The document summarizes a campaign conducted by Unilever Food Solutions to promote reducing food waste in restaurants in Romania. The campaign's main objectives were to increase awareness of food waste issues among restaurant operators and consumers in Romania and position UFS as a partner promoting sustainable practices. Key elements of the campaign included using photos of food waste to generate interest, working with influencers to normalize asking for doggy bags, and hosting an event called "Doggy Bag Day" to promote the issue. Evaluation found the campaign generated over 90 articles and 900 social media reactions about reducing food waste and normalizing taking leftovers home.

3. A doggy bag is a goodie bag
Foreword
A successful campaign is similar to a complicated, but delicious recipe.
You need to cautiously choose your ingredients, carefully combine them, to
know to whom and how to serve it. And, of course, do everything with passion
and determination.
Unilever Food Solutions – Head Chef
Unilever Food Solutions is the leading global provider of culinary and
commercial inspiration to chefs. Unilever`s specialized gastronomic division
provides ingredients and professional services to chefs in 74 countries.
Culinary challenge
UFS regularly undergoes studies regarding food service industry trends
and problems.
International cuisine
In 2011, World Menu Report 2 showed that
annually, restaurants produce 3 million tons of food
waste, out of which 1 million comes from the clients`
plates. In a long-term, food waste has negative
consequences on both the economy and the
environment. Consequently, the industry must embrace
solutions in order to optimize restaurant activities so
that they waste as little resources as possible.
Traditional cuisine
Unlike Western restaurants, Romanian ones do not encourage
consumers to take their leftovers home. Clients aren`t used to ask their
waiters for that, either.
Restaurant food waste is a consequence of the fact that kitchens do not
manage their resources correctly and they serve oversized portions, a large
part of which is not eaten and afterwards thrown away.

4. Research
According to the UFS study, both Romanian and foreign consumers are
interested in the sustainable measures that restaurants apply. 62% of the
Romanians who frequently dine out declare they would pay more for their
food in a restaurant that limits the quantity of the waste it produces.
Planning – Choosing the recipe
The main objectives were increasing awareness for the issue of food
waste and for Doggy Bag among Romanian operators and consumers.
Secondly, the objective was to place UFS as the partner that inspires operators
and chefs and contributes to their business’ profitability and as the promoter
of sustainable practices among consumers.
Evaluation criteria – Taste indicators
- Number and quality of online & offline articles (UFS mentions,
photographs, study data)
- Number and quality of Social Media reactions (Facebook and blog
comments, shares, tweets)
- Involvement degree of invited endorsers and key opinion formers
that joined discussions at their own initiative
Identifying the target – Who tastes the recipe
The main target of the campaign was the final consumer, who gets
embarrassed when it comes to asking for the leftovers. Secondarily, we
approached chefs, serving staff and operators, reticent about offering clients
their leftovers and not willing to invest in the necessary containers.
Campaign messages – Flavor
The message “Take your leftovers home! Ask for a Doggy Bag!” was
directed towards restaurant clients, while for chefs, operators and staff, the
messages were complemented by numbers regarding the quantity of food
waste their location contributes to: “1 million tons of food waste is annually
thrown from restaurant kitchens.”
Communication channels selection:
- online: blogs, Facebook, websites (generalist, lifestyle, trade)
- offline: generalist, lifestyle, trade media; informal meetings

5. First encountered difficulties – Lack of proper condiments
End consumers
Issue: „I`m too embarrassed to ask for my food and take it home”
Solution: Involving key opinion formers
Operators
Issue: “Leftovers will spoil and people will blame us”
Solution: The initiative of advising clients on preserving and consuming
the food
Implementing – Preparing and serving
The campaign started as a non-branded initiative, in order for people to focus
on the issue of food waste, its solution, but not on the company. This
approach augmented the credibility and impact of our messages.
Teasing (September 6th – 19th)
Working with a photographer from Evenimentul Zilei, we did a photo report
that dealt with the food waste restaurants dispose of. During a week, our
cameraman managed to capture surprising images with the enormous
quantity of food being thrown out each morning by venues in the area of
Bucharest with the highest density of restaurants: the Historical Center. The
pictures were spread online in order to provide an image of what the people
leave behind when they eat out. One in particular was used as a teaser for
more than 20 targeted bloggers and journalists.
Cabral, a ProTV public figure and one of the most influential Romanian
bloggers, agreed to endorse our campaign and started a discussion about “the
embarrassment” of asking for your food to be packed to go. His post quickly
generated 120 comments, while other bloggers embraced the topic as well.

6. As for Twitter, the #doggybag hashtag was created, which was used both in
the teasing period, and after that, by those who wrote about the subject.
After Teasing
Reactions generated by Doggy Bag in Social Media were numerous: on
Facebook, a supporter of this idea created a cause, joined by over 100 of
people who supported the initiative as a right and a responsibility, not a
reason of embarrassment. The subject was debated on the Facebook
community of Romanian Chefs, receiving both pro and con reactions.
Two television channel broadcasted news on restaurant food waste Doggy Bag
during prime time.
Revealing
Step 1 (September, 19th) - We invited 20 bloggers and journalists to an
informal discussion with UFS in two locations in the Historical Center, to talk
about our eating habits, waste and responsibility.
Step 2 (September, 23rd) - Doggy Bag Day in Romania. The hosts of the event
were four of the most engaged bloggers: Ibacka Cabral (cabral.ro), Alex Ciuca
(hoinaru.ro), Marie Jeanne Schweffer (jeanette.ro) and Raluca Popa
(raluxa.com). The 20 guests were joined by 15 more bloggers and journalists
from Bucharest and other cities, who had been attending another event, so
that the impact of the action exceeded local area.

7. Evaluation - Culinary reviews
During 17 days, the campaign generated:
90 articles (28 blog posts, 14 trade articles, 46 generalist articles, 2 TV
broadcasts), all positive, including key messages, 74 UFS mentions, 73 include
photographs
1 hashtag #doggybag, still active
900 Social Media reactions (400 blog comments, 500 Facebook likes and
shares), 896 positive, 4 negative
Doggy Bag Day attendance: 35 bloggers, out of which 30 with a medium
audience of 20.000 readers/month. Because the events were joined by bloggers
and journalists who came on their own account, the number of venues had to
be supplemented.
5.000 end users instructed in using Doggy Bags

8. One year after the campaign, study data is still used in articles on food waste,
in lifestyle and trade publications (Cosmopolitan, Horeca)
Creativity
In the absence of a mature, strong chef and operator community, with the
strength of producing a change in this matter, we began the campaign from
end users, applying pressure on the core target of the campaign.