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This paper aims to examine diners’ luxury restaurant consumption behavior by incorporating diner expectations into a modified Mehrabian–Russell model. Consumers dine at luxury restaurants for reasons beyond fulfilling basic needs. However, little is known about the factors that contribute to diners’ emotions and loyalty toward luxury restaurants.

To examine the proposed six hypotheses, qualitative and quantitative studies were performed. Following exploratory qualitative research, 310 consumers who dined at Taiwan’s five-star hotel restaurants were recruited for the main study. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The results show that restaurants’ stimuli influence diners’ positive and negative emotions (organisms), which, in turn, affect their loyalty toward luxury restaurants (responses). Furthermore, customers with different levels of expectation react differently to stimuli.

This study offers new empirical support for the proposition that diner expectation plays a role in building customer loyalty and, thereby, shades both theoretical and managerial understanding of the luxury restaurant consumption process.

This study conceptualizes diners’ loyalty toward luxury restaurants (e.g. revisiting and recommending luxury restaurants) by examining the influence of restaurants’ stimuli, diners’ emotions and customers’ expectations toward luxury restaurants. Additionally, this study offers some managerial implications for practitioners.

Prior research examining cultural effects on customer service expectations has primarily used more generic Western cultural theory on an aggregate scale or with only a single variable to draw conclusions on a customer’s underlying reasoning for buying a service. This study aims to focus on culturally distinct clusters within non-Western nations, specifically exploring within-cluster differences in service expectations within the Confucian Asia cluster.

This study developed a measurement model of Chinese cultural values and service expectations, consisting of a three and five-factor structure, respectively. Data from a sample of 351 diners were analysed using SmartPLS software. The data was compared with similar studies within the Confucian Asia cluster to understand the culture effect on service expectations and within-cluster variations.

The findings underscore the varying importance of cultural values in shaping customer service expectations, emphasizing their relative, rather than equal, significance. The study provides insights into potential within-group differences in customer service expectations within the same cultural cluster – without losing sight of the fundamental cultural heterogeneity of the Confucian culture.

Managers should leverage the distinct cultural values of their operating country to gain insights into diverse customer groups, predict their behaviours and meet their needs and expectations.

This study offers valuable insights to both service management scholars and practitioners by focusing on culturally distinct clusters of non-Western nations and exploring their effects on variation in service expectations within these clusters.

Private kitchens have grown significantly in the past few years in Hong Kong and have become popular in the catering industry. This study aims to examine the expectations and perceptions of private kitchen diners regarding their dining experiences.

A descriptive research design and a cross‐sectional survey were used. Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with 167 respondents in four main business districts in Hong Kong. The first section of the questionnaire included some screening questions. In the first part of the second section, respondents were asked to rate their expectations on each of the attributes of private kitchens using a seven‐point Likert scale. In the second part, respondents were asked to rate their perceptions of the same attribute in private kitchens using the same measurement scales. Section three of the questionnaire included questions about the respondents' demographic characteristics.

Most of the private kitchen diners valued the undisclosed dining area as the best thing about private kitchens, followed by privacy and a special dining feeling. The results of a paired‐samples t‐test indicated that private kitchen diners' perceptions of private kitchens fell short of their expectations in general. An exploratory factor analysis was also employed, resulting in the identification and interpretation of four factors that are likely to influence people's intention to dine in private kitchens. They were: responsiveness to guest needs; professional chef and staff; homely feeling and privacy; and intimate dining experience.

The major limitation of this study is that respondents were asked to rate the perceived dining attributes in terms of expectations and perceptions at the same time, as it was technically difficult to ask for the same respondents to complete the questionnaire before and after dining in a private kitchen. Still, this study is useful for other researchers to undertake further studies on private kitchens, such as customers' repeat patronage and loyalty.

There have been few studies on private kitchen businesses, although this sector has become very popular especially in the Hong Kong catering industry. The findings of this study can be viewed as a preliminary step to understand the private kitchen business.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to examine how different technological and cognitive cues related to mobile food ordering applications (MFOAs) impact diners' intentions to use MFOAs continuously. The moderating role of national household demographics was also assessed in the online-to-offline (O2O) food delivery services (FDS) context.

