IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i3p1107-d1579865.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Short Food Supply Chains in Slovakia: Motivations and Barriers for Foodservice Establishments

Author

Listed:
  • Lukáš Varecha

    (Institute of Regional and Rural Development, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, 949 76 Nitra, Slovakia)

  • Lucia Laginová

    (Institute of Regional and Rural Development, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, 949 76 Nitra, Slovakia)

  • Jana Jarábková

    (Institute of Regional and Rural Development, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, 949 76 Nitra, Slovakia)

Abstract

This study examined the involvement of foodservice establishments in Slovakia in short food supply chains (SFSCs), focusing on factors influencing supplier selection, perceived benefits and barriers, and the impact of logistical and market conditions. The findings revealed that, while freshness and price–quality ratio are key factors for all establishments, products with local origins are significantly more valued by those engaged in SFSCs. These establishments report strengthened social connections with local producers, enhanced trust, transparency, and support for local agriculture as core benefits of SFSC participation. Key barriers include high product costs, seasonal availability, and logistical challenges, with those engaged in SFSCs facing additional difficulties in meeting volume requirements and accessing suppliers. The study found that logistical capabilities, particularly the ability to manage transport independently, strongly influence SFSC involvement, while market conditions were not shown to be significant. A lack of comprehensive distribution systems and the limited knowledge of regional suppliers further constrain SFSC engagement. These insights highlight the need for improved coordination and information channels to facilitate broader foodservice participation in regional food systems in Slovakia.

