Full-service Restaurants Research Articles

Associations of Neighborhood Food Retail Environments with Weight Status in a Regional Pediatric Health System.

Background: There have been mixed findings on the relationships between childhood obesity and macroscale retail food environments. The current study investigates associations of the neighborhood retail food environment with changes in children's weight status over 6 years in the Kansas City Metropolitan area. Methods: Anthropometrics and home addresses were collected during routine well-child visits in a large pediatric hospital (n = 4493; >75% were Black or Latinx children). Children had measures collected during two time periods ([Time 1] 2012-2014, [Time 2] 2017-2019). Establishment-level food environment data were used to determine the number of four types of food outlets within a 0.5-mile buffer from the children's residence: supermarkets/large grocery stores, convenience stores/small grocery stores, limited-service restaurants, and full-service restaurants. Children who moved residences between periods were "movers" (n = 1052). Associations of baseline and changes in food environment status with Time 2 weight status were assessed using mixed-effects models. Results: Movers who experienced no change in the number of convenience stores or small grocery stores within a 0.5-mile of their home had increased likelihoods of having overweight/obesity and less favorable BMIz changes, compared with movers who experienced a decrease in convenience stores/small grocery stores within a 0.5-mile distance. No associations were observed among nonmovers. Conclusion: Findings suggest that moving to an area with fewer unhealthy retail food outlets (e.g., convenience stores) is associated with a lower risk of obesity in children. Future research is needed to determine whether larger-scale changes to the retail food environment within a neighborhood can support children's healthy weight.

Association between obesogenic environments and childhood overweight/obesity across the United States: Differences by rurality.

Childhood obesity is more prevalent in rural compared to urban communities and may be related to urban-rural differences in environmental factors known to affect obesity. However, understanding of how environmental factors impact childhood obesity in rural settings remains limited. This study aimed to address this gap by exploring the relationship between obesogenic environments and childhood overweight/obesity rates, including variations across the urban-rural continuum. This study analyzed data for counties in the United States (N = 3140). Linear regression models were employed to examine the relationship between the Childhood Obesogenic Environment Index, which consisted of ten variables from a variety of sources associated with physical activity and healthy eating, and childhood overweight/obesity rates estimates derived from the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health. County rurality was categorized using Rural-Urban Continuum Codes and a moderation analysis was conducted to identify potential variations by rurality. There was a significant positive association between the COEI and childhood overweight/obesity rates nationally, with notable variations across the urban-rural continuum for specific index components. Neighborhood walkability showed a significant positive association across rurality, indicating that childhood overweight/obesity rates were higher in less walkable communities. Full-service restaurants exhibited an inverse relationship with childhood overweight/obesity rates across all RUCC levels. These results underscore the obesogenic environmental factors associated with childhood overweight/obesity rates nationally and how they vary across the urban-rural continuum. This study highlights the importance of considering these variations when designing interventions to address childhood obesity.

Physical and Social Servicescape: Impact on Customer Affection and Behavior at Full-Service Restaurants

ABSTRACT This study utilizes Stimulus Organism Response (SOR) theory to examine how customer, employee, and physical servicescape affect consumer behavior in full-service restaurants, as well as how customer affection mediates, and gender moderates these effects. We managed to collect 308 valid responses, which we further analyzed through structural equation modeling. The data supported the idea that customers, employees, and physical servicescape favorably affect customer affection, which in turn influences revisit intentions and WoM. Customer affection also mediates the effects of the three servicescape dimensions on WoM and revisit intentions. Males were more affected by employee servicescape and customer affection. Whereas females had a larger effect of customer servicescape on customer affection; other differences were insignificant. Within the SOR theory, we added customer affection as a mediator and gender as a moderator between servicescapes’ dimensions and behavioral outcomes (e.g. WoM and revisit intentions).

