研究发现，与点菜单相比，自助酒店早餐产生的剩食显著更多，在一项研究中最高可达两倍，使食物浪费同时成为酒店的环境负担和财务压力。先前研究显示文化因素也很关键：俄罗斯客人浪费最多，奥地利客人最少，儿童更容易拿得过多，盘子半径与浪费量正相关，而劝客“只拿能吃完”的提示牌反而常会增加剩菜。

NORCE 与博洛尼亚大学的模拟模型以四类动机为核心：饥饿感、可持续意识、社交压力和自我控制，并叠加用餐时长、盘子尺寸和食物多样性等外部驱动因素。宾客可在各自可用时段内自由多次回到餐台，商务客人比度假客人更早离开，后者最多可停留三小时，模型用2023 年春夏八家挪威酒店的实测数据进行校准。

经过数百次模拟，研究指出可持续态度是减少浪费的最核心变量，从众行为同样显著：当人们认为他人会盛得更多时，自己也更易过度取食。盘子尺寸是最关键的外部因素之一：无论大盘还是小盘客人都会频繁回台，但小盘者更可能把拿起的食物吃完；允许停留时长和可选食物种类的影响相对较小，酒店可用该模型测试20%缩小盘子、调整食物摆放，或按客群定制提示牌，并在 CHORIZO 计划下推进现实验证。

Researchers found that all-you-can-eat hotel breakfasts create substantially more leftovers than menu ordering, with one study reporting up to twice as much, making waste both an environmental and a cost problem for hotels. Earlier work also showed cultural effects: Russian guests wasted the most and Austrian guests the least, children tended to take more than needed, plate radius correlated positively with waste, and signs urging guests to take only what they can eat often increased leftovers.

A simulation model from NORCE and the University of Bologna used four core motivations—hunger, sustainability orientation, social pressure, and self-control—and added external drivers such as buffet duration, plate size, and food diversity. Guests could revisit stations freely within their allotted time, with business travelers leaving sooner than holiday travelers who could stay up to three hours, and the model was calibrated using spring and summer 2023 data from eight real Norwegian hotels.

After hundreds of runs, sustainability concern emerged as the strongest factor reducing waste, while conformism also had a strong effect because people tended to over-serve themselves when they believed others were doing so. Plate size was the most important external lever: both small- and large-plate guests made return visits, but small-plate users were more likely to finish what they served themselves, and buffet duration and menu variety had comparatively weaker effects; hotels can use the model to test, for example, 20% smaller plates, layout changes, and sign wording tailored to their clientele, and the team is extending tests in real settings through the CHORIZO initiative.

Source: How to make buffet breakfasts less wasteful

Subtitle: A computer model has found some counterintuitive solutions

Dateline: 4月 16, 2026 04:16 上午