DESIGN METHOD FOR OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENT OF RESTAURANT BY KANSEI FACTOR ANALYSIS BASED ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Abstract

The aim of this research is to determine a design methodology for operational improvement of a restaurant by identifying the specific factors of concern to consumers that influence customer satisfaction (“Kansei factors”), quantify the level of influence of these factors and use these to construct a suitable logical model using the “QSCmix”concept, and also to verify the effectiveness of this logical model. Specifically, the logical model is constructed from a multi-variable analysis model as used in psychology and other fields. The effectiveness of the model was verified by using secondary data to identify the three elements of QSC and verify their formulation as a quantitative model, and by verifying the operational effectiveness at an actual restaurant in Japan over a fourteen month period. The results of the analysis showed that, by identifying and categorizing the factors of concern to consumers that influence customer satisfaction (satisfaction influence factor group, referred to as “Bf factors”), the factors were able to be systematized and divided into five categories by characterizing the attractiveness factors that are also “QSCmix”factors. Also, the composite equation for establishing the groupings and level of influence for the combinations of “Bf factors”for each of these influential categories (referred to as “Bfp factors”) was calculated using a satisfaction evaluation formula based on the each of the grouping “Bfp factors”for each examinee, and this established three groups of identification categories together with their levels of influence. The order of new categories that influence satisfaction (desirable “Bf factor”combinations) was determined to be, 1 st: guest service, 2nd: portion volume, 3rd: cleanliness, 4th: price affordability, 5th: taste, 6th: food presentation, 7th: ambience, 8th: membership privileges, and 9th: menu variety. A successful result in the form of an improving trend for patrons to make repeat visits and increasing monthly turnover was achieved in the restaurant for verification used to trial the “QSCmix”concept design process based on the satisfaction structure obtained from the “QSCmix”concept design identified by this research. These results demonstrate that the proposed logical model is effective as a quantitative model for the analysis of satisfaction factors and that it can be applied to “QSCmix”concept design.