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This study aims to explore the key attributes of robot chef restaurants and their influencing factors from the perspective of customers and analyzes how these key attributes affect customer perceived value.

A mixed-methods research design was used in this study. Using 473 online reviews and ratings (Study 1), the research summarized customers’ evaluations on three types of attributes (environment, service and food) and identified the key attributes along with their influencing factors. Subsequently, through field questionnaires (Study 2) involving 269 actual customers, structural equation modeling was used to analyze how the identified key attributes and their influencing factors impact customer perceived value.

This study reveals that customers in robot chef restaurants prioritize food attributes, particularly valuing food authenticity alongside food quality. In contrast to traditional restaurants, customers’ evaluations of food attributes in robot chef restaurants are significantly influenced by the competence of robot chefs. Notably, customers’ negative attitudes toward robots diminish the positive effects on both food quality and food authenticity.

To enhance customer perceived value, robot chef restaurants should concentrate on food attributes. They can achieve this by fostering a high-quality, authentic food experience through the elevation of robot chefs’ competence and by providing customer education.

This study expands research on the customer experience in robotic restaurants by proposing an integrated model determining factors that affect the perceived customer value.

High-end gastronomic tourism is currently trending and significantly impacts a destination’s image. This research aims to demonstrate the importance of high-level local gastronomy in forming the destination image from a semiotic perspective.

To achieve this objective, the three phases of the upscale dining experience – pre-visit, in situ and post-visit – are examined from a descriptive (informative use), appraisive (valuative use) and prescriptive (incitive use) semiotic perspective. This conceptual model includes six constructs: restaurant image, consumer need for status, consumer expectations, consumer satisfaction, restaurant loyalty and destination loyalty. The study is based on a survey of high-end restaurant customers (N = 421).

The research findings highlight that the characteristics of upscale dining establishments influence customer expectations, while customer satisfaction plays a crucial role in fostering loyalty towards both the restaurant and the destination. Additionally, the study reveals that individuals' social status or reputation moderates their expectations and satisfaction levels.

Although studies relate gastronomic image to global destination image, this relationship from a semiotic perspective has not been demonstrated through surveys. This proposed three-phase model based on the Peircean semiotic triad and Morris semiotic trichotomies not only addresses a gap in the existing literature but also offers valuable insights for destination managers and restaurant owners.

Consumer behavior is evolving rapidly due to the increasing role of technology in daily life. Online food ordering has emerged as a key channel in this changing landscape. This paper investigates the relationships between online promotions, consumer skepticism, information sharing on social media and the intention to purchase food and beverages through online delivery services.

Measures were developed based on a review of existing literature. Data from 402 participants were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

The study reveals that online promotions significantly impact consumers' sharing of restaurant posts. Additionally, consumer skepticism about online food sales affects both their sharing behavior and their intention to purchase online. Engagement in sharing restaurant posts online is a strong predictor of online food purchasing intentions.

The findings offer valuable insights for restaurant operators, policymakers and technology developers in the competitive online food delivery sector. They emphasize the importance of implementing innovative promotions and crafting appealing food presentations. These strategies can accelerate customer decision-making, attract new customers and contribute to market expansion and customer base sustainability.

This research provides significant insights for restaurant owners and contributes to the limited literature on online promotions, consumer skepticism and information sharing in the restaurant industry. It also lays the groundwork for future studies aimed at deepening understanding in this field.

This study explores how the various aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) impact customer satisfaction (CS) within the restaurant sector. Furthermore, it seeks to reveal if there is a moderating role played by gender in the relationship between CSR dimensions and CS in the realm of restaurant services.

The findings of this research were obtained by analysing 352 questionnaires collected from Iranian restaurants. Structural equation modelling was used to test the conceptual model.

According to this research, responsibility (economic, legal, ethical and environmental) is related to CS. Additionally, this study delves into the specific influence of each facet of CSR on CS, a departure from prior research which treated CSR as a singular entity. Consequently, the findings of this study offer clarity on which dimension of CSR can impact CS. Prior studies examining the correlation between CSR and CS typically encompassed various CSR aspects, including economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic dimensions, with the environmental dimension often subsumed under ethical CSR. This research, however, recognises environmental CSR as the fifth distinct dimension. The results of this research show that CS is directly and significantly influenced by all aspects of CSR (except philanthropy). Also, the findings of this research show that gender does not make a difference on the impact of different dimensions of CSR on CS.

