Yoshimoto, H. and Zapechelnyuk, A. (2021) Are there "Ratatouille" restaurants? On anticorrelation of food quality and hygiene. Technical Report. SSRN. (doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3508023).
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Abstract
We study the empirical relationship between restaurants’ effort to maintain hygiene standards and their food quality scores, as provided by both professional reviewers and consumers. We first propose a microeconomic model, in which the observed hygiene scores are Poisson-generated from the effort made by restaurants. The first-order condition of a restaurant’s profit maximization is used as a Poisson regression equation that relates the hygiene score to the food quality (and other variables). Then, using evidence from the UK high-end restaurants, we show that this relationship is negative and statistically significant. So, a higher food quality is generally associated with less effort to keep the kitchen clean. We find that 3% of Michelin starred restaurants in our dataset have poor hygiene, while the same is true for only 2% of non-Michelin starred restaurants. Our findings illuminate potential channels through which the anticorrelation between food quality and hygiene effort could be mitigated, and can be helpful for hygiene inspection design.
| Item Type: | Research Reports or Papers (Technical Report) |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Financial support from the Economic and Social Research Council Grant ES/N01829X/1 is gratefully acknowledged. |
| Status: | Published |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Yoshimoto, Dr Hisayuki |
| Authors: | Yoshimoto, H., and Zapechelnyuk, A. |
| College/School: | College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Economics |
| Publisher: | SSRN |
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