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Solitary dining is a growing worldwide trend, but still evokes a strong emotional response. Some solo diners choose to be alone; others feel lonely due to circumstances. This study aims to explore solitary dining in Japan and Taiwan, moderated by negative emotions.

Based on a survey of 372 participants, this study uses structural equation modeling to examine anticipated loneliness and anticipated negative evaluation from others (the “spotlight effect”) associated with solitary dining intention among university students in Japan and Taiwan.

Taiwanese university students report solo dining behaviors and intentions with as much frequency as their Japanese counterparts. While Japanese university students associate solitary dining with neutral or positive emotions, Taiwanese university students associate solitary dining with negative emotions, anticipating loneliness and negative evaluation from others.

This study concludes with future research directions for both cross-cultural and post-colonial studies of solitary dining behavioral intention.

From a managerial perspective, the findings provide useful insights to restaurant practitioners and managers in East Asia, recommending settings designed to enhance warmth, quiet and a sense of belonging.

This study examines colonial and post-colonial influences, and concludes with recommendations for future research on both cross-cultural and post-colonial approaches solitary dining behavioral intention.

This study contributes to existing cross-cultural studies in Europe and East Asia, but is the first to compare solitary dining in a Chinese linguistic context and the first to compare solitary dining in Taiwan and Japan.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the presence of other customers in restaurant social settings becomes a resource (referred to as “customer-to-customer interaction” or “C2CI”) to co-create an escape dining experience and stimulate dining outcomes, namely, food attachment and dining frequency. The relationships are further tested under the effects of regional economic conditions.

Data were collected by using a multi-step approach. The first data set was obtained through a personally administered survey, which included a sample of 356 Chinese tourists who dined at fine Western (i.e. Portuguese) restaurants in Macau. The second data set concerned economic statistics and was obtained from the statistics departments of mainland China and Taiwan. A multilevel design with hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the proposed model. Multilevel mediating and moderating effects were also examined.

The results suggest that customer escape dining experience significantly mediated the relationship between C2CI and food attachment, while food attachment fully mediated the relationship between customer escape experience and dining frequency. The multilevel effect of regional economic conditions played a significant role in moderating the C2CI–escape experience relationship in which the effect of C2CI was more salient for tourists from less economically developed regions in China. The experience–food attachment relationship was also contingent on the regional economic conditions in which the relationship was stronger for tourists from less economically developed areas. A multilevel mediating effect was also presented in the study.

The study contributes to the literature on experience co-creation in restaurant dining by exploring and testing the possibility of the presence of other customers to become a resource of experience co-creation, which is currently overlooked in the restaurant dining literature. The study advances the concept of co-creation by including the presence of other customers and restates the active role of diners in creating experiences. It also considers the existence of structural patterns in individualized experiences.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the students’ perceptions of an on-campus foodservice operation at an identified historically black college and university (HBCU) and its effect on their satisfaction and dining frequency.

A survey of 685 students was conducted to collect data. Partial least squares based structural equation modeling is used to test the proposed structural model with SmartPLS 3.0.

Results confirm that quality of food, ambience, value for money, food and beverage options and service quality have a positively significant impact on students’ overall satisfaction with the on-campus foodservice operation and dining frequency. As such, all the hypotheses are supported.

These findings indicate that on-campus foodservice operators should focus on quality of food, ambience, value for money, food and beverage options and service quality to achieve student satisfaction. This in turn could positively impact the institution’s reputation, student retention and the marketability of the institution to future students.

This study would help on-campus foodservice operators to better understand the impact of the various elements of foodservice experience which will lead to students’ overall satisfaction and dining frequency, particularly in a HBCU setting.

The purpose of this research is to examine the dining out activities of Gen Y's in the United States. In particular, it focuses on dining frequency, restaurant selection, restaurant segments and demographic features of Gen Yers.

Empirical data for this study were collected from 631 Gen Y's living in the United States.

The research findings reveal a nascent exploration of eating out preferences of the Gen Y population in an industrialized country in the food service context.

Generation Y is a lucrative and growing customer group for the US foodservice industry. They dine out more frequently than the rest of the population and their dining out preferences are different from other cohorts.

This study offers some practical implications on Gen Y's dining out behavior for food service industry and restaurateurs.

This study investigates restaurant patrons' comfort level with the sudden shift in the dining-in climate within the state of Massachusetts during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An exploratory study utilized learning algorithms via gradient boosting techniques on surveyed restaurant patrons to identify which restaurant operational attributes and patron demographics predict in-dining comfort levels.

Past consumers' eating habits determine how much their behavior will change during a pandemic. However, their dining-in frequency is not a predictor of their post-pandemic dining-in outlook. The individuals who were more comfortable dining in prior to the pandemic dined in more often during the COVID pandemic. However, they had a poorer outlook on when dining in would return to normal. Although there are no clear indicators of when and how customers will embrace the new norm (a combination of pre-, peri-, and post-pandemic), the results show that some innovative approaches, such as limiting service offerings, are not well accepted by customers.

The study offers several managerial implications for foodservice providers (i.e. restaurants, delivery services, pick-up) and investors. In particular, the study provides insights into the cognitive factors that determine diners' behavioral change in response to a pandemic and their comfort level. Operators must pay attention to these factors and consider different offering strategies when preparing to operate their business amid a pandemic.

