Emily Moskwa

Sustainability through food and conversation: the role of an entrepreneurial restaurateur in fostering engagement with sustainable development issues

Food justice, food cultures and peoples engagement with healthy food production and consumption are key contemporary concerns, with a growing sustainable hospitality and tourism literature. Efforts range from narrowly focused initiatives, such as promoting organic produce and fair trade, to more holistic challenges to current systems through initiatives like the slow food and locavore movements, which may represent systemic alternatives. However, little analysis is available on how cafés and restaurants might become sites for experimentation in profitable and just sustainable hospitality, and places for sustainability engagement and education. Focusing on the evolution of a sustainable café in Adelaide, South Australia, this article explores how one entrepreneurial restaurateur uses his café to engage customers and community in a collaborative conversation about sustainable development, food, hospitality and tourism, helping transform our food culture and even lifeways. Our findings indicate the value of deep local embedding as a pathway to meaningful sustainability. The study offers insights into how hospitality and tourism can contribute to dialogues on alternative consumption which may offer visionary pathways to alternative futures. It also explores the role of pioneers in sustainable business and hospitality, their drivers and their views. A forthcoming global research initiative is discussed.

Identifying Visitor Service Quality in Australian Regional Botanic Gardens

Abstract A considerable bulk of literature on service quality in leisure and recreation is set in, and driven by, conceptual frameworks based on commercial transactions. Little research reported in English deals with service quality in popular, public leisure settings such as botanic gardens or museums. This paper presents findings from a study of visitors’ perceptions of service quality at four regional botanic gardens in Australia, a replication study of a similar exploration of service quality in botanic gardens of six Australian capital cities. Perceptions of service quality, demographic profiles, and measures of behavioural intentions post‐visit were collected from more than 1000 adult visitors in 2008. Factor analysis of 17 visitor‐defined attributes of service quality identified three underlying dimensions of service quality. Subsequent hierarchical linear regression identified considerable explanatory effects of these factors for visitor service quality of visitors’ overall satisfaction with their visit, their level of recommendation of the garden, and their likelihood to revisit the garden. There appeared to be significant and meaningful predictive power of visitors’ intended behaviour based on their ratings of particular visitor service quality attributes. Results of the study included a call for replication studies and engagement with related attempts to understand the meaning of service quality for visitors to regional public institutions where recreation and leisure experiences are clear outcomes for visitors. For researchers, implications include the need to consider further refinement to the concept and measurement of service quality for public and non‐profit organisations providing popular leisure experiences and visitor benefits.

The restaurateur as a sustainability pedagogue: the case of Stuart Gifford and Sarah's Sister's Sustainable Café

With the popularity of celebrity chefs, television cooking shows, gastronomic holidays and food festivals, it is clear that peoples engagement with food is developing into a significant social phenomena. People are searching for ways to secure sustainable and ethical foods and are open to learning new possibilities. This article provides a case study analysis of the work of Stuart Gifford, a long-term sustainability advocate, restaurateur and urban activist. Gifford currently is co-owner of Sarahs Sisters Sustainable Café. This restaurant features sustainability in the design principles and management of the enterprise. Giffords commitment to sustainability advocacy and teaching permeates not only the business but is also a life commitment as he undertakes initiatives such as fostering an external eco-market, creating sustainability events associated with a major metropolitan festival, community activism and political advocacy. This article analyses the import of Giffords efforts. Employing a qualitative research methodology, this article presents rich insights into the ways in which running a sustainable café can be read as a cultural pedagogy. Employing Girouxs theory of culture as pedagogy, Giffords work through Sarahs Sisters is considered as an alternative cultural pedagogy intended to counter the destructive pedagogy of neoliberalism and its attendant cultural values.

Recreation, education, conservation: the multiple roles of botanic gardens in Australia

Abstract Drawing on the theories that underpin systems theory and conflict management, this paper considers the main role or purpose of botanic gardens in Australia which is based on three perspectives: those of visitors to gardens; garden volunteers; and gardens as organizations. Using a multi-methods approach including written questionnaires, focus groups, and document analysis, a number of key roles were identified by each stakeholder group: recreation (visitors); education (volunteers); and conservation (gardens as organizations). In view of these findings, it is suggested that garden management would benefit from increased attention to visitor wants and needs through an understanding of the main activities undertaken at gardens, their perceptions of visitor service quality, and the values that people place on gardens.

Ecotourism in the rangelands: landholder perspectives on conservation

Research on landholder perspectives of conservation through ecotourism is conducted through a social science viewpoint to provide guidance for multifunctional land-use planning with a particular focus on sustainable tourism operations in the Australian rangelands. When addressing the adoption of ecotourism as a conservation practice, the influence of economics, uncertainty and confidence in proposed land-use changes appear tightly linked. The financial position of landholders is presented as a primary limitation to the adoption of increased sustainable land-use practices. Diversification into sustainable tourism is perceived as assisting landholders achieve a range of economic and environmental goals; landholders are pulled into ecotourism as a favourable response to the push away from traditional pastoralism. Results show the majority of landholders are of the opinion that ecotourism can contribute to conservation in the following ways: (1) financially by enabling additional income to devote to ecological recovery efforts and (2) by educating tourists about the rangelands and sending sustainability messages to the wider population. Further, the research brings to light that support for ecotourism may be amplified through sharing experiences in a heuristic method of collective judgement. This process enables landholders to address the elements of confidence and uncertainty of new practices with others facing similar sustainability goals as their own.

How sustainable is sustainable hospitality research? A review of sustainable restaurant literature from 1991 to 2015

This research was designed to evaluate our current state of knowledge by systematically reviewing tourism and hospitality academic literature concerning sustainability in the restaurant sector by undertaking a systematic review and content analysis. The characteristics of 76 articles are listed in a comprehensive table, presenting research design and research variables, and the articles are examined for their approach to the sustainability concept as applied to the restaurant industry (i.e. the range of responsible practices addressed in each work). The findings indicate that the majority of the literature only engages with parts of sustainability, particularly ecological, rather than holistic sustainability. This matters because it may mean we fail in our attempts to achieve more sustainable restaurant operations. This research suggests that tourism and hospitality studies need to re-engage with the evolving conceptualisation of sustainability to ensure that best practice responses to changing requirements are undertaken. The narrow focus on ecological aspects of sustainability featuring in restaurants does not acknowledge the full meaning of sustainability and therefore may constrain efforts to secure more sustainable futures. Illuminating such gaps in knowledge is important in order to strengthen our conceptual understandings, refine our practices and thereby secure more sustainable futures through tourism and hospitality.