Drawing insights from the uses and gratification (U&G) theory, an online sample survey of 968 valid respondents who had ordered or purchased food through delivery apps during the COVID-19 outbreak in China was used for the analysis. The proposed model was empirically tested using structural equation modeling.

The results revealed that cues in MFOAs (i.e. ease of use, convenience, price saving orientation, the listing of various food choices, exploring restaurant patterns, and compatibility) directly influenced diners' e-satisfaction and that intention to use continuously is triggered by e-satisfaction during the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, this study found that collectivist household diners emphasized ease of use, convenience, and compatibility. Comparatively, individualistic household diners placed more importance upon price saving orientation and listing of various food choices during the pandemic.

The authors offer a new insight into customers' dining choices by extending the scope of O2O services in the food industry. The findings contribute to understanding diners' purchase decision-making processes regarding MFOAs' O2O-FDS during the COVID-19 crisis. The multi-group comparison via national household demographics also provides a new perspective regarding different dining preferences toward O2O-FDS.

The study aims to explore the expectations and perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies among Chinese fast-food diners, and to investigate the relationships among CSR strategies, consumer satisfaction and customer loyalty behaviors. Chinese diners’ knowledge about a real world brand’s CSR activities was also investigated.

Setting the research context on the fast food industry in China and selecting McDonald’s as the subject brand, a survey study was conducted in a Southern Chinese mid-scale city. A convenience sample of 320 was withdrawn, and the data were analyzed with SPSS 18.0.

Results from the study show that the Chinese fast food diners expect restaurant companies to attach more importance to “(product) nutrition and well-being (of customers)” and “environment sustainability” to be considered socially responsible. CSR performance was found to be the most influential factor in the consumers’ loyalty behaviors compared to customer satisfaction with service, product and the total visit experience. The study also found that many of McDonald’s CSR activities were unknown to the Chinese respondents.

China is an attractive market to most global companies including fast food chain companies. Understanding Chinese diners’ expectations and perceptions toward companies’ CSR strategies will contribute to the success rate of companies operating in China. In addition, by using a real-world brands as the research context, the study tries to avoid perception bias of respondents due to the different interpretations of CSR in different organizations and industries.

In view of the intense competition between businesses in the sharing economy and the conventional hospitality industry, this study aims to compare consumers’ private social dining and restaurant dining experiences.

In-depth interviews with 29 private social diners were conducted to yield 10 dining experiential domains, which were then validated using online survey data from 840 diners across four sample groups – local (Hong Kong) private social diners, local (Hong Kong) restaurant diners, overseas private social diners and overseas restaurant diners – to empirically examine a mechanism through which the dining experience influences diners’ psychological and behavioral responses.

The significant differences emerged among the four sample groups in their evaluations of dining experiences. The mediating role of memorability appeared weaker in overseas settings than in local settings.

The findings suggest restaurateurs be creative and open-minded in designing dining experiences that go beyond food-related satisfaction. Destination marketers should also find the findings insightful because they can diversify their catering offerings by differentiating private social dining with conventional restaurants.

The study presents a novel angle on experiential consumption in the sharing economy to focus on food-sharing activities, which is thought to complement the currently skewed research focus in the sharing economy. A theoretically driven mechanism was also validated to explain the experiential differences between conventional restaurants and private social dining.

This study aims to investigate how different menu types trigger diners’ behavioral intentions in restaurants’ innovation diffusion from paper to digital menus.

Four menu types, namely, paper menus with text only, paper menus with text and images, digital menus that show text and images or text and video with self-service technological functionality, are designed to empirically examine a mental process through which perceived information quality, perceived food quality and perceived service quality influence diners’ behavioral intentions.

Based on the online survey data from 502 diners, results show that the menu design influences customers’ perceptions. The video-based digital menu is the most effective to generate diners’ behavioral intentions, followed by a paper menu with text and images.

This study contributes to the innovation diffusion theory and stimulus-organism-responses theory to encourage the joint use of auditory and visual channels for digital menu design in restaurants.

