Reducing food waste at the source: an organizational analysis of territorialized food systems in collective catering
Sibylle Duchaine | Business Organization at the Oniris National College and University of Nantes (LEMNA)
05/02/2026 12:00
Sala Descubre/Online Teams. Edificio 8E. Acceso J - 4ª Planta | Universitat Politècnica de València. 46022
Abstract
Collective catering provides an ideal setting for analyzing the tensions between food sustainability policies and organizational constraints. Based on a qualitative survey conducted in western France, this article offers an organizational interpretation of food waste, understood as the result of structural imbalances between territory-based agricultural sectors and collective catering. The analysis, which focuses on the beef sector, shows that waste at source is mainly the result of coordination difficulties related to material balance, quantities and processing methods. The results highlight the role of local organizational arrangements—culinary adaptations, differentiated order planning, territorial mutualization of demand—in reducing these misalignments.
Finally, the article highlights the ambivalent role of Territorial Food Projects, which are both catalysts for organizational innovation and revelations of the fragility of territorial coordination mechanisms. It thus invites us to consider the reduction of food waste as a challenge for the collective management of territorialized food systems.
Bio
Sibylle Duchaine is associate professor of Business Organization at the Oniris National College and permanent researcher at the Laboratory of Economics and Management at the University of Nantes (LEMNA) in France. Her work usually focuses on the analysis of territorialized food systems in a context of transition.
Her goal is to understand how innovations take root in specific contexts and how they can contribute to broader transitions towards more sustainable systems. In this sense, she observe the social and organizational dynamics that encourage the active participation of stakeholders in the transition towards a sustainable and resilient economic model.
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