After more than 20 years as Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategic management of SMEs and Head of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Department at Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Dr Demen Meier have decided to take up new challenges. The first one is at HEG Freiburg (CH) and concerns the creation of the Food Ecosystem Institute; the second one was at Glion Institute (CH), where she was in charge of the development of entrepreneurial programs. Then May 27th she has taken over the position of Managing Director worldwide of Les Roches (3 campuses: Crans Montana, CH/ Shanghai, China / Marbella, Spain) based in Switzerland (CH). From 2017 to end 2021 she was appointed as Member of the Innovation Council by the board of InnoSuisse, Swiss Innovation Agency. Since September 2022 she is still active as co-responsible of the Food Ecosystem Institute at HEG Fribourg.
Dr. Demen Meier, has been actively involved in research and developing EHL’s proximity with the hospitality industry, notably through the creation of three Research Chairs that she holds. In 2010, she created the first Research Chair in EHL, the Food & Beverage Industry Chair that resulted from a partnership between EHL and Danone Professional, Nestlé Professional and Unilever Food Solutions. Since 2015 and until end 2018, Saviva (member of Migros Group) will support the Chair. In 2016, the METRO Chair of Innovation was newly created for a two-year period. Before joining EHL in 1998, Dr. Demen Meier have more than 20 years of experience in the creation, implementation and management of new concepts in the hospitality industry. Additionally, she has a wide consulting experience in hospitality and restaurant management for many companies in Switzerland, Côte d’Ivoire, Turkey and Ukraine. She is currently President of the Comité Directeur of the board of the Bon Rivage Hotel (Vaud, Switzerland). She was also active as a consultant for AIREPME (an international association focused on research in entrepreneurship and SME), Gastrosuisse (the Swiss national professional association in the restaurant business) and the pedagogical organization of a University of Applied Sciences in Madagascar.
Her personal research interests are in strategic management of SME in hotels and restaurants, hospitality entrepreneurship as well as job prospective in the foodservice industry.
Publications
Journal article
| MARTIN-RIOS, C., DEMEN MEIER, C., GÖSSLING, S., CORNUZ, C. (2018). Food waste management innovations in the foodservice industry. Waste Management, 79, 196–206. |
| DEMEN MEIER, C., BONSCH BURI, S., CORNUZ, C., VOUMARD, M. (2018). 2030, la restauration en Suisse. Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. |
| DEMEN MEIER, C., BONSCH BURI, S., CORNUZ, C. (2017). S’adapter pour Gagner. La Restauration en Mouvement.. Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. |
| DEMEN MEIER, C., GUIGOU, C., VETTERLI, I. (2017). Independent restaurants and technology, what is the future? Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. |
| DEMEN MEIER, C., BONSCH BURI, S., CORNUZ, C. (2016). Let’s Stop Wasting! Innovations in Foodservice. Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. |
| ALTAN, M., DEMEN MEIER, C. (2014). An investigation in purchasing practices of small F&B operators. Research in Hospitality Management, 4 (1-2), pp. 29-37. |
| DEMEN MEIER, C. (2006). Exploration conceptuelle des stratégies de développement congruentes pour les entreprises artisanales de la restauration. Revue Internationale PME (RIPME), 19 (3-4). |
| DEMEN MEIER, C. (2005). Le tourisme : Essai de définition. Revue Management et Avenir, 3, pp. 7-25. |
Book chapter
| DEMEN MEIER, C., CORNUZ, C., BONSCH BURI, S. (2017). Small steps to make restaurants more sustainable. Hotel Yearbook Sustainable Hospitality 2018. Legrand. |
| DEMEN MEIER, C., SIORAK, N., BONSCH BURI, S., CORNUZ, C. (2015). Sustainable Supply Chains and Environmental and Ethical Initiatives in Restaurants. The Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Food, Beverage and Gastronomy (pp. 267-278). Routledge. |
| DEMEN MEIER, C., SIORAK, N., BONSCH, S., CORNUZ, C. (2015). Customer expectations regarding organic and healthy foods. The Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Food, Beverage and Gastronomy (pp. 408-420). Routledge. |
| SIORAK, N., DEMEN MEIER, C., BONSCH, S., CORNUZ, C. (2015). International and national regulation. The Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Food, Beverage and Gastronomy (pp. 379-390). Routledge. |
Paper presented at a peer-reviewed conference
| DEMEN MEIER, C., MARTIN-RIOS, C., GOSSLING, S., CORNUZ, C. (2016). Food waste management innovation. 5th Ashridge International Research Conference on Global Disruption, Ashridge, Great Britain. |
| DEMEN MEIER, C., PAGEAU, F. (2015). Independent restaurant entrepreneur’s characteristics and economic performance: Comparison between the Swiss and the Quebec (Canada) independent restaurant industries. 9e congrès de l’académie de l’entrepreneuriat et de l’innovation, France. |
| DEMEN MEIER, C., FERRI, A. (2014). L'impact des réseaux sociaux sur le comportement de consommation de la génération Y en restauration en France et en Suisse. CIFEPME, Morocco. |