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Restaurant and foodservice workers who were formally “essential” throughout the global pandemic were disproportionately subjected to layoffs and furloughs, and are now slowly returning to the industry with expectations of equitable pay and benefits. Given the recent acceleration of the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals and its focus on decent work, the purpose of this study was to determine if restaurant consumers would be willing to pay for decent work that supported the social sustainability of restaurant workers.

Data were collected from 317 restaurant consumers during August 2023. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the Decent Work Scale adapted for consumers. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the full behavioral model of decent work predicting willingness to pay, while bootstrapping was used to test the mediation.

The adapted Decent Work Scale for consumers strongly predicted their willingness to pay through a full mediation of Theory of Planned Behavior constructs (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control).

This study demonstrated that restaurant consumers were willing to pay for the decent work and social sustainability of restaurant workers. This study validated an adapted Decent Work Scale in the consumer context, whereas prior research utilizing the scale was of worker self-reports of decent work.

The purpose of the study is to measure the performance level of halal compliance practices by the halal-certified restaurants in Malaysia and rank and rate them based on several dimensions of halal compliance.

A total of 320 halal restaurants were surveyed. The absolute measurement approach of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was applied to rank and rate the restaurants. Finally, ANOVA and independent t-test were applied to assess if there is any significant difference in halal compliance performance between different groups of the respondents.

The AHP application resulted in only 19 restaurants (5.94%) achieving an “Excellent” rating. A significant difference has been observed between different groups of the respondents regarding their halal compliance performance.

An onsite audit and ranking of all the restaurants in Malaysia were beyond the scope of the study. The research was able to rank only 320 restaurants across Malaysia.

The findings and methodology of the study will provide policymakers with a clear roadmap for establishing a comprehensive rating system in the fields of the halal food industry to enhance the quality and integrity of the halal food management system.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time an empirical approach, like AHP, has been used to determine how Malaysia’s halal-certified restaurants stack up against one another. Similar studies can be carried out in other sectors of the halal industry as well as in similar context.

Restaurants are challenged to secure attraction attributes that provide motives, satisfaction and experiences for guests. The social interaction between server and guest can provide. Our case study aims to examine the perspectives of hospitality executives towards showmanship and server performances in restaurants to enhance servicescape and elevate guest experiences.

A literature review examined employee showmanship as part of the cocreation of gastronomic experiences and servicescape. Additional data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with 15 hospitality executives affiliated with Macao’s integrated resorts (IRs), and the information was examined using thematic analysis.

The study outcomes showed management support for showmanship performed by servers or chefs in cocreating immersive memorable dining experiences and social media and user-generated content (UGC). This was perceived to distinguish a restaurant from the competition. However, server talent and showmanship interaction with guests must be well managed, and bundled with additional restaurant servicescape attributes.

The comments from hospitality management provide key insights towards implementing and maintaining showmanship which will involve resource challenges including server artisan talent and restaurant design.

Server showmanship social interaction and value cocreation with guests are rarely discussed, although a key part of guest restaurant motivation and in creating an immersive experience. We address the limited understanding of hospitality management assessment towards developing showmanship, providing practical perspectives to assist restaurant and bar management to integrate and develop showmanship to enhance customer dining experiences.

This research paper aims to examine whether using menu engineering (ME) together with activity‐based costing (ABC) for menu analysis gives new insights about true menu profitability. The traditional ME approach only uses food cost to determine the contribution margin of individual menu items. This combined approach uses both food and traceable operating costs to estimate contribution margins more accurately.

An improved menu engineering model was developed and tested in a buffet restaurant in Hong Kong. Direct observation of restaurant activities allowed most costs to be traced (not simply allocated) to individual menu items.

The results found that only three of 20 dinner menu entrées were profitable. This unique insight would not have been possible using traditional ME methods alone. The results also showed that ABC methods are applicable to a buffet‐style restaurant.

Only a single restaurant and only the dinner menu were examined in this study. Future research should apply the model used herein to other restaurant types located in different geographical areas in an effort in order to validate the approach.

The paper suggests that ME can be improved upon by first assessing variable costs using ABC methods. Thus, the extra effort required to apply ABC in a restaurant appears to be worthwhile.

The paper combines two disparate analytic techniques (ME and ABC) in a new approach that reveals a menu's true profit and loss picture. The paper also makes several modifications to the traditional ME approach.

This paper aims to provide a base line of the types of menu items that are sold in American chain restaurants that have bars. The term “bar food” is defined for these types of foods.

