The Strategy Development of the Restaurant Industry through the AHP Analysis: Focusing on the Digital Conversion and Non-Contact Service after COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to identify the critical factors that restaurant management should consider strategically when making a decision after COVID-19 under the digital transformation and non-contact service expansions environment. Design/methodology/approach - The thirty six experts and managers who have 5 years or more experience in restaurant industry in Korea participate this study. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and SER-M were used to analyze the experts’ opinion Findings - As a result of the analysis, management environment (0.313) showed the highest relative importance priority, followed by brand (0.263) , management characteristics (0.254) , and physical factors (0.17) . And, as for the sub-factor value, lifestyle (0.087) , awareness (0.084) , consumer desire (0.075) , and loyalty (0.068) were ranked highest among the 19 influencing critical factors. Research implications or Originality - In the case of large restaurant enterprises, it is judged that the subject(CEO, Management) is actively pursuing a strategy to acquire the necessary resources for the given environment of digital transformation and customer demand for non-contact services. On the other hand, in the case of middle and small restaurant enterprises, it seems that they are fully aware of the demand for expansion of non-contact services and the digital transformation required in the post COVID-19 era, but information technology utilization ability, usage experience, technology acceptance ability, and education and training support for this are only available to large enterprises.