Sustainable Purchasing of Tea by Hotels, Cafes and Restaurants in France: An Exploratory Study

When purchasing tea for hotels, cafes and restaurants in France, quality and taste are the two most important variables employed by executive chefs in choosing between alternative suppliers. However, the importance of other buying criteria differed significantly between institutions that purchased sustainable tea (STBs) and those that did not (NSTBs). For STBs, food safety and sustainability were the second most important criteria, with offer quality and a competitive price being the third most important considerations. However, for NSTBs, a competitive price was the second most important consideration, followed by food safety and offer quality. Sustainability was the fifth most important purchasing criteria for NSTBs. In fulfilling their desire to purchase sustainable tea in France, with the exception of high cost, there were few problems associated with either the supply of sustainable tea or its quality. The most important constraint in purchasing sustainable tea was internal to the business and was contingent upon the personal beliefs and motivation of the executive chef. For enterprises that did buy sustainable tea, executive chefs had a strong personal belief in the need to adopt more sustainable practices. However, they also had a very different customer orientation. While STBs believed that there was a strong demand for sustainable tea and that their customers were more willing to pay a price premium, NSTBs believed that there was no such demand. While STBs reported a significant reduction in their environmental impact, an improved business image and improved relationships with customers, suppliers and their employees, purchasing sustainable tea had no impact on their competitiveness. Purchasing sustainable tea did not attract new customers, increase sales, improve profitability or lower costs.