The effect of digital transformation: Boosting productivity in the restaurant industry

This study investigated the effect of digital transformation on firm productivity in the restaurant industry. Based on the notion that digital transformation enables streamlined operations, this study hypothesized that digital transformation positively influences restaurant productivity in both front-of-house and back-of-house areas. Using text analysis, the annual reports of restaurant firms were analyzed to measure the level of digital transformation. The empirical findings revealed that digital transformation in both front-of-house and back-of-house areas has a positive effect on overall firm-level productivity in the restaurant industry. This suggests that using front-of-house technologies to assist customer processes and back-of-house technologies to streamline administrative and kitchen tasks can help overcome low productivity issues within restaurant firms. This study also demonstrated that digital transformation in front-of-house areas could maximize productivity for geographically diversified restaurant firms, while the positive effect of digital transformation on firm productivity was not significantly greater in quick-service restaurants than full-service restaurants.

Customer-Oriented Behavior in Full-Service Restaurants: A Moderated-Mediation Model of Emotional Intelligence, Work Engagement, and Customer-Oriented Attitude

ABSTRACT Using the job demands-resources model, this research explores the effects of emotional intelligence (EI) on customer-oriented behavior (COB) among frontline restaurant employees, with a focus on the mediating role of work engagement (WE) in the EI-COB relationship. The study also examines the moderating effects of customer-oriented attitude (COA) between EI and WE and on the mediated relationship. Data from 228 frontline restaurant employees were analyzed using Hayes’ PROCESS macro models 4 and 7. The results reveal a positive impact of EI on COB, with WE as a mediator. Moreover, COA strengthens the positive relationships between EI and WE, as well as the indirect effects of EI on COB through WE. This study simultaneously investigates both attitudinal and behavioral aspects of customer orientation, providing valuable theoretical and practical implications for restaurant employees, and laying the foundation for future research in this area.

Understanding the digital customer journey of Indonesian full service restaurants in sourcing food suppliers

This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the needs, preferences, and behaviors of its target market in the Indonesian full-service restaurant (FSR) sector. Firstly, it seeks to map the customer journey of FSRs in the food supplies purchasing process, identifying key touchpoints, brand awareness levels, information sources, and factors influencing brand choice. Secondly, it evaluates the effectiveness of various digital marketing channels, such as social media advertising, search engine marketing, and email marketing, by analyzing cost-per-lead and conversion rates to identify the most efficient channels for acquiring new FSR customers for PT MBI. Finally, the research intends to develop a data-driven digital marketing strategy that optimizes customer interactions, enhance brand visibility, and improve lead generation at each decision-making stage to drive sales conversions and increase customer lifetime value. The results of this study show that the current focus of PTXYZin the FSR segment lies between two segments: Relationship-Driven Traditionalists and Hybrid Decision-Makers.

Disparities in Obesogenic Environments by Income, Race/Ethnicity, and Rurality Across All US Counties.

Background: Research is needed to explore inequities in physical activity (PA) and access to healthy eating resources for children on a national scale. This study examined disparities in childhood obesogenic environments across all United States (US) counties by income and race/ethnicity and their interaction with county rurality. Methods: Data for four PA variables (exercise opportunities, school proximity, walkability, crime) and six nutrition variables (grocery stores, farmers markets, fast-food restaurants, full-service restaurants, convenience stores, and births at baby-friendly hospitals) were collected for all US counties (n = 3142) to comprise the Childhood Obesogenic Environment Index (COEI). Variables were ranked and allocated a percentile for each county, and a total obesogenic environment score was created by averaging variable percentiles. Analysis of variance was used to assess differences by tertiles of county-level median household income (low/intermediate/high) and percentage of non-Hispanic (NH) White residents (low/intermediate/high). Interaction tests were used to assess effect modification by rurality, and stratified results were presented for all significant interactions. Results: There were significant differences in COEI values according to tertiles of median household income (F = 260.9, p < 0.0001). Low-income counties (M = 54.3, SD = 8.3) had worse obesogenic environments than intermediate (M = 49.9, SD = 7.9) or high (M = 45.9, SD = 8.8) income counties. There was also a significant interaction between rurality and median household income (F = 13.9, p < 0.0001). Similarly, there were significant differences in COEI values according to tertiles of race/ethnicity (F = 34.5, p < 0.0001), with low percentage NH White counties (M = 51.8, SD = 9.8) having worse obesogenic environment scores than intermediate (M = 48.7, SD = 8.4) or high (M = 49.5, SD = 8.5) NH White counties. There was also a significant interaction between rurality and race/ethnicity (F = 13.9, p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Low-income counties and those with more racial/ethnic minority residents, especially in rural areas, had less supportive PA and healthy eating environments for youth. Targeted policy and environmental approaches that aimed to address concerns specific to underserved communities are needed.

