Building the sociomateriality of food service

Abstract

Global megatrends such as urbanization, climate change and resource scarcity, shift in political and economic power, demographic change, and increasingly disruptive technological breakthroughs are transforming the conventional socio-technical system of food service. This study identifies and discusses key changes already impacting the service concept of food service, with particular focus on service interaction, its structure, and setting. Adopting a LEGO® Serious Play® approach, this study brings together diverse stakeholders to construct and discuss the current state of and future vision for the sector. Findings illustrate how the relative importance of social (i.e., customers, employees) and material (i.e., technology) actors in food service production and delivery is shifting, and will continue to shift, in the coming decades. The study proposes a framework of the new-formed sociomateriality of food service, discusses its theoretical and managerial implications, and finally puts forward a rich agenda for future research.