The research method used the internet to collect all data listed in the appetizer section of the menu. Restaurants were also anecdotally coded as to type of restaurant.

There were 66 restaurants with a total of 67 unique bar menu items. The conclusion was that among all restaurants there were very few bar items that appeared on “most” menus. Only four items were statistically greater than 50 percent of all menu items. When restaurants were coded by ethnic type or style the number of common menu items increased.

This paper defines bar food and for restaurant managers points out the possibility of using bar food offerings as a differentiating factor relative to competitors.

This paper defines bar food and its use in food service.

Previous research has shown that restaurants are an important factor in the choice of a holiday destination for some tourists. Research has also found that the restaurants at a destination can enhance the guests’ overall satisfaction with the destination. This research was sponsored by the Co‐operative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism in Australia and investigates the relationship between the tourist destination, restaurants and tourists. The study is based on the results of interviews with 459 tourists. The findings of the study provide support for the proposition that tourists perceive restaurants as an important attribute of a tourist destination. The study also provides insight into how tourists select restaurants. This information is useful to managers of restaurants in tourist destinations. Both destination marketers and restaurant managers will benefit from this study.

Wine is an important profit center for restaurants. The purpose of this paper is to address some of the challenges and opportunities at the nexus of wine and hospitality, with an eye on relationship building between smaller wineries and dining establishments.

The paper is essay style with acknowledgments made to extant literature, as well as US industry-based intelligence.

Primary challenges facing small wineries trying to enter the restaurant market revolve around constraints imposed by the traditional distribution system mindset, as well as pricing issues affecting procurement and markup of wine for restaurant use, limited abilities to provide sufficient inventory and the lack of time and people resources. Counterpoint discussion reveals opportunities related to increased focus on experience-based wine sales in restaurants, the importance of the story and the value of co-branding.

Partnerships with restaurants can be a delicate yet desirable part of a small winery’s strategy. The key is to develop a mutually beneficial relationship, while fulfilling the objectives and missions of both winery and restaurant. When wineries and restaurants carve out the time and invest the people resources to successfully and purposefully co-brand, optimum symmetry is formed which leads to mutually valued dining and special gastronomic experiences for the winery/restaurant partners and their customers.

In a viewpoint format, the paper outlines and discusses the key elements of relationship building between small wineries and restaurants.

Determinant attribute analysis technique that isolates critical product attributes, can be a useful marketing tool for organizations hoping to penetrate new markets, and re‐examine their current market needs. Uses restaurants in Hong Kong as an example. While consumers say that food quality and food type are the critical variables for restaurant selection or rejection, other “lesser” choice variables may be the deciding factors in the final restaurants selection or reflection. The four restaurant types which emerged from the study are: fine dining/gourmet; theme/atmosphere; family/popular; and convenience/fast‐food restaurants. The results indicate that customers’ perceptions and therefore their preferences of choice variables, varied considerably by restaurant type, dining‐out occasion, age, and occupation. Suggests that the importance of perceivably unimportant attributes, can determine customers’ final restaurant choice. It is suggested, therefore, that the quality of food and type of food should not be the only attributes underpinning the restaurateurs’ marketing strategies in Hong Kong.

Today’s successful restaurant manager needs to possess a diversity of talents, abilities, and skills. Presents profiles of successful managerial recruits for quick service, midscale and upscale restaurants in the US. Factor analysis was used to reduce the number of attributes and traits that were identified for being a successful manager in the restaurant industry. Seventy‐two success attributes and traits were reduced to 12 identifiable components. The components’ relationships with the demographic factors were then studied using Chi‐square tests. Profiles for being a successful manager in quick service, midscale and upscale restaurants were developed.

The purpose of the paper is to identify the customer profile for the “carryout” segment at all types of restaurants.

Customers at two casual dining restaurants in the suburbs of a second‐tier city in Western Massachusetts were surveyed regarding their dining out habits, including carryout service.

The carryout segment tends to be married with children, below the age of 55, and has slightly higher incomes than dine‐out only customers.

This study was exploratory and similar studies need to be performed covering more geographic locations at various times throughout the year. In addition, a probability sampling technique could be used with a good sampling frame.

Casual dining restaurants need to determine whether they want to target the “carryout” segment. If so, the restaurant needs to focus more of its marketing efforts on reaching these customers and creating demand for the carryout product. Also, the benefits of targeting this segment need to be weighed against the additional costs in facility design and operations.

This study focuses on the “carryout” segment for all types of restaurants, while most of the previous research in this area has been on quick‐service restaurants. This is important because the “carryout” segment for casual dining restaurants is increasing steadily.