Casual Dining Research Articles

Customer-perceived importance of restaurant attributes for casual dining, fast food and coffee shops

Customer-perceived importance of restaurant attributes for casual dining, fast food and coffee shops

Restaurant waiting staff's intention to dissuade customers from over-ordering: an extended theory of planned behaviour

PurposeThis study aims to validate the impact of waiting staff’s attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control on customer dissuasion from over-ordering and identify their antecedents using an extended theory of planned behaviour.Design/methodology/approachWe selected three categories of restaurants (30 in total, including fine dining, casual dining, and fast food) in Macao and Zhuhai (China) for conducting the survey using a purposive sampling approach. The respondents were waiting staff who took customers’ orders in the past three months. In total, 393 valid responses were used for a structural-equation-modelling analysis.FindingsThe results show that restaurant waiting staff’s attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control have positive effects on their intention to dissuade customers from over-ordering. Our study further reveals that perceived behavioural control is far more influential than attitudes and subjective norms on restaurant employees’ intentions to intervene with over-ordering. We also validate seven antecedents, including environmental concern and communication for attitudes, peer influence, supervisor influence, and organisational support for subjective norms, and self-efficacy and training for perceived behavioural control.Originality/valueThe food-waste literature tends to focus on consumers in home and restaurant settings and has paid scarce attention to the role of restaurant waiting staff in intervening in consumers’ waste behaviours. We fill in this research gap by revealing a formation mechanism for waiting staff’s intention to dissuade over-ordering.

Food service spatial pattern after the emergence of online retail

Online shopping has eliminated the need to visit physical commercial centres. As a result, trips to these centres have shifted from primarily shopping-motives to leisure, companionship, and dining. The shifting in consumer behaviour is implicated in the growing spatial agglomeration of restaurants/cafes within commercial centres in European cities. Conversely, in southern cities, various casual restaurants/cafes also serve as leisure and companionship hubs. However, their spatial patterns are less explained. This article aims to elucidate the spatial pattern of these diverse restaurants/cafes in a typical southern city, Surabaya City. In this study, we employ the term ‘food services’ to encompass the various types of restaurants/cafes found in southern cities. We gather Points of Interest (POIs) data about food services via web scraping on Google Maps, then map out their spatial distribution across 116 spatial units of Surabaya City. Utilising k-means cluster analysis, we classify these 116 spatial units into six distinct clusters based on the composition of food service variants. Our findings show that City Centres and Sub-City Centres are locations for different types of restaurants/cafes. The City Centre is typically a location for fine dining restaurants and cafes, whereas Sub-City Centres are locations for fast casual dining and fast food restaurants. Cafes and fast food restaurants are centralised throughout downtown areas. Casual food service restaurants, such as casual style dining, coffee shops, and food stalls, are dispersed along business, residential zones, and periphery areas without intense domination of any specific variant.

파인 다이닝 레스토랑과 캐주얼 다이닝 레스토랑의 서비스 로봇

Service robots equipped with artificial intelligence are continuously advancing in both appearance and functionality. With these ongoing developments, there is a growing necessity to investigate consumer perceptions of service robots' anthropomorphism and functions within the food service industry using an optimal framework model. This study examines trust, perceived risk, and acceptance intentions concerning service robots based on their level of anthropomorphism in casual dining and fine dining restaurants. A one-way analysis of variance was conducted to assess differences in trust and perceived risk among service robots with varying levels of anthropomorphism (low, medium, and high). Additionally, multiple regression analysis was employed to explore the impact of trust and perceived risk on the intention to accept service robots. The findings revealed that trust in robots and perceived risk varied significantly between casual dining and fine dining establishments, contingent on the anthropomorphism level of the service robot. In line with human-robot interaction theory, this study delineates consumer perceptions regarding the utilization of restaurant service robots, taking into account the level of anthropomorphism. Moreover, it expands the framework concerning service robots by integrating restaurant consumers' trust, perceived risk, and acceptance intentions towards these robots. This research underscores the importance of considering human-robot interaction and addressing consumers' preferences, benefits, and safety in the deployment of service robots within the restaurant industry. It also offers practical implications for stakeholders in the restaurant service robot sector.