Holiday effects on tipping rates in full-service restaurants

Dining at restaurants on holidays involves a mostly different experience than dining on any other normal day, as it provides the opportunity for diners to get together with family and friends. Consequently, in this study, we investigate whether the prosocial behavior of restaurant diners deviates from the norm on holidays. Using a large dataset of credit card transactions at full-service restaurants, we confirm that this is indeed the case, albeit in a strikingly dichotomous fashion; religious and other family-oriented holidays are generally associated with significantly higher tipping rates than normal, whereas most other holidays are associated with significantly lower tipping rates than normal. Our findings suggest that family gatherings often meant to reinforce a sense of belonging and togetherness seem to strengthen prosociality, whereas social gatherings in restaurants on other festive occasions seem less likely to promote prosocial behavior.

How Salty Is Too Salty? Designing Sodium Warning Label Policies to Identify High-Sodium Items on Restaurant Menus in the United States.

Two U.S. cities require chain restaurants to label menu items that exceed 100% of the Daily Value (DV) for sodium, informing consumers and potentially prompting restaurant reformulation. To inform policy design for other localities, this study determined the percentage of the top 91 U.S. chain restaurants' menu items that would be labeled if a warning policy were established for menu items exceeding the thresholds of 20%, 33%, 50%, 65%, and 100% of the sodium DV for adults. We obtained U.S. chain restaurants' nutrition information from the 2019 MenuStat database and calculated the percentage of items requiring sodium warning labels across the food and beverage categories at all the restaurants and at the full- and limited-service restaurants separately. In total, 19,038 items were included in the analyses. A warning label covering items with >20%, >33%, >50%, >65%, and >100% of the sodium DV resulted in expected coverage of 42%, 30%, 20%, 13%, and 5% of menu items at all the restaurants, respectively. At each threshold, the average percentage of items labeled per restaurant was higher among the full-service restaurants than the limited-service restaurants. These results suggest that restaurant warning policies with a threshold of 100% of the sodium DV per item would cover a minority of high-sodium menu items and that lower thresholds should be considered to help U.S. consumers reduce their sodium consumption.

Association between density of food retailers and fitness centers and gestational diabetes mellitus in Eastern Massachusetts, USA: population-based study

