Increasingly Visible Transparency in the Restaurant Industry

I remain committed to sharing knowledge through a monthly LinkedIn article—always centered around topics related to the restaurant industry.

The inspiration for this new piece didn’t come to me while watching an old episode of The Invisible Man (I believe it now only airs in Azerbaijan), but rather by observing the evolution of dining and shifting consumer expectations.

It’s actually rooted in the satisfaction criteria we often reference in market presentations across the foodservice value chain. (You’ve probably noticed—it only took me one paragraph to plug Strateg’eat, which must be a sign of progress!)

Just to align terminology with the reader, the theme here is transparency—a topic we frequently revisit when discussing what drives customer satisfaction in foodservice. And let’s be clear: consumer satisfaction has evolved over the decades. That’s something we’ve seen consistently for over twenty years.

I like to distinguish between two different “worlds” of satisfaction. The first could be called “on the plate.”

It encompasses a range of criteria tied to the food offering, beverages, accommodations in a hotel room, or simply the wonderful products a baker offers and knows how to showcase. This first level of satisfaction has become a standard—almost an obligation—and is built on a variety of qualifying elements that shape the customer’s satisfaction with what’s on their plate (or in their cup).

These elements include notions of naturalness, ingredient quality and origin, production methods, “homemade” or nearly homemade preparations, transparency around suppliers, and overall transparency about what’s being served.

To that, we can add another type of satisfaction that goes beyond the plate, covering various aspects that clearly impact a customer’s overall experience.

This concept of “beyond-the-plate” satisfaction is especially interesting. It has steadily gained importance over the years, to the point where we now consider that it plays just as big a role as what’s on the plate—if not an even greater one, as is already the case in many Anglo-Saxon countries.

I've observed that many establishments comply with a set of industry standards—what I like to call the virtuous (and vicious) circle of pursuing excellence, which demands a minimum level of quality.

To understand what makes up beyond-the-plate satisfaction, let’s look at a few key aspects:

• Premiumization – the ability to offer something more expensive for a consumption act that could otherwise be generic, by adding a differentiating feature that justifies the extra cost. (Take, for example, the €2 surcharge for avocado on your burger—which, by definition, makes it different from your neighbor’s.)

• Desire creation – this can come from sharing formats, compelling visuals, quirky or creative recipes, or a brand’s signature concept built around specific products.

There are of course many additional criteria that we won’t dive into here. But at the top of this pyramid of beyond-the-plate satisfaction lies the customer experience—a hot topic, particularly in Anglo-Saxon countries where it’s mastered to perfection.

This might sound abstract at first—but let’s not forget that beyond-the-plate satisfaction can often make up for a less-than-perfect food experience. Over the course of several studies, I’ve seen how certain factors can completely turn around a customer’s perception and make them leave happy, even if the food was average.

You could easily write two or three LinkedIn articles just about customer experience, illustrating the concept with examples related to ambience, music, decor, digital tools, customer journey design, or brand storytelling—anything that helps a customer live their experience more fully.

But that’s not our topic today. Remember, this article is about transparency—something that applies both on and beyond the plate. (Although, I must admit, digressing from the original theme is a very real flaw of mine!)

So, what do we mean by transparency?

Starting in the early 1990s, consumers began to reject restaurants that felt too industrial, too mechanized, too soulless. This shift became especially visible when foodservice offerings started feeling too "processed."

The rejection was aimed at anything that felt overly artificial—uninspired, disconnected from real life, and totally out of sync with consumer expectations. These offerings stopped inspiring people altogether.

It took years, but today, that rejection is complete. Consumers are more knowledgeable and discerning, making deliberate choices that have forced sweeping changes—particularly in areas like self-service cafeterias and bake-off formats.

This transformation was first caricatured in the classic French film L’aile ou la cuisse, where Louis de Funès, embodying culinary excellence, was shocked by the so-called ingenuity of mass-market food production. A scenario that was once satire… now echoes reality more than we might like.

And since that brilliant 1976 movie (L’aile ou la cuisse), the French have had no shortage of examples reinforcing their rejection of overly industrialized foodservice, instead favoring a more natural approach to dining.

