Lindsey Fortes

Abstract:

As vegetarianism is adopted more frequently, the food industry is responding with the production of meat alternatives, which has come to grow into its own separate industry. Numerous studies have been conducted to uncover the effects of vegetarianism as well as the acceptance of these meat substitutes by consumers; however, there is a lack of research surrounding the presence of meat alternatives in the restaurant industry, specifically in independent restaurants. In order to understand how meat alternatives are impacting this industry, the researcher found that investigating the influencing factors on independent restaurant owners’ decision to offer or not offer meat alternatives to their customers would begin to fill the gap in this area of study. Owners of independent American cuisine restaurants in the greater Pittsburgh, PA area were asked questions in an interview format about their vegetarian options and meat alternatives, if any, and the influences on their decision-making surrounding the growing trend of vegetarianism. In conjunction with conducting interviews, the researcher analyzed menus of independent American cuisine restaurants in Pittsburgh, PA, which were pulled from a list compiled from the search results on Yelp. It was found that only about 27% of the restaurants reviewed offer meat alternatives, and of those interviewed, the restaurants that do offer meat alternatives do so to keep up with trends and to ensure that they could cater to a variety of customers. For those that do not offer meat alternatives, the owners wanted to uphold their restaurants values or have never pursued the option. The results of this study have shown that independent restaurants are able to provide meatless options other than meat alternatives to their customers, but there is still a need for further research that looks into the influencing factors and the consumers’ perspective on these products in restaurants.