Assessment of Intramuros Restaurant Services : Basis for Food Tourism as an Attraction of a Heritage Destination

The tourists’ desire to experience local culture and heritage makes heritage sites an important attraction in destinations. Being considered an inseparable part of cultural and heritage tourism, food is an important aspect that is beneficial for the community’s economic sustainability and the social life of tourists, visitors, and usual diners. This research aimed to determine the assessments of diners on Intramuros restaurants, on the three components of guest experience with the intent of exploring food tourism as a destination attraction to promote this heritage site. It was descriptive-exploratory research using a researcher-made questionnaire to survey the assessment of 75 diner respondents in Intramuros restaurants who were selected through a purposive sampling technique. The findings of the study suggested that the respondents were satisfied with the three components of the guest experience namely: service product, service environment, and service delivery system. The respondents’ satisfaction with restaurant services offered in the destination played a significant role in their revisit and recommendation intentions where the result related a high level of likelihood of revisit and recommendation intentions among diners. Further, it determined that the top three types of food service preferences are casual dining, fine dining, and banchetto (feast). The top recommendation among five indicators in terms of food tourism activities in Intramuros, a cultural heritage site, was to associate cultural shows with the dining experience.

The Persuasiveness of Menu Item Descriptions: The Influence of Language on Consumer Menu Choice in Kenyan Casual Dining Restaurants

This study investigated the influence of descriptive language on consumers' menu item choices in casual dining restaurants. The study was anchored on the stimulus-organization-response theory. The study focused on customers who patronize casual dining restaurants in Kenya and adopted a cross-sectional survey design. A cluster sampling method followed by simple random sampling methods was used to select respondents from the target population. Four hundred and fifteen participants (n = 415) were drawn using simple random sampling from five Kenyan universities. The data collection tool included a questionnaire with a response rate of 69.1%. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study results demonstrated that consumer item choice is influenced by various factors. The results showed that there was a weak association (r = 0.36, p < 0.05) between descriptive language and consumers' menu item choices. The F-value (F (1) = 48.308, p < 0.05) implies that the way menu items were described had a significant effect on which item a consumer chooses. R-square = 0.32, meaning the model is not a perfect predictor of the menu item choice. The study recommends that restaurant owners should focus on creating unique menu descriptions and using new technologies in restaurant menu development.

Tilapia health: quo vadis?

Tilapia health: <i>quo vadis</i>?

Hand hygiene product use by food employees in casual dining and quick-service restaurants

Hand hygiene product usage characteristics by food employees when hand sanitizers are made available are not well understood. To investigate hand hygiene product usage in casual dining and quick-service restaurants, we placed automated monitoring soap and sanitizer dispensers side-by-side at handwash sinks used by food employees in seven restaurants. Dispenses were monitored, and multiple dispenses that occurred within 60 s of each other were considered a single hand hygiene event. This resulted in 186,998 events during the study (149,779 soap only, 21 985 sanitizer only, and 15,234 regimen [defined as soap followed by sanitizer at the same sink within 60 s]) over 15,447 days of use. Soap was the most frequently used hand hygiene method by food employees in both restaurant types. Regimen use, despite being the preferred hand hygiene method by both restaurant chains, was the least used hand hygiene method. When pooled over restaurant types, the median daily usage for soap was statistically significantly highest of all methods at 23.5 dispenses per sink per day (p < 0.0001), the sanitizer median daily usage was 4.27 dispenses per sink per day, and regimen use was statistically significantly lowest of all methods at 4.02 dispenses per sink per day (p < 0.0001). When hand hygiene event types were pooled, casual dining restaurants had similar median hand hygiene event rates (11.4 dispenses per sink per day) compared to quick-service restaurants (11.9 dispenses per sink per day; p = 0.890). The number of events by sink location varied, with sinks located at a warewash station having the highest number of events (19.3 dispenses per sink per day; p < 0.0001), while sinks located by a ready-to-eat food preparation area had the lowest number of events (6.8 dispenses per sink per day; p < 0.0001). These data provide robust baseline benchmarks for future hand hygiene intervention studies in these settings.