The findings of this study provide restaurant managers with a deeper understanding of CSR and how it can influence CS. The research demonstrates that environmental CSR had the strongest impact on Iranian CS among the five CSR dimensions investigated. The findings also support the notion that Iranian consumers are beginning to use CSR information to evaluate restaurants.

This research represents an early exploration of how individual facets of CSR affect CS. As part of this investigation, Carroll’s initial model was modified to include a novel element, environmental responsibility, to address environmental concerns' growing importance. This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that CSR activities are not all equally effective.

An increasing number of restaurants are building mobile instant messaging-based online restaurant communities to enhance connections with customers, but the mechanisms of customers’ behavioral intentions toward these communities remain unclear. To address this gap, this study aims to investigate the factors affecting customers’ acceptance of mobile instant messaging-based online restaurant communities from the perspectives of social support theory and technology acceptance model.

Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data collected from 360 customers.

The results indicate that informational support and social presence influence perceived ease of use and usefulness. By contrast, emotional support significantly affects only perceived usefulness. Additionally, perceived ease of use and usefulness can positively predict customer attitudes and foster behavioral intentions.

This research broadens existing research on online restaurant communities by constructing an integrated model that considers social support-related and technology use-related factors to understand consumers’ participation in a new type of restaurant community, namely, the mobile instant messaging-based online restaurant community. The findings also offer guidance on how restaurants can encourage customers to embrace mobile instant messaging-based online restaurant communities.

This paper aims to explore the factors influencing customers' attitudes and behaviours, specifically in terms of affective satisfaction, participation behaviour, and word-of-mouth, within the restaurant industry, with a focus on both tangible and intangible elements. Additionally, the study seeks to identify the dual mediating role of customer affective satisfaction in this relationship.

In this exploratory study, SEM-VB was utilized to examine data from 312 valid respondents who completed a face-to-face questionnaire using a quantitative methodology. The respondents were targeted at restaurants that serve comparable food and beverages for a similar socioeconomic class.

The findings reveal that perceived value, physical appearance, and standardization significantly contribute to customer affective satisfaction, which, in turn, positively influences their participation behaviour and word-of-mouth.

Practically, restaurant managers can enhance customer experiences and boost positive word-of-mouth by fostering affective satisfaction and encouraging interactive customer participation.

The novel concept of “affective satisfaction” contributes to restaurant management literature by identifying its tangible and intangible drivers and uncovering its outcomes in participation behaviour and word of mouth. By combining numerous factors and investigating the mediating function of affective satisfaction and based on the theory of Expectancy-Disconfirmation, this study adds to the theoretical understanding of what drives the affective satisfaction and word-of-mouth of casual dining restaurants’ customers.

While third-party food delivery continues to increase in popularity, surveys suggest nearly a quarter of deliveries suffer from service failures. With the limited research on third-party food delivery, we explore the important questions of (1) where customers place blame in the case of service failures with third-party food delivery (i.e. the platform or the restaurant) and (2) does this depend on the type of service failure? Drawing on blame attribution theory, signaling theory, and an exploratory study, we demonstrate that customers typically perceive such mishaps to be the responsibility of the restaurant rather than the delivery platform itself. We also examine the effect of visible service failure preventative actions taken by the restaurant on blame attribution and re-order intention.

We conducted two online scenario-based studies to explore customer blame attribution in the case of third-party food delivery service failure. First, an exploratory study approach (N_{Study1 = 512}) was taken to provide additional support for the hypothesis development. An experiment (N_{Study2 = 252}) was then conducted to examine the hypothesized effects.

First, the results of an exploratory study demonstrate that customers attribute service failures such as wrong items, missing items, cold food, or leaking containers to restaurants over third-party food delivery platforms. Second, the results of an experimental study suggest inclusion of an observable cue indicating preventative action, such as time-stamp information indicating when an order was received and packaged for delivery, increases customer re-order intention through the underlying mechanism of blame attribution.

