Sustainability tops what cloud kitchen consumers expect, Chennai study finds

Cloud kitchens, the delivery-only food businesses that operate without any dine-in space, have become a visible feature of the modern food service industry. A qualitative study published in Discover Sustainability examines what consumers expect from these operations, and reports that sustainability stands out as the single most frequently mentioned theme in how customers talk about their food delivery experiences. The research, conducted by A. Sivapriya and Sujatha Manohar, indicates that sustainable food practices carry implications for promoting healthier choices and responsible consumption within cloud kitchen services.

The study adopted a qualitative research design built around in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 19 cloud kitchen consumers in Chennai, India. The researchers analysed the interview data using NVivo15, applying a thematic analysis with an inductive approach, meaning that the themes were allowed to emerge from the data itself rather than being imposed from a pre-existing framework. This method is suited to capturing nuanced perceptions and lived experiences, which is what the authors sought: a grounded picture of how consumers frame their expectations when ordering from kitchens they never visit in person.

Once the thematic analysis was complete, the researchers organized the emergent themes into six categories of consumer expectations. These categories were then synthesized into three broader dimensions, each conceived as operating along a continuum: the fundamentality of expectations, the precision of expectations, and the feasibility of expectations. In other words, consumer expectations vary not only in what they concern but in how basic they are, how specifically they are articulated, and how realistically they can be met by cloud kitchen operators. This layered structure is the study’s central conceptual contribution.

The work is grounded in Expectation Confirmation Theory. By systematizing consumer expectations into its three-dimension framework, the study contributes to the service quality literature in the context of delivery-first food businesses. Because sustainability emerged as the dominant theme in the interviews, the findings point toward responsible consumption and healthier choices as prominent elements of what these consumers expressed, situating sustainable food practices at the centre of the expectation landscape the study set out to map.

The authors frame the scope of their conclusions carefully. The study is qualitative, based on a small sample of 19 consumers drawn from a single urban setting in India, and its findings describe the expectations of that group rather than measuring outcomes or testing interventions. The published article is open access, allowing readers to examine the full analysis. Even with these limits, the research offers a documented, structured account of how consumers in Chennai articulate what they want from cloud kitchens, with sustainability appearing more frequently than any other theme in the interview data.

Subject of Research: Consumer expectations of sustainable food practices in delivery-only cloud kitchens, studied through qualitative interviews in Chennai, India

Article Title: Dimensions of consumer expectations from sustainable food practices in cloud kitchens

Article References: Sivapriya, A., & Manohar, S. (2026). Dimensions of consumer expectations from sustainable food practices in cloud kitchens. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04992-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04992-y

Keywords: cloud kitchens, sustainability, consumer expectations, food delivery, qualitative research, thematic analysis, Expectation Confirmation Theory, Chennai, India, service quality, NVivo, Discover Sustainability