Quality, efficiency, and sustainability in the foodservice supply chain: The case of professionally prepared meals

Consumers have become more and more demanding with regards to food quality, food safety, sustainability, and associated product attributes. Looking at food supply chains from an integrated point of view has therefore become an industry paradigm. The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute to the literature with regards to the development of efficient, high-quality, and sustainable food supply chains; especially focusing on integrated methodologies. In this thesis, research is presented on the inclusion of the specifics of the food industry, food engineering related knowledge, and sustainability assessment methodology into food supply chain management.
This thesis builds on a case from the foodservice industry, which is used throughout the thesis to illustrate the proposed methodologies. As an important part of the food industry, the foodservice industry connects agricultural producers, food manufacturers, and wholesalers with consumers and provides prepared food and drinks ready for consumption away from home. This industry has grown significantly in the past years.
The thesis starts with a further introduction to the food service industry and a discussion of the research questions dealt with in this thesis, followed by a general discussion on the multidisciplinary research project. The subsequent three chapters focus on research towards quality, efficiency, and sustainability in the foodservice supply chain by implementing the integrated methodologies: integrating quality dynamics of food products into supply chain planning and integrating sustainability assessment methodology with supply chain planning. The last chapter of the thesis summarizes the scientific and managerial conclusions of the research project and outlines the future research directions.