We contribute to the underexplored area of third-party food delivery service failure and to our understanding of blame attribution in service failure scenarios. Further, we demonstrate a practical method to shift the blame away from restaurants for service failures that are outside of the establishment’s control.

This study aims to examine how dynamic pricing impacts customer perceptions of restaurants and sentiment toward prices via online reputation metrics. In addition, to deepen the debate on dynamic pricing, a novel definition is drawn by exploring the specific forms of discrimination that can manifest in different industries.

Leveraging a comprehensive data set of restaurant reviews sourced from TripAdvisor, the study focuses on restaurants affiliated with one of the largest groups of restaurants in Spain. We used a quasi-experimental method (difference-in-differences), to study how dynamic pricing strategies influence customers’ perceptions of value based on numerical ratings. Meanwhile, we used a Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers model on the textual component of reviews to dissect the emotional nuances of dynamic pricing.

Results did not reveal a causal impact of dynamic pricing strategies on customers’ perceptions. Moreover, the sentiment analysis shows no heightened negative view after introducing dynamic pricing in restaurants compared to the control group. Contrary to what previous literature suggests, our findings indicate that implementing dynamic pricing does not adversely affect customers’ perceptions or sentiments regarding prices in restaurants.

The quasi-experimental setting of the study presents inherent challenges in establishing causality that require further investigation using controlled experimental settings. Nevertheless, our study reveals that restaurant customers do not perceive dynamic pricing as unfair. This finding is critical for restaurant managers when considering the implementation of dynamic pricing and revenue management strategies. In addition, our study highlights the importance of considering not only numerical ratings but customer sentiment analysis as well. This more holistic approach to assessing the impact of pricing strategies can give restaurant managers a deeper understanding of customer reactions. In addition, a more rigorous definition of dynamic pricing is provided, clarifying its nature and its distinction in using different price discrimination.

This study contributes to the evolving understanding of dynamic pricing strategies’ impact on customers’ perceptions and sentiments in the restaurant industry. It aims to fill the gap in understanding customer reactions to algorithmically determined prices (via revenue management systems such as DynamEat) in this industry. The combination of causal inference and sentiment analysis offers a novel perspective, shedding light on the nuanced connections between dynamic pricing implementation and customers’ emotions.

本研究考察动态定价如何通过在线声誉指标影响顾客对餐厅的感知和对价格的情绪。此外, 为了深化对动态定价的讨论, 通过探索不同行业中可能表现出的具体歧视形式, 提出了一个新的定义。

利用从TripAdvisor获取的餐厅评论的全面数据集, 研究聚焦于与西班牙最大的餐厅集团之一相关联的餐厅。我们采用了准实验方法（差异中的差异）, 研究动态定价策略如何根据数值评分影响顾客对价值的感知。同时, 我们运用BERT模型对评论的文本成分进行分析, 以解析动态定价的情感细微差别。

结果没有揭示动态定价策略对顾客感知产生因果影响。此外, 情绪分析显示, 在餐厅引入动态定价后, 与对照组相比, 没有增加消极观点。与以往文献所述相反, 我们的发现表明, 实施动态定价并不会对顾客对价格的感知或情绪产生负面影响。

研究的准实验设置存在确立因果关系的固有挑战, 需要通过控制实验设置进一步调查。尽管如此, 我们的研究揭示了餐厅顾客不认为动态定价不公平。这一发现对餐厅经理在考虑实施动态定价和收入管理策略时至关重要。此外, 我们的研究强调, 考虑顾客情绪分析和数值评分的重要性。这种更全面的方法评估定价策略的影响, 可以让餐厅经理更深入地理解顾客反应。此外, 提供了一个更严格的动态定价定义, 澄清了其性质及其在使用不同价格歧视中的区别。

本研究对于理解动态定价策略对餐厅行业顾客感知和情绪影响的不断发展有所贡献。它旨在填补对客户对算法确定的价格（通过收入管理系统（RMS）例如DynamEat）在此行业中反应的理解空白。因果推断与情绪分析的结合提供了新的视角, 揭示了动态定价实施与顾客情绪之间微妙的联系。

Este estudio examina cómo la fijación dinámica de precios impacta en las percepciones de los clientes de los restaurantes y en el sentimiento hacia los precios a través de métricas de reputación en línea. Además, para profundizar en el debate sobre la fijación dinámica de precios, se propone una definición novedosa explorando las formas específicas de discriminación que pueden manifestarse en diferentes industrias.