Over time, consumer expectations have steadily increased—shaped by years of food safety scandals, industry excesses, the influence of top chefs, evolving offerings from major restaurant brands, the rise of culinary TV shows that promote eating well, and of course, the growing role of social media. All of this has contributed to drawing a clear line—below which the consumer is no longer fooled.

As a result, we’ve seen a growing desire from consumers for transparency—a metaphorical demand that the chef strip everything bare to prove there’s nothing to hide, that the infamous Tricatel experience is well and truly behind us!

Several key characteristics define this demand for transparency—most notably the need for naturalness. And yes, it is a need, not always a reality. Meeting this expectation can involve certain markers of naturalness, even if the end result isn’t 100% natural.

Consumers increasingly want to know what ingredients are used, what they’re made of, and the quality behind them. People might claim they want gluten-free options, but unless they’re celiac, they’d often rather have good gluten. That’s why the latest slogan in pizzerias is all about low-gluten premium flour, making the pizza lighter—perhaps less natural, but easier to digest.

Consumers want reassurance about the commitments of the restaurant. It’s the same logic behind the rise of natural sourdough bread, which appeals to this search for naturalness—not just in ingredients, but in the production method itself.

I’m sure a few readers who’ve made it this far into the article might jump out of their chairs, eager to debate the argument around “good gluten” or the validity of certain sourdoughs. And honestly—I agree with them!

But the point here isn’t to settle that debate. It’s to understand the consumer’s perception—because these examples, whether rational or not, reflect a very real and growing need for naturalness. And as industry professionals, we must learn to navigate and respond to that reality.

Transparency also means allowing customers a front-row seat to food preparation—or at least the impression that nothing is being hidden. It’s about giving the consumer confidence that the chef is doing everything possible to deliver an experience close to homemade.

Restaurateurs have picked up on this. They now feel a growing need to demonstrate transparency to reassure an increasingly anxious and unpredictable customer base. In practice, this starts with open kitchens, visible prep areas in bakeries and pastry shops, and a general approach of having nothing to hide.

Even if the consumer doesn’t actually watch closely, just knowing they could is enough to feel reassured.

Transparency is also about considering the consumer’s health, and helping them gain a few more minutes of life, so to speak. It’s about offering food that’s both good and healthy—without going to extremes.

Say goodbye to brasserie-style menus with 20 starters, 20 mains, and 30 desserts. Today’s consumer is far more receptive to shorter, regularly updated menus, which communicate a clear sense of specialization, care, and product focus from the chef.

There is also, in the same spirit, a growing and increasingly visible desire to strictly respect seasonality, to use local products, or at the very least, products of French origin. Beyond legal requirements for labeling, restaurateurs are more and more committed to communicating the origin of their ingredients—always with the goal of reassuring and comforting their customers.

It’s in this context that plant-based offerings are becoming more meaningful. Not only do they help reduce meat consumption, but they also naturally promote the use of raw, unprocessed ingredients. By nature, a more natural plate is a more transparent plate, aligning with the widely appreciated “farm-to-fork” mindset in the United States—a concept that suggests the food has reached the consumer’s plate with as few intermediaries as possible. The goal here isn’t necessarily to reduce the carbon footprint of a dish (though that’s a bonus), but rather to ensure fewer steps in the supply chain, meaning fewer opportunities to overly process the food.

Naturalness is also reflected in a restaurant’s broader commitment to a better world: from promoting kindness and respect in the workplace, to raising awareness about the environmental impact of the restaurant industry. While this can be a powerful commercial argument, it also reinforces the outlet’s desire to be transparent and actively contribute to positive change.

I often cite the example of an Italian restaurant chain in the UK that already understood this perfectly—and the infographic dates back to 2017!

This is also the case for all restaurant chains that go further by committing to serious eco-responsible programs. Take, for example, the BlackLock brand, which we visited during the food tours we organize with @Elan CHD. They’ve gone as far as committing to B Corp certification (https://bcorporation.fr) — feel free to look into it.

Over time, consumer expectations have been joined by a new ambition from restaurateurs themselves, who now willingly take on additional challenges (as if they didn’t already have enough!). Let’s not forget that every restaurateur is a consumer at heart. Many professionals are now building their food offerings based on their own principles of transparency and naturalness — and that’s often why they’ve chosen to enter the industry in the first place. Or, they’ve simply understood the stakes.

