Intention to Purchase at a Fast Food Store: Excitement, Performance and Threshold Attributes

Abstract

The current study aims to explore the hedonic and utilitarian values offered through fast food attributes (e.g. menu items, calorie information, location, etc.) and the impact of these values on customer consumption. Interviews were orchestrated with store managers of different fast food chains. The findings show that a hedonic value is delivered through the use of marketing strategies by offering a variety of menu items, menu customization and fun activities in promotional materials. Some fast food marketing strategies – which include simplifying the menu classification, displaying kilojoules information, and locating at convenience location – are intended to offer utilitarian value. The hedonic values tend to offer enjoyment and excitement in fast food consumption and could result in an increase in sales for a certain period of time. The utilitarian values are task-oriented consumption, which tends to motivate regular customers to visit fast food restaurants. The study concluded the findings into three attributes including excitement, performance, and threshold attributes. Furthermore, the study offers insightful managerial implications in which we discuss the potential impact of fast food marketing attributes on customer satisfaction using Kano’s model.