Beyond the Icing On the Cake: How Craft-Based Manufacturer Organic Supply Make Its Waste Reduction and Local Embeddedness Hip in Bangkok

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2019-07-26
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en
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This MA thesis studies the phenomenon in which the food and beverage sector in Bangkok becomes more involved in supporting environmental sustainability as craft-based manufacturers. Organic Supply, a café in Bangkok with an environmentally friendly concept, acts as a case study that helps to explore this phenomenon. The following research question determines the scope of the author’s study: “How does the craft-based manufacturer Organic Supply implement waste reduction initiatives and demonstrate its local embeddedness in the food and beverage sector in Bangkok?” The theoretical framework of this thesis consists of Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of cultural capitals and the new petite bourgeoisie, including Roland Barthes’s approach to visual analysis by using semiotics. This thesis applies discourse analysis to Organic Supply’s textual and visual content on Instagram. It also uses visual analysis to discover the overall aesthetics of Organic Supply’s images on its Instagram account. The results indicate that Organic Supply implements waste reduction initiatives and display its local embeddedness qualities by building a sense of community, introducing and reinforcing a sustainable health-conscious lifestyle and by stylizing them in ways that are especially appealing to the new petite bourgeoisie. These actions have their roots in the qualities of craft-based manufacturing and benefit from Organic Supply’s unconstrained organization structure and from the traditional craft movement’s workshop model.
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