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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.

The purpose of this paper is to answer the following research questions: which are the main drivers in the choice of a restaurant for Italian consumers? Are local, organic and GMO-free foods important attributes in the choice of a restaurant?

In order to answer the research questions, a discrete choice experiment was applied. In particular, the authors opted for the application of a latent class model to identify any differences in the behavioural structures of the various consumers. This approach is, in fact, based on the assumption that the choices of the subjects depend on observable and unobservable heterogeneity that vary with factors not directly detectable.

People show different preferences when they choose a restaurant. Regarding the choice experiment, the analysis of the importance of the attributes for the final choice highlights how price and service quality are always considered as the most important ones. The presence of menu with local foods, organic foods and OGM-free products is never decisive for the final choice but it is a very appreciated attribute for almost 30 per cent of consumers. This group of consumers (named local oriented) show a willingness to pay (WTP) of 11 euro for local foods, eight euro for organic products and 3.5 euro for OGM-free ingredients. For the locavores, the likelihood of choosing a restaurant offering local products is three times higher than that of a restaurant not possessing this type of certification, all other conditions being equal.

Restaurant owners can differentiate their offerings also considering the local foods and organic products. On the other hand, the restaurants can become powerful marketing channels for local producers. The consumption of organic foods can be increased given the wide WTP displayed. This could positively impact in the promotion of healthier and sustainable diet.

The conditions therefore exist for developing a restaurant offer consisting of a basic menu with local foods, capable of integrating in a virtuous manner with the organic farm productions, which keep an eye on sustainable development and the wholesomeness of foods. If this virtuous process takes root in the restaurant sector, it could certainly represent an important opportunity for the agricultural producers as well, especially in the tourist areas. In order for this opportunity to materially be implemented in a development process, it is, however, necessary to develop certifications and brands capable of constituting credible guarantees for the consumer, as well as strengthening the information and communication campaigns among the younger consumers.

The development of a segment of restaurants that support local foods and organic products would have positive impacts both from the social and territorial point of view.

This is the first paper that considers and evaluate the impact of local foods, organic foods and GMO-free foods in the choice of a restaurant. Findings demonstrate how the probability of choosing restaurants that offer local products, compared to the other conditions, is always higher than those focussing on organic or GMO-free products. The choice probability of the restaurant with local products is three times greater than that of a restaurant without local products, all other variables being equal.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which consumers will exert more effort to avoid risk (negative reviews) versus seek reward (positive reviews) when making a restaurant decision.

This study investigates the influence of distance and review valence on restaurant decisions. A 2 (base restaurant review valence: negative, neutral) × 2 (target restaurant review valence: neutral, positive) × 2 (distance: 30 min, 60 min) between-subjects factorial design was used.

People exert more effort to seek a reward versus avoid a risk. People will drive any distance to dine at a restaurant with positive reviews. However, the tendency to avoid a restaurant with negative reviews declines as distance increases.

This study emphasizes the critical role of positive reviews in the restaurant industry. This research provides guidance to operators to manage online reviews effectively. The marketing strategy taking into account review valence and distance allows the business to attract new customers and grow its customer base.

This research synthesizes asymmetry effects and prospect theory with the level of risk associated with the outcome. This research is theoretically noteworthy since the finding of a reverse asymmetry principle is in contrast with the traditional belief of risk-avoidance when comparing gains and losses.

Modernization and the rise of living standards have introduced new variants of traditional foods, from their tastes to the way they are enjoyed. This study aims to explore and examine the impacts of both traditional and modern marketing stimuli on restaurant choice intention for experiencing culinary traditions, hence answering the question of how traditional and modern aspects live together to bring about the most desirable experience for customers of traditional cuisine.

Based on the stimuli-organism-response (S-O-R) theory and mixed research methods, a model linking service quality dimensions, perceived value and restaurant choice intention is formulated and tested on quantitative data from 431 customers of Gen Y and Gen Z, given the case of Vietnamese Pho.

The findings show that food quality demonstrates the strongest impact on restaurant choice intention, followed by authenticity and nostalgia marketing. These relationships are partially mediated by perceived value. Hygiene risks and perceived value are also found to directly affect restaurant choice intention. Nevertheless, our findings are quite different between Gen Y and Gen Z customers.

This research provides crucial strategic implications for restaurant managers when it comes to serving traditional foods for different generations.

This study responds to the existing gap by examining and comparing the impacts of traditional and modern marketing stimuli on restaurant choice intention through the mediating role of perceived value. Our study also actively contributes to the ongoing multigenerational research stream by affirming the moderation role of generations (Gen Y and Gen Z) in those relationships.

