Seventy-nine per cent of consumers favour brands whose values match their own, but only genuine, operationally embedded values earn the premium.
Every venue has a values statement somewhere. Very few have values that a guest could identify from sitting in the room, reading the menu and paying the bill. That difference is now measurable in loyalty and in price.
The consumer evidence
Amazon Ads’ Higher Impact 2025 research found 79 per cent of consumers are more likely to buy from brands whose values align with their own, 64 per cent will pay more for brands, products and services that are “truly authentic” (69 per cent in the US), and 51 per cent will pay more for third-party sustainability certification, rising to 59 per cent among Gen Z and Millennials versus 37 per cent of Boomers. Notably for independent hospitality, 82 per cent say it is important to support small business owners during economic uncertainty.
The word doing the work there is “authentic”. Consumers are not paying for a values claim. They are paying for evidence. Transparency in food and beverage is increasingly part of that evidence, particularly around sourcing, production and the ethics behind the brands consumers support.
There is a live positioning gap in Australia
Australian diners are asking for values on the plate rather than in the marketing. According to the Lightspeed 2026 Hospitality Report, sustainable food sourcing is the number two thing customers want to see on menus at 28 per cent, just behind health-conscious food at 29 per cent, yet only 8 per cent of operators are planning health-led menus and just 24 per cent are prioritising menu innovation. Now Book It also highlights findings from the report.
These changing expectations also reinforce why menu simplification and innovation should be approached strategically rather than as a simple exercise in cutting items.
A stated guest preference that most operators are not acting on is the definition of a commercial opening.
Values and cost control are the same project
The Australian operators moving fastest on sustainability are doing it for hard reasons. More than 65 per cent of hospitality operators are actively implementing sustainability initiatives, with cost reduction the primary driver, and more than 70 per cent rate reduced produce, electricity and gas costs as the single most useful change to business performance, according to the R&CA 2025 Industry Benchmarking Report.
Food-waste prevention carries a cost-benefit ratio of more than 6:1, and 80 per cent of catering sites recover their costs within two years, according to Restaurant & Catering Australia.
Reducing food waste is also closely connected to better portion control, purchasing and margin management.
A 6:1 return would justify the program with no brand benefit at all. The brand benefit is the second dividend.
Two Australian models worth studying
STREAT in Melbourne operates cafes, kiosks, an artisan bakery, a coffee roastery, a catering company and an events space, where “all of our business profits are re-invested into providing holistic support and training pathways” for marginalised young people, backed by an in-house team including a clinical and forensic psychologist, social workers and youth workers. The purpose is not a campaign. It is the org chart.
Brae in Birregurra grows up to 90 per cent of its vegetables, fruit, nuts and grain on Brae Farm, mills and bakes bread “within 100 metres of the dining room”, and has contributed $274,693 to local education and infrastructure projects. That is what pricing power built on provenance looks like when it is real.
Making values operational
- Choose one or two commitments you can fund and sustain. Breadth reads as marketing; depth reads as character.
- Embed them in procurement, rostering and capital decisions, not just the website.
- Quantify them. Dollars to community, percentage grown or sourced locally, waste diverted, people trained.
- Get third-party verification where a certification exists, half your customers will pay more for it.
- Let staff tell it. Values communicated by the team are credible; values communicated by a campaign are not.
- Report progress honestly, including shortfalls. Nothing costs trust faster than a claim a guest can disprove.
Positioning that holds up under scrutiny has to be designed into the operating model from the start. Alto Cibum works with venues and venue developers to build brand positions that the kitchen, the roster and the supply chain can actually deliver. If your story and your operations have drifted apart, let’s realign them.
Robert Clifford
Managing Director, Alto Cibum
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