The authors confirm the digital transformation in menu design in restaurants. Restaurant diners are also prepared and comfortable with digital menus, especially in the postpandemic world.

本研究目的在于调查在餐厅从纸质菜单到数字菜单的创新扩散过程中, 不同菜单类型如何影响餐厅客人的行为意向。

通过设计并使用四种菜单类型, 分别为只有文本的纸质菜单、具有文本和图片的纸质菜单、显示文本和图片或文本和视频的数字菜单以及具有自助技术功能的数字菜单, 本研究以实证方法考察了感知信息质量、感知食品质量和感知服务质量如何影响餐厅客人的行为意向的心理过程。

根据对502名餐厅客人的在线调查数据显示, 菜单设计影响了客人的感知。基于视频的数字菜单是影响餐厅客人行为意向最有效的菜单类型, 其次是文本和图片的纸质菜单。

本研究表明应鼓励在餐厅数字菜单设计中同时使用听觉和视觉元素。因此, 为研究促进了创新扩散理论和刺激-有机体-反应理论的发展。

我们证实了数字菜单在餐厅菜单设计中的转型。餐厅客人, 尤其是在在后疫情时代, 已经准备好并愿意接受使用数字菜单。

This paper aims to gain insight into the preferences of US customers regarding Korean food, and to categorize these customers according to the reasons for their preferences.

The study was conducted with a sample of customers in Korean restaurants in the USA.

Cluster 1 was a group whose members were attracted to Korean culture; Cluster 2 was a group whose members were passionate about Korean food; Cluster 3 was a group seeking healthy and exotic food; and Cluster 4 was a low-interest group. Each cluster had a different socio-demographic profile, favored a different Korean menu, identified different success factors for Korean restaurants, described different expectations and experiences of Korean restaurants and had different preferences regarding Korean food services.

Active promotion of Korean food and Korean culture may be appropriate for Cluster 1, while developing a healthy and exotic menu may attract Cluster 3. Maintaining Cluster 2 is deemed important, while a strategic approach is necessary to appeal to Cluster 4.

This study will contribute theoretically and practically to understanding food globalization, ethnic restaurants and segmentation by preference reasons.

In the preceding article “Consumer research in the restaurant environment, Part 2”, the operationalisation of the theoretical model of dining satisfaction and return patronage (IJCHM, Vol. 11 No. 6), was developed and described. This was preceded by Part 1 (IJCHM, Vol. 11 No. 5), in which a model of dining satisfaction and return patronage was proposed and conceptualised. Based on an extensive review of the relevant consumer behaviour literature, proposed model (Part 1), the development of the research instrument, sampling frame and procedures (Part 2), and the analytical analysis used in the study, this paper is the final contribution to the three‐part series and it reports on the findings of the study. Overall, the encouraging results of this study can be summarised as having provided: a clearer understanding of customers’ dining satisfaction perceptions; a clearer understanding of restaurants attribute performance that determine satisfaction as a consequence of dining experience; and a robust prediction of return as a result of dining satisfaction.

This paper aims to explore the perceived hedonic and utilitarian value of organic dining along with its antecedents and dining outcomes.

Data were collected from two groups of US consumers who had recently visited a quick-service or upscale restaurant to consume organic menu items. Data were analyzed using factor analysis and hierarchical regression analyses using Hayes’ PROCESS procedure.

Perceived hedonic value has two dimensions (dining-centered excitement and social attention and escapism), as does utilitarian value (tangible value and intangible value). Involvement with organic food is a significant antecedent of perceived value. Satisfaction exhibits various mediating effects on behavioral intention, depending on the value factor considered.

This study contributes to knowledge regarding the perceived dining value of consuming organic food at restaurants. Findings shed light on the importance of understanding perceived value in predicting diners’ behavioral intentions across two restaurant segments. Consumers’ value perceptions of organic dining differ from those related to general organic food shopping.

The findings provide clear ways for restaurants to increase the perceived utilitarian and hedonic value of organic food dishes. This study assists restaurant practitioners in managing customer satisfaction and loyalty by prioritizing the effort invested in developing different value perceptions.

This research is one of the first attempts to delve into consumers’ dining experiences with organic food across two major restaurant segments.