Few studies have investigated the relationship between the food and physical activity environment and odds of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This study quantifies the association between densities of several types of food establishments and fitness centers with the odds of having GDM. The density of supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, full-service restaurants, convenience stores and fitness centers at 500, 1000 and 1500m (m) buffers was counted at residential addresses of 68,779 pregnant individuals from Eastern Massachusetts during 2000-2016. The 'healthy food index' assessed the relative availability of healthy (supermarkets) vs unhealthy (fast-food restaurants, convenience stores) food retailers. Multivariable logistic regression quantified the cross-sectional association between exposure variables and the odds of having GDM, adjusting for individual and area-level characteristics. Effect modification by area-level socioeconomic status (SES) was assessed. In fully adjusted models, pregnant individuals living in the highest density tertile of fast-food restaurants had higher GDM odds compared to those living in the lowest density tertile (500m: odds ratio (OR):1.17 95% CI: [1.04, 1.31]; 1000m: 1.33 95% CI: [1.15, 1.53]); 1500m: 1.18 95% CI: [1.01, 1.38]). Greater residential density of supermarkets was associated with lower odds of GDM (1000m: 0.86 95% CI: [0.74, 0.99]; 1500m: 0.86 95% CI: [0.72, 1.01]). Similarly, living in the highest fitness center density tertile was associated with decreased GDM odds (500m:0.87 95% CI: [0.76, 0.99]; 1500m: 0.89 95% CI: [0.79, 1.01]). There was no evidence of effect modification by SES and no association found between the healthy food index and GDM odds. In Eastern Massachusetts, living near a greater density of fast-food establishments was associated with higher GDM odds. Greater residential access to supermarkets and fitness centers was associated with lower the odds of having GDM. NIH.

Dine in or Takeout? Trends on Restaurant Service Demand amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented damage to restaurant businesses, especially indoor dining services, because of the widespread fear of coronavirus exposure. In contrast, the online food ordering and delivery services, led by DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats, filled in the vacancy and achieved explosive growth. As a result, the restaurant industry is experiencing dramatic transformations under the crossfire of these two driving forces. However, these changes are not fully exposed because of the lack of firsthand data, let alone their potential consequences and implications. This study, thus, leverages foot traffic data to reveal and understand the trends of restaurant service demand through the pandemic. We devise a mixture model to decompose the aggregate foot traffic by dwelling time patterns into dine-in and takeout volumes. The transitions of demand structures are then identified for various restaurant sectors by service types, price levels, and locations. We observe that limited-service and budget restaurants saw a significantly faster recovery than full-service counterparts given their comparative advantages in adapting toward takeout channels. But, in the long run, our results suggest more robust demands for dine-in services at full-service restaurants, particularly those that provide more premium dining experiences. Comparatively, the off-line channels at limited-service restaurants appeared vulnerable to the cannibalization from online ordering and delivery channels, which strengthened even after society moved out of lockdown. Regionally, exurban restaurants seem to trend toward the takeout mode, whereas urban areas did not see a notable modal migration between dine-in and takeout from restaurants.

Customers’ Cue Utilization in Delivery Restaurant Selection and Its Changes With Different Health Risks

Amid Covid-19, restaurant customers have substantially turned to delivery services. Given that table service and ambience are absent in the delivery service mode, cue utilization for restaurant delivery could be different from that in dine-in consumption. Furthermore, increased hygiene and health concerns may lead to changes in cue utilization patterns after the pandemic. Therefore, we explored how restaurant type and its interactions with brand and review rating affected delivery sales and whether their sales effects changed according to the severity of infection risk. Fixed-effects estimation and marginal analysis were employed to investigate 579,858 observations from 193,286 restaurants in China between 2019 and the second quarter of 2020. The findings revealed that full-service and/or branded restaurants had higher delivery sales than other groups. Interaction effects between restaurant type and brand as well as restaurant type and review rating were also found. Theoretical and practical implications for effective cue utilization are discussed.

Food Environments and Cardiovascular Disease: Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study

IntroductionResidential food environments are one of the important determinants of cardiovascular health. However, past literature has been limited by short-term follow-ups, time-invariant environmental measurements at baseline, and/or not investigating both healthy and unhealthy aspects of the food environment. This study examines the effects of time-varying healthy and unhealthy food environments on incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) over ten years, extracting data from the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2016; N=10,413). MethodsCox proportional hazards modeling was performed with inverse probability weighting to assess the association between time-varying food environmental measures (i.e., densities of grocery stores, supercenters/club stores, full-service restaurants, and fast-food restaurants) and incident CVD over 10 years. Education level and race/ethnicity were tested as potential moderators. Analyses were conducted in 2022-2023. ResultsRace/ethnicity had a significant interaction effect with supercenters/club stores and indicated that a 1-standard-deviation increase in the density of supercenters/club stores was associated with a 6-8% lower risk of incident CVD in non-Hispanic Black (HR=0.78, 95% CI=0.70-0.87) and Hispanic older adults (HR=0.69, 95% CI=0.50-0.96), but not non-Hispanic White older adults. Additionally, education had a significant interaction effect with full-service restaurants, indicating that a 1-standard-deviation increase in the density of full-service restaurants was associated with a 10% lower risk of incident CVD in individuals with 13+ years of schooling, but not those with zero to 12 years of schooling. ConclusionsFindings suggest that public policymakers should be aware of the benefits and nuances of varying food environment components as they can contribute to positive or negative cardiovascular health.

