Innovative catering – Ecological and visionary service innovation

Innovative Catering is a research, development and innovation project that involves Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Finnish hospitality industry and the industry's technology and appliance manufactures. The objective is to build an experiential restaurant concept. The aim of this paper is to describe the restaurant concepts on Innovative Catering and the visionary and technological phenomena involved into project's construction and illustration. Innovative Catering will be implemented as an action research co-operation in three phases between researchers, specialists and corporate networks in addition to university students. The Innovative Catering project embarks on building three eco-intensive experiential catering production systems and distribution channels at Helsinki, Hong Kong and Levi (Finland). The final result of the paper and the goal of this project will be a four-dimensional Innovative Catering model as well as a new experiential and catering production and distribution channel produced in co-operation with trade experts, business networks and industry‟s university students.

Keywords: service innovation, catering, action research, restaurant concept

Heikkinen, V. A., Ahonen, J., & Karmavuo, R. (2010). Innovative catering – Ecological and visionary service innovation. Paper presented at the International CHRIE Conference, 28-31 July, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA. URL: http://scholarworks.umass.edu/refereed/CHRIE_2010/Wednesday/4