Stop wasting, start waiting - Nudging customers’ intention to wait in take-away restaurants to reduce food waste

Nowadays, take-away restaurants are often the time-saving alternative to home-cooked meals because they are easier to incorporate into a busy lifestyle. As most customers are unwilling to wait, take-away restaurants produce enormous amounts of food leftovers caused by over-preparation due to a lack of predicting customers’ demand. Waiting and wasting behaviour consist of contradictions. Acceptance of waiting depends on positive emotions and certainty about the cause of the waiting duration. Whereas individuals perceive a feeling of guilt and waste food without any intention. Previous research about food waste mainly focused on private, but changes are also required in public contexts. Therefore, this study investigates the effectiveness of visual prompts on customers’ intention to wait, under the influence of environmental concerns, in take-away restaurants, to reduce food waste.