Food Service Professionals’ Competencies in Managing Food Allergies and Intolerances: A South African Perspective

The prevalence of food allergies and intolerances (FAI) has been rising significantly, yet there are no effective solutions to manage their impact. South Africa’s tourism sector is pursuing to attract more visitors to bolster its performance. Most of South Africa’s international tourists come from Western countries, where food allergies and intolerances are common. Consequently, an increasing proportion of tourists with these health concerns are cautious about traveling to destinations that might not guarantee expertise in managing food allergies. In food service, the Knowledge-Attitude-Practice (KAP)-Gap theory serves as a tool to assess the alignment between food service professionals’ understanding and perceptions of food allergies and intolerances and their actual practices in addressing these dietary needs. This study enriches the academic discourse by examining the KAP-Gap among South African food service professionals in managing food allergies and intolerances. In this qualitative study, 12 comprehensive interviews were undertaken using an inductive methodology, which underwent manual thematic content analysis to identify recurring patterns. The primary respondents were food service professionals from full-service restaurants in South Africa, notably head chefs and food service managers. Data collection was facilitated through semi-structured interviews. The findings highlighted a significant knowledge gap regarding effective FAI management strategies. This lack of awareness poses potential risks to tourists with food allergies or intolerances when they eat outside their homes, especially in unfamiliar locales. While communication on allergies often leaned towards avoiding legal complications, the overall staff attitude was positive and adaptable, essential for addressing FAI-specific requirements. The study suggests practical implications and best practices, including enhanced food labeling and developing allergy response strategies, and suggests potential training and infrastructural enhancements. There is also an implication for reconsidering legislative frameworks in managing food allergies and intolerances.

Effect of Technological Innovations on Restaurant Sustainability in Nairobi County, Kenya

The hospitality industry, which is defined by social interaction and gathering, was seriously threatened by the coronavirus disease 2019. The pandemic exacerbated risk in several ways, putting sustainability as a critical objective at a crossroads. The management of restaurants needed to reorganise and innovate to survive and thrive during and after the pandemic. Technological innovations created opportunities to lower health hazards for guests and staff while maintaining operations in an unpredictable business environment. A review of the literature revealed a paucity of technological innovations and sustainability in restaurants in Nairobi County. The study sought to evaluate the effects of technological innovations and the sustainability of restaurants in Nairobi County, Kenya. Schumpeter’s theory of innovation served as the study's theoretical foundation. To explain the relationships between technological innovation and sustainability, the study employed a descriptive research design with Likert scale ratings. A census of restaurant managers from the 81 full-service restaurants housed in 54 classified hotels in Nairobi County was the unit of observation. Using self-administered questionnaires, the studies obtained a 70 per cent response rate (57 responses). SPSS version 25 was used to analyse the data and findings presented using descriptive and inferential statistics. Restaurants used innovations in technology to mitigate dangers as well as to improve cleanliness and sanitation. The relationship between technological innovations and sustainability was positive, moderate, and significant at the p = 0.05 level of significance; the Pearson correlation value was r = 0.473. Furthermore, the adjusted correlation coefficient (R2) indicated that technological innovations predict 21% of the variance in sustainability. Restaurant sustainability increased moderately due to technological innovations. As a result, the study recommends that the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife prioritise hospitality technologies to increase restaurant sustainability. Restaurant management should promote technological innovation, acquisition, and training. Finally, academia should lead the discourse about the implementation and spread of technological innovation

