The heritage food concept and its authenticity risk factors - Validation by culinary professionals

Exploring dark kitchens in Brazilian urban centres: A study of delivery-only restaurants with food delivery apps

Dark kitchen is a delivery-only restaurant that operates without direct contact with the consumer, has no premises for local consumption and sells exclusively through online platforms. The main objective of this work is to identify and characterise dark kitchens in three urban centres featured in the most used food delivery app in Brazil. To this end, data collection was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, through data mining, we collected information from restaurants in three cities (Limeira, Campinas and São Paulo - Brazil) that were provided in the food delivery app. A total of 22,520 establishments were searched from the central point of each of the cities. In the second phase, the first 1,000 restaurants in each city were classified as dark kitchens, standard, or undefined restaurants. A thematic content analysis was conducted to further distinguish the dark kitchen models. Of the restaurants evaluated, 1,749 (65.2%) were classified as standard restaurants, 727 (27.1%) as dark kitchens, and 206 (7.7%) as undefined. In terms of the characteristics of dark kitchens, they were more dispersed and located further away from the central points compared to standard restaurants. Meals in dark kitchens were cheaper than in standard restaurants, and had a lower number of user reviews. Most of the dark kitchens in São Paulo served Brazilian dishes, while in the smaller cities, Limeira and Campinas, it was mainly snacks and desserts. Six different models of dark kitchen were identified: Independent dark kitchen; shell-type (hub); franchise; virtual kitchen in a standard restaurant (different menu); virtual kitchen in a standard restaurant (similar menu but different name); and home-based dark kitchen. The modelling approach and methodology used to classify and identify dark kitchens is considered a contribution to science as it allows a better understanding of this fast growing sector of the food industry. This in turn can help to develop management strategies and policies for the sector. Our study is also of value to regulators to determine their proliferation through urban planning and to promote appropriate guidelines for dark kitchens as they differ from standard restaurants.

Safety and authenticity risks in heritage food preparation at different types of food service establishments: A case study of Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, tourism is becoming increasingly popular, and forms an essential element of Vision 2030. Accordingly, food service establishments (FSEs) including hotels, ordinary restaurants, heritage restaurants and productive families (i.e., home-based catering) provide heritage cuisine to tourists. This study aimed to assess the authenticity and safety risks associated with the production of heritage food dishes in different FSEs. An online questionnaire was administered in Saudi Arabia, and a total of 85 culinary professionals from different FSEs responded. The culinary professionals were requested to provide opinions on the frequency of food safety and authenticity risk situations at their FSEs, using a five-point Likert scale. The results indicate that most food safety risk situations occur less frequently in hotels because of strict food safety management systems. In contrast, food safety risk situations are more frequent in ordinary and heritage restaurants, particularly in the absence of personal hygiene requirements. In productive families, most food safety risk situations occur because there are no control systems or inspections. Authenticity risks occur less frequently in productive families and heritage restaurants than in other FSEs. Hotels often/always face authenticity risk situations, such as cooking of heritage dishes by non-Saudi culinary professionals and the use of modern equipment. Ordinary restaurants face the highest risk, mostly because of the limited knowledge and skills of the cooks. Overall, this study provides the first insight into the occurrence of possible safety and authenticity risk situations during the preparation of heritage dishes; this information may contribute to improve the production of safe and authentic heritage dishes in the hospitality industry for tourists and local people.