Research

Changing the default option on restaurant menus: A promising strategy for boosting climate friendly menu options while maintaining guest satisfaction

Anna de Visser Amundson

Professor of Responsible consumption

Investigating how changing the default option influences guest behaviour.

In the dynamic world of hospitality, where sustainability plays an increasingly vital role, professionals are constantly seeking innovative ways to encourage climate friendly choices without compromising guest satisfaction. A recently published paper in Food Quality and Preference by Professor Anna de Visser Amundson and her colleagues, Joost de Vos and Robert Gallicano, offers valuable insights into using nudging in the form of changing the default option as an effective behavioral change strategy.

What is a Default Nudge?

The theory of nudging, by Richard Thaler, revolves around subtly influencing behaviour by adjusting the choice architecture, without restricting freedom of choice. A default nudge in sustainability context entails making the responsible option the standard choice, while making it more effortful for consumers to choose an alternative. Examples include pre-checking a donation box (requiring an active uncheck to not donate) or, in the context of hospitality, making the vegetarian dish the standard option.

The Research: Vegetarian as Standard in a Buffet

In this research Anna de Visser Amundson and colleagues investigated the effectiveness of this approach in a real-world buffet restaurant setting. Instead of presenting the usual meat option as standard, the vegetarian option became the default at the grill and pizza stations during the experimental period. Guests who preferred a meat dish had to actively request it.

The Results

The study yields insightful results for hospitality professionals looking to make their menus more sustainable:

Doubling of Vegetarian Option Sales: Setting a vegetarian option as the default led to a more than doubling of its sales compared to when meat was the standard. Specifically, 49.3% of customers chose vegetarian when it was the default, versus only 14.03% when they had to actively ask for it (Figure 1).
Consistent Guest Satisfaction: Despite the significant shift in food choices, the level of guest satisfaction remained consistent between the vegetarian and meat default conditions. This is crucial, as it demonstrates that promoting more sustainable options does not have to come at the expense of the guest experience.
Potential Sales Decrease at Focus Stations: An important finding was a 30.1% decrease in overall sales at the buffet stations where the default was changed to the vegetarian default option. The researchers suggest this occurred because guests more easily chose alternatives at other buffet stations instead of actively requesting the meat option.

Fig. 1 Total dishes sold across conditions

Strategic Implications for Hospitality Industry

Reducing Carbon Footprint: Offering vegetarian options as the standard can be an effective strategy to increase the consumption of more climate-friendly dishes. This contributes to reducing the environmental impact of the hospitality industry, as animal products have a more significant carbon footprint.
Focus on Guest Experience: Maintaining a consistent level of guest satisfaction is essential. This study shows that guests’ satisfaction levels remain constant.
Strategic Menu Planning: The decrease in total sales at the focal buffet stations emphasise the importance of a holistic approach. Consider applying default nudging at multiple or all relevant stations to prevent guests from simply switching to less sustainable alternatives.

Wider application: Local and Seasonal Products as Default?

The researchers suggest that the principle of default nudging could also be applied to other aspects of sustainability, such as offering local or seasonal products as the standard. Imagine a restaurant standardly offering a locally produced cheese on the cheese board, with guests able to specifically request the imported variety. This could reduce food miles and support local producers.

Conclusion

The research by De Visser Amundson and her team demonstrates that changing the default option can be a promising strategy for the hospitality sector to boost the sales of vegetarian options without compromising guest satisfaction. While attention should be paid to potential shifts in overall consumption patterns within a buffet setting, this approach offers concrete opportunities for hospitality professionals to contribute positively to a more sustainable future. By strategically managing the choice architecture, the hospitality industry can move towards more sustainable operations, keeping both the planet and the guest at the heart of hospitality to create hospitable futures together.

Volume 129, August 2025

About Anna de Visser Amundson

Anna de Visser-Amundson is a Professor of Responsible Consumption at Hotelschool The Hague. She is an experienced researcher of sustainable food choices and behaviors. Her work has received several prestigious grants, including an NWO grant and an Erasmus+ Capacity Building grant (IN2FOOD), and has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Cleaner Production, and Journal of Sustainable Tourism.

“My research is purpose-driven,” she says. “We explore how market developments like rescue-based food and the shift toward eating less meat influence consumer behaviour and hospitality operations.”

Anna holds a PhD from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She previously held management roles at Grand Hyatt in Paris, Four Seasons in Chicago and Dublin, and Floris Suite Hotel on Curaçao.