Versión de HTML Básico
TOURISM&CREATIVE INDUSTRY WORKSHOP
Sustainable tourism, cultural tourism, creative tourism, culinary tourism, heritage & tourism
97
Table 1. Sources of innovation of restaurant´s
chefs.
cooking, vacuum drying of products, infusions, vacuum treatment, nitrogen
utilization, etc.
Innovative behaviour
When considering the innovative behaviour of the surveyed restaurants,
in the case of the true innovative restaurants (carrying out process, product
and service innovation), a 52% base their innovative activities in carrying out
their own R&D while 20 % declared to externalize it basically in university
or research center experts. Other, 56 %, based their innovation in acquiring
innovative cooking equipment such as Gastrovac (sous vide cooker), quick
freezing equipment, food smoking, flaming equipment, flavour evaporators,
etc. (see table 2).
It appears that internal R&D activities are carried out by half of the innovative
chefs differing from the case of Spanish innovative firms with a much lower
percentage (according to the INE results of the Innovation Survey, 2010).
Another characteristic of innovating chefs is the activity of training referred
to activities leading to instruct and educate young apprentices in cuisine and
service techniques and equipment with a 56% frequency. Innovative chefs have
also a high recurrence to external R&D with a 20% which means that they are
dependent on external expertise in this field. Design refers to the introduction
of aesthetic ideas when designing a new dish (or introducing new services in
their portfolio) and it has also a high frequency with a 42%.
Sources of innovation
As table 1 shows, the majority of the respondents declared that the most relevant
sources for innovation were the restaurant staff (internal), 54%, as well as the
cooperation with other colleagues with 52%. The cooperation with institutions