Previous research has concluded that there is consumer desire for nutrition information to be provided on restaurant menu items and restaurant customers presented with this information will make healthier menu choices (Mills & Thomas, 2008). Limited research has been performed in a restaurant setting measuring real rather than intended behavior. The purpose of this research experiment is to measure consumer response, in a full-service restaurant setting, to nutrition information on menu items and subsequently determine if consumers will use this information in their menu item choice. An experiment was conducted with 264 restaurant customers at a full-service a la carte restaurant. Customers chose from menu items labeled with or without a Healthy Choice® label. A logistic regression model was used to predict whether people would choose Healthy Choice menu items. Fifty-four percent of restaurant customers chose the healthy choice menu item. The logistic regression confirms that those people who desire nutrition information also use this information in their menu choice. The study concludes with recommendations for the industry on directing consumer menu choice toward healthier items.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the structural relationships among lifestyle of health and sustainability (LOHAS), healthy food choices, trust, and emotional loyalty and the moderating role of age between seniors and non‐seniors in restaurants.

Partial least squares (PLS)‐graph software (version 3.0) was used to analyze the measurements and structural models. The authors employed a PLS regression analysis for both the formative and reflective constructs in the empirical test of the research model.

The study revealed that the senior market segment differs from the non‐senior market segment in the following ways: the magnitude of impact of LOHAS on healthy food choices is much stronger for senior diners than for non‐senior diners and the impact of LOHAS on trust and emotional loyalty is greater for seniors than non‐seniors.

The results of this study can guide the restaurant industry in its research on the implications of LOHAS for seniors.

Restaurant marketers should develop different strategies for the senior and non‐senior market segments, and they need to focus on target segments rather than attempting to appeal to the market as a whole.

This paper assists researchers and practitioners by shedding light on the differences among LOHAS, healthy food choices, trust, and emotional loyalty between senior and non‐senior diners.

In the last few decades, the obesity rate has increased along with the increasing of away-from-home food consumption at restaurants (Wei & Miao, 2013), especially the food consumption at quick-service restaurants (QSRs). Previous research stated that the main factors that influence the customers’ food selection are found. Price and quality of food are the most significant things that mostly concerned customers when they are in decision-making process. There is a controversial argument between several studies that identified calorie labelling on menu influences consumers on food choice, while others said vice versa. However, several studies argued that calorie information does not have as much impact on customers’ food purchasing as other factors such as food’s quality, ranges of food, price of food, restaurant’s atmosphere, and speed of food service (Carey & Genevive, 1995). The aim of this chapter is to examine the importance of representing calorie information on menu and its effects on customer decision-making especially at QSRs. Therefore, the following questions have been addressed in this chapter:

What are the factors that influence consumer choice at QSRs?

Does calorie labelling on menus impact customer purchasing at QSRs?

This chapter starts with the introduction of the topic and reviewing previous research on menu labelling and calorie information at QSRs. This chapter aims to provide a better understanding of customer decision-making when ordering a food with regard to calorie information on the menu and the customer preference.

The purpose of this study is to discover what attributes of casino buffet restaurants are the most important for customers’ willingness to pay (WTP).

Choice-based conjoint analysis was used in this study to test seven attributes: food, price/value, real price, service, atmosphere, the number of reviews and user-generated star ratings. Sawtooth Software was used to do the conjoint analysis, and a series of significance t-tests were run to determine the significance of each attribute on WTP with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).

Based on a survey of 483 respondents who had visited a buffet at a casino within the last two years, this study found that food is ranked as the most significant attribute of a casino buffet restaurant, followed by real price and service quality.

Theoretically, this work is the first to the authors’ knowledge to apply the antecedents of behavioral intention to willingness-to-pay for niche restaurants. Practically, the results of this study will help casino buffet operators as they re-open after COVID-19. Future studies could collect data in the post-pandemic environment and examine WTP at casino buffets in different geographic locations.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate and discuss methodology issues in menu-labelling experiments in commercial full-service restaurants, and to investigate how the menu description and price affects customers’ choice of an organic veal entrée in a Norwegian restaurant.

A menu-labelling experiment was conducted in a fine-dining restaurant during ordinary opening hours over a period of two weeks. The menu description of an organic veal entrée was altered repeatedly and the effect of these changes on the sales of this entrée was investigated.

Adding words to the menu description, such as “organic”, or describing animal welfare had a very limited effect on customers’ choices in the restaurant.

The research illustrates the use of a natural field experiment in a commercial full-service restaurant and discusses strengths and weaknesses of the methodology.

Few experiments have been performed on the effect on credence attributes in commercial full-service restaurants and there is little knowledge about research challenges in menu-labelling experiments. This paper contributes to the knowledge on both issues by conducting a natural field experiment in a fine-dining restaurant.

This article looks at the outcome of a questionnaire designed to explore factors relevant to engendering consumer loyalty in restaurant choice. The sampling frame comprises people with relatively homogeneous characteristics who dine out with some frequency. The overall objective was to question certain assumptions that have become current in academic discussions of consumer behaviour with particular relevance to consumer loyalty. Findings suggest that the quality and range or type of food are key determinants in consumer loyalty, but that the concept of “quality of food” offers a range of interpretations and thus requires more careful investigation. Additionally, the concept of the “meal experience” as a holistic abstraction in the consumer’s mind is called into question as a consequence of the analysis. Tangible rather than intangible factors are identified as being of greater importance in consumer loyalty.