ESG themes of the restaurant industry: a comparison between full-service and limited-service restaurants

ABSTRACT Considering the increasing significance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) in the corporate world, an exploration of ESG reporting in the hospitality context has received limited attention. Accordingly, based on the stakeholder and institutional theories, this study proposes to reveal the overall and contemporary status of the restaurant industry’s ESG practices and further compare the ESG engagements of full-service restaurants and limited-service restaurants. This study collects data from publicly traded restaurant companies’ ESG reports and employs automated content analysis based on a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis approach. The findings of this study provide value to the ESG literature and practical implications

Determinants of Business Resilience in the Restaurant Industry During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Textual Analytics Study on an O2O Platform Case

Understanding the resilience capabilities of restaurant operations and the determinants affecting these capabilities is critical to helping restaurants overcome the hardships owing to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This article adopts a textual analytics approach to scientifically measure consumption trends and identify the shock to restaurant sales using online customer review data from Dianping.com (an O2O platform in China). Moreover, the article proposes a theoretical model of business resilience for the restaurant industry in the context of the pandemic. Then, an empirical investigation on how the determinants in our theoretical framework affect the resilience of restaurant business operations using the panel logit model is conducted. Our findings indicate that the pandemic has severely disrupted the full-service restaurants as compared to the quick-service restaurants. We identify four determinants of resilience, namely social capital (i.e., restaurant rating), physical capital (i.e., contactless service), economic capital (i.e., chain operation), and natural capital (e.g., location), which are significantly associated with the resilience of restaurant business during the pandemic. These four determinants play different roles in the resilience of full-service and quick-service restaurants. The findings of this study have theoretical contribution and generate some important managerial implications for helping the restaurant industry recover from disruptions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of Restaurant Menu Calorie Labels on Restaurant Revenue and Profit: Evidence From a Randomized Controlled Trial

In 2018, the United States implemented a nationwide law requiring chain restaurants with more than 20 units to post calorie counts next to each of their menu items. Previously, individual cities, counties, and states had passed such laws, and certain chains had voluntarily posted calorie counts. Despite the widespread nature of this practice, the effect of calorie counts on restaurant outcomes is still not well understood. This paper estimates the impact of restaurant menu calorie labels on four important outcomes: 1) restaurant revenue; 2) restaurant profit; 3) the labor time of kitchen staff; and 4) patrons’ support for calorie labels. We estimate these impacts by conducting a randomized controlled experiment in two full-service restaurants. The results indicate that posting calorie counts on menus has no detectable negative impact on restaurants – the impacts on revenue, profit, and labor time are indistinguishable from zero. Moreover, exposure to the labels increases patrons’ support of restaurant menu calorie labels by 14.3% and reduces their opposition to them by 27.1%. Altogether, these results suggest that posting calorie counts does not harm restaurants, and are appealing to consumers.

What are the Primary Drivers of Marketing Success?: Evidence From Brand-Level Data on Restaurants

A multivariate analysis of brand level data from the restaurant industry found that penetration increased with number of units for limited and full service restaurants (LSRs and FSRs) and with customer service experience ratings for FSRs. For both types of restaurants, average purchase frequency increased reliably with the number of units and with perceived value, but not with broader customer experience ratings or the existence of a reward program. Finally, average check size increased with service experience but only for FSRs. Given that brands differ much more in penetration than in average purchase frequency or average check size, these findings suggest that marketing success comes primarily from increased physical and mental availability, with brand differentiation, but not reward programs, also contributing to that success.

What Influences Customers to Revisit Full-Service Restaurants in Malaysia?

What Influences Customers to Revisit Full-Service Restaurants in Malaysia?