Eating Hamburgers Slowly and Sustainably: The Fast Food Market in North-West Italy

Abstract

The Italian food movement shows some peculiarities of meeting consumer demand in the foodservice subsector where innovation is considered strategic to meet targets and reach goals. A particular kind of innovation is the return to tradition by enhancement of the territory, e.g., reinstating local recipes and local gastronomy or high-quality local raw materials. Some entrepreneurs are redefining the fast-food service, providing foodstuffs through a short supply chain. The aim of this paper is to identify the different hamburger foodservices operating in North-West Italy and address their diverse peculiarities. A sample of 11 hamburger restaurants was identified, a mystery shopping analysis was implemented to collect information on the foodservice phenomenon, and a Business Model Canvas was carried out to compare different foodservices. The results consider two different hamburger foodservices, i.e., International Hamburger Foodservice (IHF) and Local Hamburger Foodservice (LHF), the former concentrating mainly on customer service, human resource management, and operations management, and the latter focussing on high product quality in terms of materials and psychology, plus selection of local raw materials and ingredients, supporting the local economy and businesses. Moreover, the findings provide some information on the interaction between selected Hamburger Foodservices and related supply chains, highlighting the consumer transition toward meals of high quality standards in terms of raw materials and ingredients.