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This study aims, first, to understand consumers’ perception of chefs as human brands (i.e. study one). Second, tests were run to assess the validity of a new conceptual model of the relationships between the factors of chef image, luxury restaurant image, both images’ congruity and consumers’ hedonic and novelty experiences and happiness and well-being (i.e. study two).

The first qualitative study involved using Leximancer software to analyse the data drawn from 43 interviews with luxury restaurant clients. In the second quantitative study, 993 valid survey questionnaires were collected, and the proposed model was tested using structural equation modelling.

The results reveal that consumers perceive chefs as human brands and the associated narratives include both performance- and popularity-based characteristics. The findings support the conclusion that individuals give great importance to chefs’ image and the congruence between chefs and their restaurant’s image. In addition, luxury restaurant image only affects novelty experiences, and both hedonic and novelty experiences have a positive effect on customers’ happiness and well-being.

This research focused on Portuguese luxury restaurants. The consumers’ happiness and well-being needs to be replaced by other outcomes to confirm if the model produces consistent results.

The results should help luxury restaurant managers understand more fully which pull factors are valued by their clients and which aspects contribute the most to their pleasure and welfare.

This study adds to the extant literature by exploring consumers’ perceptions of chefs as human brands and the role these chefs’ image play in customers’ luxury restaurant experiences and perceived happiness and well-being.

The use of modern technologies in restaurants has become a trend. For food and beverage services, embracing new technologies helps solve the dilemmas of increasing labor costs and the high level of staff turnover in the industry. However, knowledge regarding how consumers perceive and evaluate technology-assisted dining experiences (TADEs) is limited. This study aims to conceptualize and operationalize TADEs while considering increasing technological applications in restaurants.

This study conducted in-depth interviews with 71 restaurant consumers in Nanjing and Wuhan, China. Following the interviews, this study carried out a survey and identified the factor structure of TADEs.

The in-depth interviews identified 26 attributes of TADEs. An analysis of the survey data identified four important aspects (with 21 items) of TADEs, namely, novelty and fashion, convenience, high efficiency and restrictions and possible risks.

Hospitality managers can implement the suggested measures for dining service design and technology management to improve the experiences of customers.

These findings have theoretical implications for the new phenomenon of technology-integrated dining, the application of technology and consumer management in the catering industry.

The purpose of this study is to develop a measurement scale to explain how international tourists, as consumers at destination restaurants, evaluate their dining experiences.

The measurement scale was developed using a three-stage process: initial item generation, scale development and scale evaluation. A total of 369 self-administered questionnaires validated the developed scale.

The results showed five dimensions of value of destination restaurant services: service quality value, authentic experience value, emotional experience value, social value and utility value. The scale, comprising 40 items, was reliable and valid for assessing the value of destination restaurant services.

This scale revealed new items that help explain the value of various destination restaurant services among international tourists. The developed scale could be used to extend the research model with antecedents of value and consequences of value for destination restaurant services.

Considering the popularity of food tourism among international tourists, the developed scale should be useful in assessing how tourists value destination restaurant services, thereby helping restaurant managers create effective marketing strategies.

This study contributes with a new, reliable and valid measurement scale that was specifically developed to address the unique value of destination restaurant services.

Building on a small body of work, the authors' study aims to investigate some important antecedents of online review characteristics in the Chinese restaurant industry.

Using a data set of restaurant reviews collected from a most popular review platform in China, the authors conduct a series of analyses to examine the influence of travel experience and travel distance on travelers' review characteristics in terms of review rating and media richness. The moderating effect of restaurant price on the influence is also investigated.

Travelers with a longer travel distance and more travel experience tend to provide higher and lower online ratings, respectively, which can be explained by the construal level theory (CLT) and the expectation-confirmation theory (ECT), respectively. Furthermore, these strong feelings can then induce travelers to post enriched reviews with more pictures, more words and more affective words to release consumption tension. Besides, restaurant price can moderate these relationships.

