Eating with a purpose: how food-sharing labels influence favourable consumer responses to restaurants

Purpose The study applies Brunswik's lens model and cue utilization theory to explore the impact of food-sharing labels on consumers’ intentions to visit and recommend a restaurant. Design/methodology/approach The first online experiment (N = 126) examines the effect of a food-sharing label on consumers’ intentions to visit and recommend the restaurant. The second experiment (N = 245) investigates the mediating role of curiosity and the moderating effect of information diagnosticity. Findings Food-sharing practices positively impact consumers’ intentions, with curiosity explaining these effects. However, this effect is only significant when highly diagnostic information is provided, whereas low-diagnostic information has no effect. Research limitations/implications This study extends previous research on food sharing, which has focused on individual characteristics, motivations, and attitudes of sharers. It examines away-from-home food waste and provides insights into consumers’ responses to restaurants’ food-sharing initiatives. Practical implications The findings provide a deeper understanding of mechanisms driving consumers’ responses to food-sharing initiatives. They emphasize the need for high-diagnosticity information, thereby guiding restaurant managers in effectively conveying these practices. Social implications This study examines how restaurants’ food donations impact consumer responses, encouraging more restaurants to adopt these practices to enhance community welfare and collective climate action. Originality/value This research addresses the critical and under-researched issue of food waste in restaurants, offering a novel perspective that encourages restaurants to donate leftovers by highlighting the positive impact on sustainability and consumer responses.