This study investigates how environmental sustainability intentions are translated into routinised operational practices by foodservice firms in Vietnam under resource and institutional constraints.
An exploratory qualitative design was used, drawing on 25 semi-structured interviews with senior decision-makers across five Vietnamese regions. Data were analysed using a hybrid deductive–inductive thematic approach supported by NVivo. The analysis was guided by Stakeholder Theory, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, and Sustainable Resource and Operations Management to connect external pressures, managerial beliefs and operational artefacts that stabilise practice.
Managers operationalised sustainability when stakeholder expectations were translated into concrete artefacts that staff could execute and monitor. Five interrelated themes suggest that consumer scrutiny, organisational readiness, uneven policy enforcement, human-centred change and frugal innovation shaped routines through menus and service design (e.g. icons, provenance cues, and default portions), supplier arrangements (e.g. specifications and take-back clauses), station-level standard operating procedures and coaching, and simple measurement tools (logs, checks, and per-shift waste/energy indicators). These artefacts made sustainability actions more feasible in daily service, visible to employees, and auditable for managers and partners.
This study contributes novel insight by showing that sustainability in Vietnamese foodservice firms is enacted by translating stakeholder expectations into concrete, low-cost operational artefacts rather than formal policies alone. Five interrelated mechanisms shape how sustainability intentions become routinised, making practices feasible in daily operations, visible to employees, and auditable for managers and partners.