Suggested Citation

  • Lukáš Varecha & Lucia Laginová & Jana Jarábková, 2025. "Short Food Supply Chains in Slovakia: Motivations and Barriers for Foodservice Establishments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:1107-:d:1579865
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/3/1107/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/3/1107/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amory Starr & Adrian Card & Carolyn Benepe & Garry Auld & Dennis Lamm & Ken Smith & Karen Wilken, 2003. "Sustaining local agriculture Barriers and opportunities to direct marketing between farms and restaurants in Colorado," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 20(3), pages 301-321, September.
    2. Shoshanah Inwood & Jeff Sharp & Richard Moore & Deborah Stinner, 2009. "Restaurants, chefs and local foods: insights drawn from application of a diffusion of innovation framework," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(3), pages 177-191, September.
    3. Hyland, John & Crehan, Patrick & Colantuono, Fedele & Macken-Walsh, Áine, . "The Significance of Short Food Supply Chains: Trends and Bottlenecks from the SKIN Thematic Network," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 121(2).
    4. Konrád Kiss & Csaba Ruszkai & Antónia Szűcs & Gábor Koncz, 2020. "Examining the Role of Local Products in Rural Development in the Light of Consumer Preferences—Results of a Consumer Survey from Hungary," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-24, July.
    5. Yuna Chiffoleau & Tara Dourian, 2020. "Sustainable Food Supply Chains: Is Shortening the Answer? A Literature Review for a Research and Innovation Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-21, November.
    6. Brian Ilbery & Damian Maye, 2005. "Alternative (Shorter) Food Supply Chains and Specialist Livestock Products in the Scottish–English Borders," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(5), pages 823-844, May.
    7. Pretty, J.N. & Ball, A.S. & Lang, T. & Morison, J.I.L., 2005. "Farm costs and food miles: An assessment of the full cost of the UK weekly food basket," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 1-19, February.
    8. Rodolfo M. Nayga & Oral Capps, 1994. "Tests of Weak Separability in Disaggregated Meat Products," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(4), pages 800-808.
    9. Stanco, Marcello & Lerro, Marco & Marotta, Giuseppe & Nazzaro, Concetta, . "Consumers’ and farmers’ characteristics in short food supply chains: an exploratory analysis," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 121(2).
    10. Oriana Gava & Francesca Galli & Fabio Bartolini & Gianluca Brunori, 2018. "Linking Sustainability with Geographical Proximity in Food Supply Chains. An Indicator Selection Framework," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-22, August.
    11. Roy, Sanjit Kumar & Balaji, M S & Sadeque, Saalem & Nguyen, Bang & Melewar, T C, 2017. "Constituents and consequences of smart customer experience in retailing," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 257-270.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rosalia Stella Evola & Giovanni Peira & Erica Varese & Alessandro Bonadonna & Enrica Vesce, 2022. "Short Food Supply Chains in Europe: Scientific Research Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Adrián Csordás & Péter Lengyel & István Füzesi, 2022. "Who Prefers Regional Products? A Systematic Literature Review of Consumer Characteristics and Attitudes in Short Food Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Agata Malak-Rawlikowska & Edward Majewski & Adam Wąs & Svein Ole Borgen & Peter Csillag & Michele Donati & Richard Freeman & Viet Hoàng & Jean-Loup Lecoeur & Maria Cecilia Mancini & An Nguyen & Monia , 2019. "Measuring the Economic, Environmental, and Social Sustainability of Short Food Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-23, July.
    4. Antonino Galati & Giuseppina Migliore & Alkis Thrassou & Giorgio Schifani & Giuseppina Rizzo & Nino Adamashvili & Maria Crescimanno, 2023. "Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Agri-Food Products Delivered with Electric Vehicles in the Short Supply Chains," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 12(2), pages 193-207, June.
    5. Katrin Martens & Sebastian Rogga & Jana Zscheischler & Bernd Pölling & Andreas Obersteg & Annette Piorr, 2022. "Classifying New Hybrid Cooperation Models for Short Food-Supply Chains—Providing a Concept for Assessing Sustainability Transformation in the Urban-Rural Nexus," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, April.
    6. Anna-Mara Schön & Marita Böhringer, 2023. "Land Consumption for Current Diets Compared with That for the Planetary Health Diet—How Many People Can Our Land Feed?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-35, May.
    7. Dominik Bertram & Tobias Chilla & Carola Wilhelm, 2021. "Short Value Chains in Food Production: The Role of Spatial Proximity for Economic and Land Use Dynamics," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, September.
    8. Giannis T. Tsoulfas & Panagiotis Trivellas & Panagiotis Reklitis & Anna Anastasopoulou, 2023. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Short Supply Chains in the Agri-Food Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-46, January.
    9. Karen Hills & Jessica Goldberger & Stephen Jones, 2013. "Commercial bakers and the relocalization of wheat in western Washington State," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(3), pages 365-378, September.
    10. Marletto, Gerardo & Sillig, Cécile, 2014. "Environmental impact of Italian canned tomato logistics: national vs. regional supply chains," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 131-141.
    11. Amy D. Lykins & Nicolette Larder & Cassandra Sundaraja & Lucie Newsome, 2025. "Australian Consumers’ Drivers and Barriers to Purchasing Local Food from Alternative Agri-Food Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-20, March.
    12. Janna Herzig & Katrin Zander, 2025. "Determinants of consumer behavior in short food supply chains: a systematic literature review," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 13(1), pages 1-40, December.
    13. Enthoven, Laura & Van den Broeck, Goedele, 2021. "Local food systems: Reviewing two decades of research," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    14. Bilgesu Bayir & Aurélie Charles & Aicha Sekhari & Yacine Ouzrout, 2022. "Issues and Challenges in Short Food Supply Chains: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-20, March.
    15. McKay, Lettie & DeLong, Karen L. & Jensen, Kimberly L. & Griffith, Andrew P. & Boyer, Christopher N., "undated". "Restaurants’ Willingness to Pay for Tennessee Certified Beef," 2018 Annual Meeting, February 2-6, 2018, Jacksonville, Florida 266578, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    16. McLeod, A. & Halstead, J.M., . "The Potential for Restaurants in Expanding Markets for Locally Grown Food," Journal of Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics Association of Georgia, vol. 38(01).
    17. Panagiotis Trivellas & Georgios Malindretos & Panagiotis Reklitis, 2020. "Implications of Green Logistics Management on Sustainable Business and Supply Chain Performance: Evidence from a Survey in the Greek Agri-Food Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-29, December.
    18. Simone Blanc & Stefano Massaglia & Filippo Brun & Cristiana Peano & Angela Mosso & Nicole Roberta Giuggioli, 2019. "Use of Bio-Based Plastics in the Fruit Supply Chain: An Integrated Approach to Assess Environmental, Economic, and Social Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, April.
    19. Michela Giovannini & Francesca Forno & Natalia Magnani, 2024. "Practicing sustainable eating: zooming in a civic food network," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 41(3), pages 921-933, September.
    20. Visser, Jurriaan & Trienekens, Jacques & van Beek, Paul, 2013. "Opportunities for Local for Local Food Production: A case in the Dutch Fruit and Vegetables," 2013 International European Forum, February 18-22, 2013, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria 164758, International European Forum on System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:3:p:1107-:d:1579865. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.