Perceived fairness of revenue management practices in casual and fine-dining restaurants

Abstract

Purpose

Restaurants typically have small profit margins and with the pressure of increasing food and labor costs, management is looking to revenue as a way to maintain and drive profits. One technique to increase revenue is through revenue management practices, but management needs to be aware of their customers’ reactions to these practices prior to implementation. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

This study utilizes linear regression to determine the impact of select restaurant revenue management practices, customers’ familiarity with revenue management in general and in restaurants specifically, and customers’ demographics on perceived fairness of revenue management practices in casual and fine-dining restaurants.

Findings

Results indicate that customers find certain restaurant revenue management practices, such as charging premium prices on certain days of the week, fair in both casual and fine-dining restaurants, while others are not in either. Non-refundable reservation fees were found to be fair for fine-dining establishments only. Increased familiarity with restaurant revenue management was associated with higher perceptions of fairness for both casual and fine dining. Age was the only demographic studied that affected perceived fairness.

Originality/value

This study is the only known study to simultaneously evaluate the impact of price and duration restaurant revenue management techniques in combination with customer demographics and revenue management familiarity on consumer perceptions of fairness.

Citation

Tang, J., Repetti, T. and Raab, C. (2019), "Perceived fairness of revenue management practices in casual and fine-dining restaurants", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 92-108. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-10-2018-0063