det fram att det är viktigt att kommunicera de veganska fast food-produkterna på ett positivt sätt för att öka möjligheterna för deras utveckling. SLU/Dept. of Economics 2017 H3 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/10472/ |
| spellingShingle | consumers food food service sector marketing plant based diet sustainable eating sustainability vegan Marcopoulos, Julia Max(imum) vegan : a case study on vegan products in the food service sector |
| title | Max(imum) vegan : a case study on vegan products in the food service sector |
| title_full | Max(imum) vegan : a case study on vegan products in the food service sector |
| title_fullStr | Max(imum) vegan : a case study on vegan products in the food service sector |
| title_full_unstemmed | Max(imum) vegan : a case study on vegan products in the food service sector |
| title_short | Max(imum) vegan : a case study on vegan products in the food service sector |
| title_sort | max(imum) vegan : a case study on vegan products in the food service sector |
| topic | consumers food food service sector marketing plant based diet sustainable eating sustainability vegan |