Subjective assessment on the preferences and perceptions of acoustic classification in eatery places

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the diners’ preference and perception on six acoustic classifications in eatery places during their casual dining. These classifications’ relationship with diners’ experience and significant impacts on diners’ preferences and perceptions during casual dining will be analyzed.Design/methodology/approachThe data was collected quantitatively with randomly distributed self-administrated questionnaires during the restaurants' operating hours; 449 respondents who dined in at two casual dining restaurants in Melaka city area participated.FindingsAnalysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests revealed that the majority of the diners were not adversely affected by the noise level, and they did not have difficulties with their conversations. The results also indicated that the respondents felt that the noise did not stop them from returning to the restaurants. This study's findings may lay the groundwork for future studies to provide the acoustic comfort classification in eatery places, which can also be integrated and synthesized to be used as a reference for acoustic design and practice.Research limitations/implicationsThe number of participants used simple random sampling method. Therefore, the sample cannot be typical for the target population, and there is a limited possibility of generalizing the present findings. The data collection was only gathered from two eatery places with similar typologies at the similar demographic background of customers because it was collected at Melaka city. Thus, the impacts of customers may differ at other typologies and locate in different regions, and the physical environment and the quality offered are also different in other places. The measured determinant factors only focus on the diners’ characteristics; thus, future research should be done to investigate other determinant factors impacting the preference and perceived acoustical comfort in eatery places.Practical implicationsThe findings in this study would provide a basis reference to assess and evaluate the acoustic classification in eatery places that suits the customers’ perceived satisfaction.Social implicationsThis study identified that demographic characteristic, gender and age are not the prominent determinant factors influencing the diners’ preference and perceived acoustical comfort in eatery places. Moreover, the days and dining hours were also found to be the determinants that will influence the preferences.Originality/valueThis paper has developed determining factors on acoustics classification that can be applied upon designing eatery places as well as a fundamental approach in developing rating for acoustics comfort index as reference for the diners to choose where to dine based on their preference and activities.

Characterization and Storage Stability Study of Guava and Mango Wood Smoked Induced Spiced Cultured Milk (Raita)

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the smoking of raita with guava and mango wood on its functional properties and storage stability. The raita was smoked with guava and mango wood for 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 min in a closed chamber. The smoked raita was evaluated for change in titratable acidity (TA), pH, total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant activity (DPPH), colour (L*, a*, and b*), and sensory attributes. Both guava and mango wood smoked samples didn’t show significant changes (P&lt;0.05) in TA, pH, TPC, and antioxidant activity. All colour values (L*, a* and b*) of smoked samples were significantly (P&lt;0.05) higher than the control sample, particularly, the yellowish attribute (b*) was very high in smoked samples. The sample that smoked for 7.5 min had very high overall acceptability scores in both kinds of wood and which is considered as an optimum smoking time for raita. The selected raita samples were stored for 9 days at 4°C and assessed for TA, pH, and standard plate count (SPC) at 3 days of interval. During the storage period, a significant reduction (P&lt;0.05) in pH and a significant increase (P&lt;0.05) in TA was seen till the 6th day of storage. The smoked samples had considerably lower SPC than the control sample and SPC was decreased significantly (P&lt;0.05) with an increase in storage days in all the samples. The preparation is simple and can be served in Pubs/Bars, Casual Dining Restaurants &amp; QSRs (Quick served restaurants).

How do restaurants respond to the COVID-19 pandemic? Lessons from Colombian restauranteurs and their survival strategies

ABSTRACT This study attempted to identify the overall impact of COVID-19 on the restaurant industry in Colombia through the interviews with ten restaurant owners or chefs (e.g., fine-dining, family-dining, casual dining, and quick-service restaurants). Adopting the three phase post-pandemic planning framework, this study examined how the restaurants responded, recovered, and renewed their businesses and what survival strategies they have been implementing to respond to the new normal after the COVID-19 outbreaks. Findings of the study indicated the restaurants in Colombia focused on and developed four operational survival strategies: operational transformation and challenges, government support, social responsibility, and precautionary measurement practices, focusing on their core value and assets such as employees and menus.

