Corporate social responsibility in catering business in Hong Kong : current situation and the way forward

Abstract

The development of catering business in Hong Kong is facing a wide range of challenges and issues, including the increase in operating costs, growing pressure from public prospection about healthier diets, food safety as well as environmental protection, etc. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), acting a brand new corporate strategy can be adopted to upgrade catering business industry structure and achieve long term sustainability.

The aim of this study is to investigate the current performance of CSR in Hong Kong’s catering business in terms of its contribution to the well-being of the environment, community and economy. Using web-based questionnaires, relevant data was randomly collected from 16 restaurants located in the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories. The analysis and results indicate that 1) most managers from catering business have basic awareness of CSR concept and its benefits for corporations; 2) Only a minority of catering business in Hong Kong has adopted CSR; 3) Restaurants without CSR strategy have expressed strong willingness to implement CSR, most notably for small and medium sized restaurants; and 4) Among the five key CSR aspects, ethical procurement performed worst in the self-assessment system.

In order to promote CSR into catering business, numerous recommendations are given. 1) Strengthening in education and training by government and interested organizations; 2) Providing incentives and policy support, establishing legislative regulation by government; and 3) Improving the quantity, quality and reliability of corporations communication with other stakeholders, such as disclosing CSR report.