Commercial catering is a service open to the public in which customers are not organized in pre-established communities and use the service without any systematic constraint (bars and restaurants). On the other hand, in collective catering the customer is organized in a community and does not coincide with those who requested the service (schools, hospitals, companies). In the last years, the changes in lifestyles have led to a great development of these catering systems and commercial catering provides in Italy over 60% of meals consumed outside the home, while less than 40% are instead offered from collective catering with a total cost for families of over 60 billion euros.

However, there is a strong competition between suppliers in both commercial and collective catering system; thus, innovation in products and processes in order to improve the quality service reducing costs. 

The DISAFA-Food technology group works with catering companies and school/hospital catering services for innovation and service improvement by optimizing menus and dishes. In that topic, the consumer science techniques play a key role for evaluating the satisfaction of the service. The presence of a three-year degree course in "Catering technology" whose purpose is to train commercial catering technicians confirms the importance of that sector.

The research activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda (SDG 2; SDG 12).

• Agreement with Grugliasco (TO) municipality 
• Agreement with EDISU Piemonte   
• Agreement with Turin municipality

• Zeppa G., Gerbi V., Cussotto I. (2006). Quanto mangiano i bambini a scuola? Ristorazione Collettiva giugno 2006, 28-35.
• Zeppa G., Gerbi V. (2006). La gradibilità dei cibi nella ristorazione scolastica. Quaderni Risteco, Ed. Sotral SpA, vol. 4, 40-50
• Zeppa G., Gerbi V., Cussotto I. (2006). Graduatoria gradibilità. Ristorazione Collettiva luglio/agosto 2006, 74-80
• Zeppa G., Pagliarini E. (2003). Applicazione degli studi sulle preferenze dei consumatori al miglioramento della ristorazione scolastica. Atti Convegno AITA, Aggiornamenti di Analisi Sensoriale e di Consumer Science, Parma, 28 marzo 2003.