REGENERATIVE EDUCATION AND APPLIED SCIENCES: FOSTERING DIGNITY, TRADITION, CREATIVITY, AND INNOVATION FOR HUMAN AND SOCIETAL DEVELOPMENT FROM AN ECO-SOCIAL WORK PERSPECTIVE
Sonny Jose
Director-International Relations & Mobility, Loyola College of Social Sciences, Trivandrum, India
Joice Joseph
Assistant Professor, Department of Disaster Management, Loyola College of Social Sciences, Trivandrum, India
Pramod S. Kamala
Assistant Professor, Department of Counselling Psychology, Loyola College of Social Sciences, Trivandrum, India
Sebin Thomas Babu
St. Ignatius Loyola College, Kaunas, Lithuania
Keywords: artificial intelligence; sustainable gastronomy; ethical hospitality; R&D restaurant; carbon labelling; circular economy; applied research.
Abstract:
Recent scientific literature published between 2023 and 2025 demonstrates that the global restaurant sector is undergoing a significant transformation driven by the convergence of artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability-oriented operational strategies, and evolving ethical expectations regarding human-centred hospitality. While prior research has primarily focused on technological innovation to improve operational efficiency, emerging studies suggest that integrating predictive analytics, carbon footprint communication tools, and circular gastronomy practices is reshaping not only restaurant workflows but also customer perceptions, staff autonomy, and organisational transparency.
This study aims to synthesise recent peer-reviewed scientific findings on AI-supported decision-making systems, sustainability interventions such as carbon-labelled menus, and the ethical considerations associated with automation in restaurant environments. A structured literature review methodology was employed to analyse research indexed in Scopus and Web of Science databases between January 2023 and January 2025. The reviewed studies were categorised into thematic clusters, including AI-assisted forecasting systems, lifecycle-based ingredient sourcing, zero-waste kitchen workflows, and human–technology interaction in hospitality settings.
The findings indicate that AI-enabled predictive models significantly improve demand estimation and inventory accuracy in high-variability service environments, potentially reducing food waste by up to 20–30%. Sustainability-oriented practices—such as carbon-labelled menu design and regenerative sourcing strategies—were found to positively influence customer trust, perceived authenticity, and behavioural loyalty when transparently communicated by service staff. At the same time, automation technologies introduce ethical challenges related to workforce autonomy, professional identity in culinary practice, and the risk of algorithmic bias in labour allocation and customer profiling.
Particular attention is given to the role of applied R&D restaurant environments embedded within higher education institutions, which may function as experimental “living laboratories” for empirically testing AI-supported operational models and sustainability communication strategies in real-service conditions. In smaller urban ecosystems such as Kaunas, these environments provide opportunities to generate practice-based evidence relevant to both academic research and industry innovation.
The study concludes that future restaurant models must adopt human-centred implementation frameworks in which artificial intelligence functions as an augmentative decision-support system rather than a substitute for professional judgement. Integrating AI, sustainability metrics, and ethical governance within applied hospitality education may enable institutions such as St. Ignatius Loyola College to contribute locally grounded yet internationally relevant insights into the evolving socio-technical architecture of sustainable restaurant operations.
DOI: