The Implementation of Nutritional Menu Labelling on restaurant’s menu and its effect on the customer’s buying preference in Ireland

The increasing risk of obesity and heart-related diseases directly related to the consumption of food away from home (especially at restaurants) without keeping a track on nutritious or unhealthy ingredient’s intake has created an alarming concern among Ireland's customers dining at restaurants. Many types of research have shown that the impact of nutritional information present on the restaurant’ menu has a very positive impact on the consumers. However, the information loses its value when the consumer does not take a look at it. This study emphasizes on investigating how many Dublin’s population responses to the nutritional information given on the menu card before making a choice. Which ultimately means that do customers (after reading the nutritional information on the restaurant’s menu) prefer to buy the healthy and nutritious option or prefer to buy the unhealthy one? The quantitative approach using the cross-section method was adapted in this study. An anonyms survey was conducted by distributing a questionnaire set to the people in the selected location of Dublin. Cronbach alpha was used to check the reliability of the survey. Pearson correlation coefficient and Chi-Square test were performed for data analysis. The result of the study indicated that the participants were aware and also had good knowledge related to nutrition information. Among the participants, more males compare to females preferred to dine at restaurants which provides (or will provide) nutritional information on their menu cards. Thus, few respondents showed a positive attitude (i.e. showed interest and will prefer buying nutritious food). While most respondents showed a negative attitude by not selecting nutritional information while ordering food at the restaurant. Further, some recommendations were made from customers perception and their attitude towards the nutritional menu labelling law