This is a study of a specific location and period. It was conducted in Massachusetts before a vaccine was available. The restaurant industry was beset with uncertainty. It fills a gap in the current literature focused on the COVID-19 pandemic in customers' transition from pre-COVID-19 dining-in behaviors to customers' refreshed COVID-19 outlook and industry compliance with newly established hygiene and safety standards.

The primary purpose of the study is to investigate college students' dining expectations and define the factors that shape their dining choices. In addition, the study investigates whether gender, ethnic origin, prior food and beverage working experience, spending habits and dining frequency influence students' dining expectations.

A quantitative questionnaire was developed and randomly administered to college students all over Cyprus. With the utilization of both descriptive and inferential statistics the authors addressed a number of research questions that aim to clarify college students' dining behaviour.

The research reliably measured college students' dining expectations and dining decisions in the Cyprus specific environment. Overall cleanliness, employees' attitude and quality of menu items were the most important factors influencing college students' dining choices. Reliability and responsiveness were ranked as the top dining expectations of college students. In addition, of value to industry practitioners, a number of statistically significant differences were revealed based on gender, spending habits, dining frequency, and prior food and beverage working experience.

The authors suggest an agenda for future academic research that will further clarify the dining habits of college students.

The findings have a practical relevance to food and beverage marketers who wish to capture the attention of this significant market segment. The research recognised the market's potential, in addition of revealing major differences between college students in a number of dining‐related factors with specific marketing implications.

It is the first time that a scientific study has investigated college students' dining expectations in Cyprus. The results have practical implications for both academic scholars and food and beverage practitioners.

In Part 1, a model of dining satisfaction and return patronage was developed and described. Based on extensive review of the relevant consumer behaviour literature the model was developed and underpinned by the disconfirmation and expectancy theory. As noted in the article, disconfirmation theory is widely accepted as an account of the process by which customers develop feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, that is, when customers compare new dining experiences with some basis that they have developed from prior experiences. On the other hand, the assumption that a customer will weigh various restaurant attributes is based on expectancy theory. In the majority of studies using disconfirmation theory, expectations are formed according to customers’ pre‐experience beliefs and standards that they use to measure their purchase experience. These theories bring together the social, psychological and cultural concepts into four distinct groups of variables: input variables both internal and external, process variables and output variables (Lowenberg et al., 1979; Finkelstein, 1989). This paper is a continuation and explains: how the model of dining satisfaction and return patronage was operationalised, that is, how the research instrument was developed; how the sample size and survey procedures were developed and conducted; and how the selection of analytical procedures was conceived.

The purpose of this study was to examine consumers' dining behaviors and explore their decision-making process when dining out during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on the extended parallel process model (EPPM) and the related literature, a conceptual model was developed and tested. This study conducted an online survey with 351 responses. In addition, a series of statistical analyses, including descriptive analyses and path analyses, were conducted to analyze the associations among key constructs in the proposed model.

The findings of this study confirmed the pragmatic utility of applying EPPM in a hospitality management context. The findings of this study also outline the different nature between the participants' enactment of self-protective measures and dining out activities. Lastly, while consumers are hesitant about dining out, the results showed that consumers' dining behaviors are directly related to their personality trait of sensation-seeking.

This study was delimited to a cross-sectional design and self-reported data. Such information may provide insights into individuals' decision-making and behaviors related to dining in a COVID-19 context. In addition, this study only includes US samples, while future studies can extend this study by including samples from different countries and cultural backgrounds.

This study adopts an interdisciplinary approach, which derives from tourism and hospitality management and public health. As a result, the findings of this study not only identify the major influencers affecting consumers' dining behavior but also help contextualize a public health model and contribute to the tourism and hospitality management literature.

Restaurants’ outdoor signage plays an irreplaceable role in attracting potential diners, as it conveys important functional and symbolic meanings of the businesses. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of typographic design elements of outdoor signage on consumers’ perceptions of authenticity. This study also tests the linkage between authenticity and willingness to dine, as well as the moderating effect of frequency of dining in ethnic restaurants on the relationship.

Using a 2 (simplified vs traditional Chinese characters) × 2 (calligraphy vs computer font) × 2 (vertical vs horizontal text flow) between-subject design, the authors did two experiments with 786 Chinese diners. Restaurant authenticity and willingness to dine are dependent variables, and openness to ethnic cuisine is the control variable.

Display characters and text flow significantly affect restaurant authenticity. Furthermore, the results of this study demonstrate that display characters interact with typeface to influence restaurant authenticity. Consumers’ perceived authenticity significantly increases their willingness to dine. The frequency of dining in ethnic restaurants moderates the relationship between restaurant authenticity and willingness to dine.

Ethnic restaurateurs should pay attention to the outdoor signage design, as it affects potential consumers’ authenticity perceptions. Specifically, in Mainland China, traditional Chinese characters and vertical text direction increase potential consumers’ authenticity perceptions.

This study extends the semiotic theory and applies the cue–judgment–behavior model in the hospitality literature. This study also provides new understanding of authenticity by identifying the influence of typographic design on authenticity, which confirms the semiotic theory that certain semiotic cues affect consumers’ judgments.