An identification of customers’ preferred restaurant menu measures during a crisis using Best-Worst Scaling (BWS)

ABSTRACT The restaurant’s menu is considered the primary determinant of a restaurant’s profitability and customer satisfaction. This article explores consumers’ preferences of restaurant menu measures applied during a crisis. Based on pertinent literature review in conjunction with inputs from F&B experts, the researchers identified a list of 6 restaurant menu practices that managers implement during a crisis. The researchers used the Best-Worst Scaling (BWS) method to identify customers’ choices for the menu measures. Based on the analysis of survey responses from 568 restaurant customers, the findings demonstrate that menu measures applied during a crisis are perceived differently across the three restaurant categories: fine dining, casual dining, and quick service. The results of this study have not only practical contribution to the case of Lebanon, but they also fill a gap in the knowledge, and extend the existing literature with restaurant consumers’ preference of menu measures during a crisis, and provide a list of practices to be implemented by F&B professionals.

Consumer responses to the use of artificial intelligence in luxury and non-luxury restaurants

There has been an ever-increasing interest in artificial intelligence (AI) in the hospitality sector. However, it is still unclear how consumers respond to products/services in hospitality industries provided by AI. Building on the theoretical framework for using AI in different services and the literature on luxury consumption, across four studies, we investigated how consumers evaluate different types of restaurants that are run by AI vs. humans. The results demonstrated that consumers evaluated food and restaurants more negatively where the service is provided by AI (Study 1). This effect was higher in luxury restaurants compared to casual dining (fast food, casual restaurants) (Studies 2 and 3). Moreover, we identified the underlying mechanism of this effect by showing that in luxury (vs. casual) restaurants, foods cooked by AI negatively influenced evaluations of three dimensions of restaurants’ quality, such as food, service, and ambience quality, decreasing the intention to visit the restaurant (Study 4). Altogether, these findings reveal some effects that AI can have in the hospitality industry and provide practical insights on how to introduce AI in restaurants.

Self-Service Technology in Casual Dining Restaurants

This study extends existing research within the area of SST by examining which factors affect consumers’ attitudes toward and satisfaction with SST in casual dining restaurants. Results are based on a survey with 169 respondents and interviews with one marketing communicator. Usability, pleasure, lack of personal service, technology readiness, support, and ease of use explained 65.2% of attitude toward SST. However, for satisfaction only four factors were significant: lack of personal service, usability, ease of use and pleasure, explaining 61.6% of satisfaction. The paper also provides useful information to managers in charge of the decision to design and implement SST.

Supplier selection and partnerships: Effects upon restaurant operational and strategic benefits and performance

This study focused on identifying strategic criteria involved in selecting suppliers of restaurant products/services specific to casual dining, full service independent restaurants to obtain operational and strategic benefits for those managers operating in this highly competitive marketplace. A total of 765 responses were obtained from managers at independently owned restaurants throughout the U.S. Results revealed that ‘product’ and ‘financial/technical’ criteria had significant and positive effects upon operational benefits, while ‘product’ and ‘service’ had positive effects upon strategic benefits. When the sample was segmented into low and high supplier partnership groups, the positive effects of ‘financial/technical’ and ‘cost/price’ were significantly greater for the ‘high’ partnership group pertaining to operational benefits. ‘Product’ and ‘service’ and their effects upon strategic benefits were greatest for the high partnership group. Based on our findings, implications, limitations, and recommendations for future studies have been provided.

Differential Effects of the Valence and Volume of Online Reviews on Customer Share of Visits: The Case of US Casual Dining Restaurant Brands

Online customer reviews increasingly influence customer purchase decisions. Indeed, many customers have highlighted the significance of online reviews as an influential source of information. This study reports an investigation of the differential effects of online reviews, such as valence and volume, on the customer share of visits. Our findings suggest that valence (i.e., star rating) had more effect, giving a higher average check size to restaurants on the share of visits, while number reviews (volume) did not drive the share of visits to restaurants regardless of the average check size. Therefore, the ideal for casual dining restaurant brands would be to manage highly positive ratings to retain their customers.

Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistome in Ready-to-Eat Salad.