Utilizando un conjunto de datos exhaustivo de reseñas de restaurantes obtenidas de TripAdvisor, el estudio se centra en los restaurantes afiliados a uno de los mayores grupos de restaurantes en España. Empleamos un método cuasiexperimental (diferencias en diferencias) para estudiar cómo las estrategias de precios dinámicos influyen en las percepciones de valor de los clientes basándonos en las calificaciones numéricas. Mientras tanto, empleamos un modelo BERT en el componente textual de las reseñas para desentrañar los matices emocionales de la fijación dinámica de precios.

Los resultados no revelaron un impacto causal de las estrategias de precios dinámicos en las percepciones de los clientes. Además, el análisis de sentimiento no muestra una visión negativa aumentada después de introducir la fijación dinámica de precios en los restaurantes en comparación con el grupo de control. Contrariamente a lo que sugiere la literatura previa, nuestros hallazgos indican que la implementación de precios dinámicos no afecta negativamente las percepciones o los sentimientos de los clientes respecto a los precios en los restaurantes.

La configuración cuasiexperimental del estudio presenta desafíos inherentes para establecer la causalidad que requieren una investigación más profunda utilizando entornos experimentales controlados. Sin embargo, nuestro estudio revela que los clientes de restaurantes no perciben la fijación de precios dinámica como injusta. Este hallazgo es crítico para los gerentes de restaurantes al considerar la implementación de la fijación de precios dinámica y estrategias de gestión de ingresos. Además, nuestro estudio resalta la importancia de considerar no solo las calificaciones numéricas sino también el análisis del sentimiento del cliente. Este enfoque más holístico para evaluar el impacto de las estrategias de precios puede dar a los gerentes de restaurantes una comprensión más profunda de las reacciones de los clientes. Además, se proporciona una definición de fijación de precios dinámica más rigurosa, aclarando su naturaleza y su distinción en el uso de diferentes discriminaciones de precios.

Este estudio contribuye a la comprensión en evolución del impacto de las estrategias de fijación de precios dinámicos en las percepciones y sentimientos de los clientes en la industria restaurantera. Su objetivo es llenar el vacío en la comprensión de las reacciones de los clientes a los precios determinados algorítmicamente (a través de sistemas de gestión de ingresos (RMS) como DynamEat) en esta industria. La combinación de inferencia causal y análisis de sentimientos ofrece una perspectiva novedosa, arrojando luz sobre las conexiones matizadas entre la implementación de la fijación de precios dinámicos y las emociones de los clientes.

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.

This study aims to examine the language choices of outdoor signs and menus in addition to the functions of outdoor signs in restaurants in a Saudi tourist city, Abha. The primary focus is on identifying the extent to which outdoor signs accurately represent the language choices of restaurant menus.

The study developed a conceptual framework for the linguistic landscape (LL) of restaurants. It employed a quantitative approach to collect outdoor signs and menus of 75 sampled restaurants in Abha using online photos and a smartphone camera. Then it analyzed the frequency and percentage of language choices on outdoor signs and menus as well as the extent to which language choices of outdoor signs represent menus.

The findings indicate that more than half (58.66%) of the restaurants employ bilingual signage in both Arabic and English. Other languages like Spanish, French, Chinese and Turkish are sporadically used, with multilingualism observed only in isolated instances. The study also reveals that bi/multilingualism on outdoor signs primarily serves informational purposes, where more than one-third (36%) of the outdoor signs use languages other than Arabic to serve a symbolic function. Regarding menus, Arabic and English dominate, while Turkish appears on one menu. Spanish, French, and Chinese are absent from restaurant menus, indicating linguistic mismatch in terms of language choices.

This study contributes to LL studies of restaurants in tourist cities by showing language choices and functions of outdoor signs and their alignment with menus.