Enhancing Dining Efficiency and Sustainability

Enhancing Dining Efficiency and Sustainability: Findings from Flavoria

As part of the Dining Flow project, the Nutrition and Food Research Center (NuFo) at the University of Turku led a second study in spring 2025 at Flavoria, the smart self-service restaurant. This follow-up directly builds on the first Dining Flow study  carried out in spring 2024. This study focused on identifying the most effective ways to inform, influence, and interact with diners. Key objectives included: enhancing the flow of lunch lines by providing real-time information on rush peaks, guiding diners to distribute themselves more evenly across lunch lines using ceiling-mounted traffic lights, and raising awareness of food waste through targeted messaging across multiple channels. The interventions aimed to create a smoother dining experience and encourage more sustainable behavior among diners. The findings from this study offer valuable insights that can be applied to future dining environments and sustainability initiatives.