Measuring the knowledge levels and attitudes of restaurant employees about vegan-vegetarian nutrition

People prefer vegan / vegetarian diets for different reasons, usually health or animal rights. It is seen that the number of people who adopt vegan / vegetarian diet from past to present has increased. Vegan / vegetarian diets do not just meet a need arising from the desire of people to live a healthy and long life. Such people (especially vegans) either do not consume animal-based foods or partially consume animal-based foods due to health concerns, and they also avoid using animal-derived silk, wool, leather and cosmetics. Therefore, vegan/vegetarian people can be seen as individuals who feel responsible for non-human life and act extremely sensitive to the degradation of the natural environment. So that vegan/vegetarian diet ymbolizes a character and stance. This phenomenon, which is widely accepted in the global sense, is now gathering support within Turkey. However, while it is observed that the perceptions towards the adoption and legitimacy of a vegan/vegetarian diet in Turkey are strengthened within the country, it does not go unnoticed that food and beverage businesses that provide products/services for individuals who adopt this lifestyle are relatively inadequate. As a matter of fact, the limited number of specialty food and beverage businesses that serve to meet the needs of vegan / vegetarian individuals and the insufficiency of vegan/vegetarian menus in businesses that strive to meet these needs confirm this determination. The main purpose of this research is to reveal whether the attitudes and knowledge levels of those working in the food and beverage sector in Turkey towards the vegan/vegetarian diet differ in terms of some demographic variables. This research includes kitchen staff, service personnel, restaurant manager, business owner, etc. working in the food and beverage industry in Turkey. Based on the information obtained from the general attitudes of the stakeholders towards the vegan / vegetarian phenomenon, it is important to predict what kind of behavioral changes these attitudes may lead to in the future at the enterprise level. Questionnaire method was used as data collection technique. The data obtained were analyzed with the help of independent sample t-test, ANOVA and Exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The results of the research show that the basic knowledge level of the personnel working in the food and beverage businesses about vegetarian / vegan nutrition is partially sufficient.