The weight of foodguests took from the buffet but did not eat served as thekey dependent variable in the study. More specifically,this study measures edible food waste, which is selfservedfood that can be eaten, but was left on the plate.For example, salami, cheese, egg omelets, bread, pancakes,cereals, and similar eatable parts of food. The foodwaste measure excludes inedible food waste (e.g., bones,fruit peels or watermelon or orange skin, eggshells, andsimilar items). A trained research assistant measured ediblefood waste every day after the breakfast buffet closedand all food leftovers were brought from the tables in thedining room. The food waste measure included all foodwaste collected from tables (not food waste from the buffet),but excluded inedible food waste and general waste(e.g., serviettes, food wrappers). Note that the focus ofthis study is on food waste; we do not study the potentialbenefits of not eating everything that’s on the plate inview of overeating. One measurement is available foreach day during the data collection period. The total foodwaste is divided by the number of people who had breakfaston any given day to derive the food waste per personper day measure. These measurements allow to link thedaily food waste to the characteristics of the guest distributionin the hotel as well as to external factors for a givenday, but not to associate the food waste of individualswith their characteristics. While individual data would bepreferable because it contains more detailed information,the available data on the aggregate level is sufficient todetect differences in food waste in dependence of the overall guest composition.