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To better understand fruit consumption and its determinants this paper aims to explore the relationship between the consumption of different types of fruit and other snacks and consumer taste preferences for sweet, salty and sour is explored.

Respondents (n=2,083) from Poland, Greece, Spain and The Netherlands filled out an online questionnaire in which the consumption of fresh fruit, sweet snacks, salty snacks, orange juice and dried fruit was measured as well as consumer self‐reported taste preferences and personal orientations towards health, convenience, price and routine behaviours.

A total of 29 percent of the total sample preferred salty tastes, whereas 21 percent preferred sweet tastes; 1 percent preferred sour tastes, and 39 percent indicated no preference. In contrast with the expectation that people who preferred sweet tastes consume more fruits and fruit products, the results imply that consumers with a sour taste preference consume more fruits and fruit products. In addition, consumers with a sour taste preference seem to be less convenience‐oriented and have more routine behaviours with regard to fruit. In contrast, consumers with a sweet taste preference eat more chocolate bars and are more convenience‐oriented.

The self‐reported measurement of taste preferences requires further justification to be used as a measurement instrument, e.g. formulation of the items, different cultures and linkage with preferences based on sensory testing.

These findings show that the sweet tooth hypothesis is much more complicated if we consider not only consumption, but also self‐reported taste preferences.

The paper explores self‐reported taste preferences, the sweet tooth hypotheses and fruit consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to establish whether food products carry qualitatively different healthfulness images in consumers’ minds. The images explored in this paper go beyond the conventional healthful vs unhealthful dichotomy. The limitations of mainstream healthfulness perception research were pinpointed and a multi-dimensional conception of food product healthfulness images was introduced in an attempt to extend current theorizing.

A pilot test (n=17) was conducted to develop a tool for measuring multi-dimensional healthfulness images of food products. The main study (n=1,081) comprised of an internet survey exposing respondents to pictures of various commercial food products.

Empirical support for the existence of qualitatively different healthfulness images in consumers’ minds for food products was found. First, a food product perceived in overall as more unhealthful than its counterpart was still viewed as more healthful in certain specific way. Second, respondents reported to yield dissimilar health benefits (e.g. energy and appearance vs emotional well-being and self-management) from consuming two food products that were in overall perceived as equally healthful.

In their communication, food marketers should emphasize those healthfulness image dimensions that consumers strongly perceive to characterize their food product. Second, companies can learn from analyzing the role of their own and competitors’ branding and packaging solutions in shaping consumers’ food product healthfulness image experiences. Third, consumer target group understanding is helpful in managing these experiences.

The results can assist in the fight against obesity. It is possible that the wider use of more emotionally evocative and cognitively effortless food-related communication enabled by uncovering of qualitative healthfulness images can produce more healthy food choices in the long run due to their higher persuasive power in certain consumer groups.

This study was the first to show that food products can carry qualitatively different healthfulness images in consumers’ minds. It developed and introduced an easy measuring technique, based on the health-related motive orientation theory, for capturing them. It propagated for a multi-dimensional conception of food product healthfulness images and for the need to acknowledge the role holistic information processing and peripheral cues in their genesis.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how food waste management can affect both retail and distribution operators’ efficiency performance and their ability to create value. In particular, the paper shows how optimizing food waste management characterizes best practices and favors the development of sustainability.

Based on a survey of 196 outdoor market operators (including farmers and street food traders) from 27 outdoor markets, the authors analyzed unsold food/food wastage processes vis-à-vis the operators’ behavior and attitude. To provide accurate definitions of the satisfaction levels, a consumer perception survey was carried out, with a usable sample of 2,107 questionnaires. The efficiency performance was evaluated according to data envelopment analysis.

The results showed that farmers operate more efficiently than street food traders and that the traditional management of unsold food/food waste is an important competitive element in this sector.

The sample represents the Greater Turin Area in Italy, i.e., thus, limiting generalizability of the results. In addition, the variables analyzed were limited to certain aspects of selling processes and food waste management.

The results provide some indicators on how a more rational style of unsold food management can improve an operators’ performance and help make a social impact.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyses outdoor market operators’ efficiency, based on the use of food waste as a variable affecting their performance.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on food truck phenomenon, a particular kind of street food service, identifying two categories of performers: “Traditional Food Truck” (TFT) and “Gourmet Food Truck” (GFT). This paper evaluates and compares the efficiency performance of the main actors.

A sample of 41 food trucks in the Northwest of Italy was identified. A survey was carried out to determine the characteristics of the food truck and evaluate the efficiency performance of an output-oriented data envelopment analysis.

The two kinds of food trucks provide different levels of efficacy: the data showed that 22 per cent of the food trucks operate efficiently with an average efficiency score of 0.80. The results demonstrate that GFT are more efficient than TFT and confirm that innovation is an important key to competitive advantage in this sector.

The data collected were related only to the food truckers that operate in the Turin area and the number of variables analysed is limited to certain aspects of production and selling processes.

The results provided some managerial indicators to improve the level of corporate efficiency, operating on technical decisions.

This is a pioneer study that analyses how a business based on the combination of tradition and innovation can offer a competitive advantage and strengthen a strong connection to its territory, improving corporate performance.

Pune is a prominent information technology (IT) hub in India, where snacking has become a customary practice among IT professionals. This study aims to determine the pattern and factors associated with snacking among IT professionals from various multinational corporations (MNCs) in Pune, Maharashtra, India.

This cross-sectional study considered 404 IT professionals aged 21 to 50 years. A convenient sampling method was adopted to administer a validated questionnaire. Information on snacking patterns and factors associated with snacking were recorded. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data with p = 0.05. The participation was voluntary, and confidentiality was ensured.

The mean age of the participants was 31 ± 7.9 years. Almost half (51.5%) of the participants engaged in daily snacking. The sociodemographic factors such as younger age (0.000), marital status (p = 0.001), salary package (p = 0.006), living situation (p = 0.05), designation (p = 0.042) and work experience (p = 0.001) significantly related with the unhealthy snacking pattern scores. Daily snacking was significantly associated with hunger (p = 0.001), stress (p = 0.001), weight (p = 0.000), peer influence (p = 0.041) and taste (p = 0.001). Hunger, stress, taste, peer influence, boredom and weight were significantly (p = 0.05) associated with unhealthy snacking patterns.

The mean age of the participants was 31 ± 7.9 years. Almost half (51.5%) of the participants engaged in daily snacking. The sociodemographic factors such as younger age (0.000), marital status (p = 0.001), salary package (p = 0.006), living situation (p = 0.05), designation (p = 0.042) and work experience (p = 0.001) significantly related with the unhealthy snacking pattern scores. Daily snacking was significantly associated with hunger (p = 0.001), stress (p = 0.001), weight (p = 0.000), peer influence (p = 0.041) and taste (p = 0.001). Overall, hunger, stress, taste, peer influence, boredom and weight were significantly (p = 0.05) associated with unhealthy snacking patterns such as snacking in between, prioritizing taste over nutrition, exclusion of fruits and vegetables in snacks, lack of control over snacking and snacking habit.

This study uniquely identifies the snacking pattern of IT professionals from Pune, India, which primarily includes unhealthy snacking. Various socio-demographic and other factors such as hunger, taste, stress, boredom, convenience, weight and peer influence, were associated with unhealthy snacking. Understanding the snacking pattern and its determinants can help create nutrition interventions to promote healthy snacking and decrease the risk of noncommunicable diseases in IT professionals.