Ready-to-eat salad harbors microorganisms that may carry various antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). However, few studies have focused on the prevalence of ARGs on salad, thus underestimating the risk of ARGs transferring from salad to consumers. In this small-scale study, high-throughput quantitative PCR was used to explore the presence, prevalence and abundance of ARGs associated with serving salad sourced from two restaurant types, fast-food chain and independent casual dining. A total of 156 unique ARGs and nine mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were detected on the salad items assessed. The abundance of ARGs and MGEs were significantly higher in independent casual dining than fast-food chain restaurants. Absolute copies of ARGs in salad were 1.34 × 107 to 2.71 × 108 and 1.90 × 108 to 4.87 × 108 copies per g salad in fast-food and casual dining restaurants, respectively. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes were the dominant bacterial phyla detected from salad samples. Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Exiguobacterium, Weissella, Enterobacter, Leuconostoc, Pantoea, Serratia, Erwinia, and Ewingella were the 10 most dominant bacterial genera found in salad samples. A significant positive correlation between ARGs and MGEs was detected. These results integrate knowledge about the ARGs in ready-to-eat salad and highlight the potential impact of ARGs transfer to consumers.

A holistic model of the servicescape in fast casual dining

PurposeThe servicescape is increasingly being recognized as a function of two distinct components: physical and social. While these two dimensions have often been studied independently, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of both dimensions simultaneously in a fast casual restaurant context.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 1,110 fast casual restaurant patrons in the USA was collected. The data were analyzed using nested structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results suggest that both the social and the physical servicescape can affect consumption behavior in the fast casual restaurant industry and crowding can act a moderator of these relationships.Research limitations/implicationsTheoretically, these results are significant because they suggest the importance of capturing a holistic account of the servicescape when conducting research on the consumption environment.Practical implicationsThis study is among the first to examine the effect of the social servicescape (and specifically the effect of crowding) in fast casual restaurants. The results suggest that restaurateurs need to be mindful that crowding affects the relationship between social servicescape and satisfaction.Originality/valueThis research is the first to look at both aspects of the servicescape as drivers of consumer behavior in the fast casual dining segment. Additionally, this research makes a second contribution by assessing the effect of crowding on the servicescape-driven relationships inherent in the proposed model.

The Effect of Distress and Social Support on Workplace Incivility and Turnover Intention among Malaysian Casual Dining Restaurant Employees: A Proposed Framework

The Effect of Distress and Social Support on Workplace Incivility and Turnover Intention among Malaysian Casual Dining Restaurant Employees: A Proposed Framework

The effect of message framings and green practices on customers’ attitudes and behavior intentions toward green restaurants

PurposeThis study identifies an effective communication strategy for promoting restaurants’ green efforts to customers by using different types of green advertisement messages. This study aims to investigate the relative persuasiveness of attribute-based versus benefit-based appeal messages in green restaurant advertisements and their matching effect with different types of green practices in the restaurant (environment-focused green practices vs food-focused green practices) and with different types of restaurants (fine dining vs fast casual dining) on customers’ attitude and visiting intention toward green restaurants. Furthermore, the study examines a moderating effect of restaurant types to assess whether the matching effects between types of messages and types of green practices work differently within the different types of restaurants.Design/methodology/approachA 2 (attribute-based vs benefit-based messages) × 2 (food-focused vs environment-focused green practices) × 2 (fast casual vs fine dining restaurants) between-subject experimental design was used to test the proposed hypotheses. An online scenario-based survey was developed and distributed to online panel members in the USA. Ultimately, 363 responses were used for data analyses. ANOVA and t-test were conducted to analyze the data.FindingsThe results indicate that benefit-based messages are generally more persuasive than attribute-based messages in green restaurant advertisements. For restaurants with food-focused green practices, an advertising message emphasizing the benefit of food-focused green practices (benefit-based message) would be more effective than an advertising message describing their tangible efforts to show the greenness of the restaurant (attribute-based message). For fine dining restaurants, a green advertisement with benefit-based information would be more persuasive than attribute-based information. This study further showed that the aforementioned interaction effect between types of green practices and types of messages was salient for fine dining restaurants.Originality/valueThis research is one of the few studies in restaurant management to examine the green communication effectiveness in terms of the types of green practices and the types of advertising message framing. By comparing the relative persuasiveness of green advertisements on consumers’ attitudes and behavior intentions, this study provides suggestions for restaurant professionals to make effective green communication strategies based on the type of green practices the restaurant primarily uses and the type of restaurant the manager is operating.