This is especially true among the new generation of restaurateurs, and is over-represented among self-taught professionals. These individuals often come from completely different industries and have chosen to switch careers. They’re not necessarily better professionals — but they have a key advantage: they know how to put themselves in the consumer’s shoes, because they are consumers first and foremost. So they ask their chefs and teams to uphold the same standards of transparency they would expect as customers. And if those teams happen to be committed consumers themselves… well, you just might save the planet and retain your staff!

In short, transparency takes shape through the actions deployed in the venue. There are certainly many more ways to demonstrate transparency, but I hope I’ve clarified the key concepts here. Let’s weigh the pros and cons to draw a few conclusions.

Possible benefits of increased transparency:

• A shift toward more raw, minimally processed ingredients

• A more creative approach to the dishes offered

• Open kitchens visible to guests

• A regularly updated menu

• A shorter, more focused menu

• More interaction between staff and customers

• A climate of trust that turns anxious guests into loyal, generous diners

• A rise in overall food quality, even outside the fine dining world

• Kind leadership and happy teams

• Promotion of specialized suppliers, sometimes even featured on the menu

• Growing appreciation for labels and certifications once considered insignificant

• Brand mentions on menus that reinforce consumer confidence

• Opportunities to integrate transparency into digital strategy, especially on social media

Possible downsides of transparency:

• A race to the top in quality that reduces profit margins — #TransparencyOrProfitability?

• A vicious cycle of endless transparency — #TooMuchTransparencyKillsTransparency

• The difficulty of keeping proprietary secrets, when anything could be copied — #TransparencyVsTradeSecrets

• The fear of customer backlash for shortcuts that are actually reasonable — #TransparencyAndOwningYourChoices

• A single oversight or detail can ruin an otherwise great experience — #GreatPlaceButDidn’tStateSaltOrigin

What can we conclude?

Transparency is no longer optional — consumer demand makes that clear. But not every truth is worth sharing. Sometimes, it’s smart to keep a little mystery, while prioritizing and staging transparency progressively.

Being “more raw than natural” — offering more plant-based dishes, simplified recipes, even some semi-finished products — can actually reassure customers. Italian cuisine is a great example: it's mostly built around raw, simple ingredients. You rarely question the pasta’s origin or the quality of the tomato sauce.

Transparency is about trust. The best approach? Make a list of your challenges vs. priorities, and gradually introduce the elements you want to highlight.

Transparency is also a powerful communication tool. Whether it’s introducing a top-quality new supplier, showcasing a farmer tenderly caring for lambs like a wool detergent ad, posting behind-the-scenes staff moments before service, or documenting a recipe from A to Z — it’s all gold on social media.

Before being a principle or regulation, transparency is a storytelling opportunity.

Most criteria in foodservice aren’t about rigid rules, but about a willingness to head in the right direction. What consumers want most is genuine intent, not perfection. That gives restaurateurs the room to include time-saving shortcuts, while still presenting an experience that feels handcrafted — “Made by Chef.”

Transparency is now served at every meal. It may be a constraint, but it’s a positive one — pushing the restaurant industry forward and satisfying consumers both on and beyond the plate.

P.S.: This article was built with ChatGPT, in the spirit of the transparency it promotes. 😉

Transparency: A Growing Trend at the Table

More and more restaurateurs are choosing a sincere, traceable, and transparent approach to cuisine. Behind this wave of transparency lies both a strong consumer demand… and a series of initiatives that make it impossible to ignore.

A legislative initiative is currently under review to better define the notion of “homemade” food: a bill is being debated in Parliament — one more step toward a clearer and more responsible foodservice sector.

Committed players like Ecotable are helping the industry transition ecologically by supporting professionals in making sustainable, concrete, and measurable decisions.

On the ground, initiatives are flourishing:

• Let it Bib’s natural wine, proudly embracing its origins and production method,

• Hugo’s French pickles, standing up for local sourcing,

• And Maslow, redefining indulgence without animal protein — with a bold message.

These examples, among many others, reflect a deeper shift: one of a restaurant industry that dares to be transparent — and is thriving because of it.

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