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But is it local? A Content Analysis of Farm-to-Table Restaurants within the Columbus Metropolitan Area

Seeloff, Desiree Machelle

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Agricultural and Extension Education.
Food has the power to bring communities together but it also has the power to pit societal ideologies surrounding food and food sourcing against each other. The farm-to- table movement reached a turning point in the early 2000s, when consumers started to care more about where their food came from. In response to growing concerns about food quality, transparency, local sourcing, and “knowing where your food is coming from,” fast food franchises started to push their menus to be more fit the bill. With more and more of these fast-food meccas pushing a “clean” or “locally sourced” menu, non- franchise restaurants are having to compete to bring in these “locavore” consumers. This exploratory content analysis was conducted because there is a gap between the consumer and these farm-to-table restaurants. These restaurateurs need to understand the influence that websites have on consumer perceptions about the restaurant and its sourcing habits. Consumers can judge a website in as little as 3.42 seconds based solely on the aesthetics of the site. This three-second window is all the time that websites have to captivate their consumers. This study aimed to see if the farm-to-table restaurants in the Columbus metropolitan area are following suit with their franchise competitors. More specifically, this study described the visual aesthetics of farm-to-table restaurant websites and menus, identified themes seen throughout the terminology used by the farm-to-table restaurants, and described how farm-to-table restaurants share information about their locally sourced products or ingredients. The results of this study demonstrated that farm-to-table restaurants rely heavily on logotypes, likely because they can be seen easily from a moving vehicle. These restaurants also used high-quality photos across their websites to portray menu items and the interior and exterior of the restaurant. Color selections tended to stay in the neutral category of black, white, and gray. There are multiple reasons behind this color scheme selection that can be explained by color theory. Textual content contained more labeling themes were noted than production themes. While this study focused on farm-to-table restaurants, only 23.3% of the 30 restaurants sampled listed farm and sourcing information on their websites. This could cause an issue when marketing these farm-to- table restaurants since they are claiming to be farm-to-table yet are not discussing where their products are being sourced from.
Annie Specht (Advisor)
Emily Buck (Committee Member)
116 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Seeloff, D. M. (2017). But is it local? A Content Analysis of Farm-to-Table Restaurants within the Columbus Metropolitan Area [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1494289333534779

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Seeloff, Desiree. But is it local? A Content Analysis of Farm-to-Table Restaurants within the Columbus Metropolitan Area. 2017. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1494289333534779.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Seeloff, Desiree. "But is it local? A Content Analysis of Farm-to-Table Restaurants within the Columbus Metropolitan Area." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1494289333534779

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)