The role of frequency of patronage and service quality of all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant: A perspective of socio-economic and demographic characteristics of African American consumers

Abstract

While the sub-cultural group of African American consumers form a large and growing market segment, relatively little study has been done on their attitude and consumption behavior toward the ever popular all-you-can-eat Buffet restaurants. Paper examines the frequency of patronizing all-you-can-eat Buffet restaurants by the African Americans, the criteria that they use to evaluate service quality in those restaurants, as well as, socio-economic and demographic factors that determine their frequency of patronage and service quality evaluation. Results show that “freshness,” “hygiene,” “variety and reliability,” and “value,” are the top four dimensions of service quality most important to this group of consumers. Gender, age, income, and marital status were found to influence their patronage frequency, as well as their service quality evaluation. Managerial implications of findings for targeting and promotional strategies are discussed.