Supply-side perceptions of demand for natural food products in regional sustainable food systems: evidence from Finland

Natural food products, items foraged from the wild that have been only minimally processed, are becoming more closely associated with sustainability transitions in food systems. However, their integration remains limited, and demand's influence on adopting such products is not well understood. We examine how supply-side actors in Finland understand and interpret demand for natural food products and how these interpretations shape sourcing and coordination within the regional food system. Based on 22 semi-structured interviews with nine restaurants, ten producers, processors, and wholesalers, and three sector experts, we show how supply-side stakeholders develop an understanding of demand through indirect signals amid uncertainty and low market transparency, and how these constructed perceptions, in turn, affect sustainability-related practices. The findings indicate that supply-side actors rely on indirect signals, such as perceived customer preferences, direct customer interactions, and product differentiation, to interpret demand, and that price sensitivity, seasonal availability, and infrastructure limitations further shape these interpretations. Price and infrastructure came out as the most mentioned barriers to sourcing, while collaboration and shared infrastructure were strongly identified as development opportunities.The way stakeholders interpret demand was found to affect their sourcing strategies, collaboration practices, and the degree to which natural food products are included in supply chains. This study contributes to the field of Sustainable Supply Chain Management by explaining how perception-based demand signals influence supply-side responses, and by stressing the importance of coordination, information flow, and the empirical verification of proposed development paths in sustainability-focused regional food systems.