Distinguished from most studies which mainly focus on the consequences of online review characteristics or antecedents of review helpfulness, the authors pay attention to the effects of travelers' individual differences in terms of travel distance and travel experience on travelers' online reviewing behavior. In addition to review rating, the authors also focus on media richness in terms of visual and textual information. The authors' research findings can benefit restaurant consumers and managers for their online word-of-mouth utilization and management.

A high-end ethnic restaurant is a tourism experience that can increase the attractiveness and brand recognition of a tourism destination. The restaurant environment is a key element that affects consumer visits. The purpose of this paper is to adopt Schmitt’s experience module to analyse tourist preferences and experiences with respect to floral styles in ethnic fine dining restaurants. The results of this study are intended to serve as a reference for operators of fine dining establishments in designing flower arrangements.

This study adopts a quantitative research method. A sample was developed using tablet computers to simulate flower arrangements in restaurants. The research tools included a floral style preference scale and a tourist floral experience scale.

Based on the results, the test subjects preferred European floral design styles in restaurants. Restaurant environments with floral arrangements were best at relaxing the test subjects. A restaurant’s floral style was positively correlated with various aspects of the tourist experience. Gender, age, Chinese flower styles, Japanese flower styles, European flower styles and other variables enabled forecasting the degree of the tourist experience.

When a consumer exhibits higher preference for a restaurant’s floral style, the level of the tourist experience increases. This study investigates the aesthetic experience of restaurants and restaurant atmosphere as a marketing tool. Sensory stimulation within the restaurant atmosphere can be based on the five senses such that tourists may, through the design of the restaurant environment, have specific emotional reactions that improve their tourist experience and reinforce the restaurant’s brand image.

The main goal of this paper is to identify the attributes of consumer experience in Michelin-starred restaurants and to estimate their effects on restaurant ratings.

A sample of 70,233 online reviews of 224 Spanish Michelin-starred restaurants were analysed with the latent Dirichlet allocation algorithm. A sentiment analysis and a logistic regression analysis were also employed to estimate the effect of attributes on restaurant ratings.

Customer attention, food quality, decor and ambience and value for money are frequently used to define restaurant experience. However, it is shown in this study that the experience in a Michelin-starred restaurant goes beyond the evaluation of those four attributes. Furthermore, the effect of the factors that were identified on customer satisfaction differed depending on the restaurant ratings.

The findings are linked to the context of Spanish Michelin-starred restaurants. It is also assumed in this study that online reviews are based on truthful opinions.

Restaurant managers should primarily focus on customer attention and food quality to achieve customer satisfaction. In addition, those restaurants with an error-free service and a highly appreciated wine list among diners are more likely to achieve the culinary excellence that deserves a 5-star rating on TripAdvisor.

The attributes of the restaurant experience are frequently identified in literature reviews. Research based on text-mining analyses of customer reviews to discover a posteriori the factors that define a restaurant experience is scarce, and particularly difficult to find in the context of Michelin-starred restaurants.

This study aims to investigate the effects of memorable dining experiences (MDEs) in the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 530 valid survey responses were collected in the USA. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM) was used to estimate inner and outer models. A two-stage approach was applied to test the moderating effects of restaurant safety measures. Additional analyses were conducted to compare electronic word of mouth (eWOM) intention and actual eWOM behavior.

All five dimensions contributed to the overall memorability of a dining experience, with affect being the primary factor. Overall memorability was positively related to subjective well-being and actual eWOM behavior. Restaurant safety measures were positively related to the overall experience but did not moderate the relationship between any dimension and overall memorability.

Findings provide empirical support for the conceptualization of MDEs during a pandemic and underscore the importance of actual eWOM behavior in restaurant research.

Results offer guidance for restaurant managers in designing MDEs.

The restaurant industry is evolving from simply providing products and services to creating experiences. Yet the impacts of crafting MDEs are not well understood, especially during a pandemic. This study filled this gap by investigating MDEs and their effects on subjective well-being and eWOM behavior.

Many restaurants offer high-quality service to their customers, hoping to provide memorable experiences that influence their loyalty and electronic word of mouth (eWOM). However, consumers' memorable experiences do not always imply positive eWOM. This study aims to (1) verify the direct impacts of the perceived quality by consumers of casual dining restaurants on positive emotions, negative emotions and memorable experiences; (2) investigate the impacts of memorable experiences on the propensity to loyalty and eWOM; (3) test the moderating effect of consumer behavioural engagement on social networking sites (CBE-SNS) on the relationship between memorable experiences and eWOM.

This survey included 475 university students in Brazil. Participants answered an electronic form about their experiences in casual dining restaurants. Structural equation modelling tested the hypothetical model based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974).

The quality perceived by restaurant consumers (stimulus) positively impacts their memorable experiences and positive emotions and negatively affects their negative emotions (organism). Memorable experiences positively impact the propensity to loyalty (response). The CBE-SNS moderates the intensity of the relationship between memorable experiences (organism) and eWOM (response).

This study is the first that demonstrates the relationships between perceived quality, positive and negative emotions, memorable experiences, the propensity to loyalty and CBE-SNS and e-WOM in restaurants. Casual dining restaurants must offer their customers services with high perceived quality, positively impacting their emotions and their memorable experiences. Finally, restaurants must create strategies and actions to increase the CBE-SNS to encourage them to share their memorable experiences through eWOM.

This study aims to examine food tourists’ engagement in positive and negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) by considering the following questions: Do satisfied customers engage in advocacy, and do dissatisfied customers make the same effort to spread their negative experiences? Which restaurant experience attributes influence eWOM behavior? What demographic and psychographic characteristics contribute to advocacy?

Using data from an online survey of 456 consumers with restaurant experience in the tourism context, this study applied simultaneous Tobit estimation to examine the research hypotheses.

Engagement in negative eWOM because of poor experiences was stronger than engagement in positive eWOM because of positive experiences. Food taste was a critical attribute for both positive and negative eWOM. Authenticity was influential for positive eWOM only, and value was influential for negative eWOM only. Atmosphere, service and location were found to be insignificant, indicating that they are ‘indifferent’ factors for eWOM in the food tourism context. Female customers were more active in negative advocacy, while Generation Y customers were more active in positive advocacy. Food involvement was significantly related to both positive and negative eWOM.

The results of this study provide useful marketing and service insights for restaurant managers in the digitally connected world, enabling them to formulate services based on factors critical for restaurant eWOM in the tourism context.

To fill a gap in the current literature in the era of digital marketing, this study takes a comprehensive yet industry-specific perspective on eWOM engagement by examining demographic factors and the food involvement of consumers as well as restaurant experience attributes. By investigating both positive and negative eWOM, this study presents meaningful practical and theoretical implications.

Service fairness has been conceptualized as a major part of the foodservice industry due to the intangibility of foodservice, which is difficult to be evaluated by customers. Considering this challenge, this study investigates the impacts of perceived service fairness dimensions in encouraging brand citizenship behaviors (i.e. brand enthusiasm and brand endorsement) along with the mediating roles of brand trust and brand experience in the foodservice industry.

Based on an established framework of perceived service fairness, brand trust, brand experience and brand citizenship behavior, an exploratory conceptual model was formulated and empirically assessed. Survey data were collected from customers of casual dining franchise restaurants in Korea. Data analysis consisted of frequency analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis and structural equation modeling.

The empirical results indicated that brand trust was significantly influenced by price, procedural, outcome and interactional fairness, while brand experience was significantly affected by price, outcome and interactional fairness. Additionally, brand trust and brand experience had positive influences on brand enthusiasm and brand endorsement, respectively.

A foodservice enterprise’s violation of customers’ fundamental need for fairness leads to negative outcomes, such as customers voicing the undesirable situation and/or leaving the restaurant. Thus, this study provides a strategy for maintaining service fairness to better develop brand relationships with customers in the restaurant industry.

There is a paucity of research on the effect of perceived service fairness on brand development in the restaurant industry. The findings provide greater insights into the impacts of perceived service fairness, brand trust and brand experience on customers’ brand citizenship behaviors.