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This study aims to identify the impact of restaurant pandemic mitigation measures on perceived service quality.

A total of 15,251 reviews were collected from 300 TripAdvisor Lisbon restaurant Web pages between March 2020 and December 2021, when Covid-19 contingency measures were in place. Grounded on the online reviews, a word frequency matrix was created and used as input on partial least squares–structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results suggest that precaution measures, such as the Vaccination Certificate, negative tests and restaurant layout configuration, positively influenced perceived service quality and consumer satisfaction, moderated by consumers’ beliefs.

This study provides relevant information for restaurant managers, which will help them implement strategies to guarantee service quality, consumer satisfaction and revisit intentions in future pandemic scenarios.

Many research studies have found that service quality has a direct impact on a company's profitability. Given the increasing competition in the steak restaurant business in Taiwan, the restaurant industry has noticed the importance of service quality. This study empirically assessed customers’ perceptions and expectations of service to measure service quality of a chain steakhouse in Taiwan. By applying the three-column SERVQUAL model approach coupled with part of the Fishbein model, the study was able to (a) analyze the service gaps existing in the service delivery process to measure service quality and customer satisfaction and (b) conduct a multiattribute attitude measure to evaluate a customer's attitude toward the service measure attributes of the same brand name restaurants in different locations. As service quality has a direct impact on a company's profits, the research findings are important, particularly to the examined chain steakhouse. These findings offer implications to improve the service quality for restaurant operations and further support the company in gaining a competitive advantage in the increasingly viable steak restaurant business in Taiwan.

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。

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the five dimensions of service quality on customer satisfaction in the UK fast food market and to indicate which factors among the five dimensions have a main role in driving overall customer satisfaction.

Primary data in the form of 147 questionnaire responses were been collected from a variety of quick service fast food restaurants in the UK. Likert seven-point rating scales were used to structure the questionnaire. Data were collected from the customers at two KFC restaurants, two McDonald’s restaurants, and one Burger King Restaurant.

The results of the analysis indicate that tangibles, responsiveness and assurance play the most important role in driving customer satisfaction in the UK fast food industry, followed by reliability and empathy. Results of correlation and regression analysis show that physical attributes (tangible) of service quality are key to customer satisfaction. In a nutshell, the tangibles variable is the most important factor driving customer satisfaction in the context of the UK fast food market.

This research incorporates unique and original insights in relation to the British fast food restaurants market and the results constitute novel findings pertaining to the importance of physical facilities and attributes. This account of the relative importance of service quality dimensions in fast food restaurants in the UK adds value to the field. The findings of this research have contributed to a better understanding of the main factors that influence service quality and customer satisfaction and have implications from a managerial point of view in the highly competitive UK fast food and wider foodservice industry.

To help fast‐food restaurants enhance their competitiveness and then increase their market share, the purpose of this paper is to measure the service performances of fast‐food restaurant franchises in the USA and identify salient factors influencing the service performances of fast‐food restaurants over time.

This paper develops a set of benchmarks that helps fast‐food restaurants monitor their service‐delivery process, identify relative weaknesses, and take corrective actions for continuous service improvements using analytic hierarchy process and competitive gap analysis.

This study reveals that a service attribute considered most important to the fast‐food restaurant customers' impressions of service quality is taste of food. This preference has not been changed over time. Also, we found a pattern of the correlation between the overall level of customer satisfaction with the fast‐food restaurant and its word‐of‐mouth reputation. Furthermore, we discovered that the customers tended to be more favorable to easily accessible and national fast‐food restaurant franchises than less accessible, relatively new, and regional counterparts.

The current study is limited to the evaluation of comparative service quality in the USA. Thus, this study may not capture the national differences in the restaurant customers' perceived service quality.

For the last four decades, Americans' obsession with fast serving, cheap meals has made the fast‐food restaurant a mainstay in their daily life. As the appetite for fast food grows, every corner of the American Society has been infiltrated by fast‐food restaurants. With the increasing number of fast‐food restaurants competing in the market, their survival often rests on their ability to sustain high‐quality services and meet changing needs/preferences of customers. This paper provides practical guidelines for enhancing the competitiveness of the fast‐food restaurant franchise.

This paper is one of the first to compare the service quality of fast‐food franchises in the USA and develop dynamic service quality standards for fast‐food restaurant franchises using a longitudinal study.

This study aims to develop a comprehensive LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability) restaurant service quality scale by using a rigorous qualitative and quantitative research process to effectively measure the service quality of LOHAS restaurants. Moreover, this study aims to further identify the Kano quality characteristics and strategic meanings of service attributes in LOHAS restaurants.

This study designed the preliminary items of the service quality scale for LOHAS restaurants (LORSERV scale) based on relevant literatures and expert interview procedures. This study identified the goodness of fit of the questionnaire content, construct validity and validity of the LORSERV scale using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The moderated regression was conducted to identify the Kano quality characteristics and strategic meanings of each service attribute in LOHAS restaurants.

The results indicated that the LORSERV scale included seven dimensions (internal sense of happiness, transitiveness, environment, healthy catering, service commitment, green practicability and thoughtfulness), for a total of 33 items. According to the results of the Kano model, the seven service attributes were categorized into the attractive quality. A total of 25 service attributes were categorized into the one-dimensional quality, and one service attribute was categorized into the must-be quality.

The contribution of this study is that the scale could facilitate operators of LOHAS restaurants to effectively understand customer perceptions of service quality and serve as a reference to upgrade and improve service quality. The identification of Kano quality characteristics for each service attribute is conducive for LOHAS restaurants to understand the strategic meanings of each service attribute and can serve as a reference to make distinctive service strategies to reach sustainable operations.

Have you been to a smart restaurant, and how were its services? A common limitation of hospitality studies stems from the lack of research on how service quality is shaped within smart technology. This study aims to fill this literature void not merely to reiterate the importance of technology but also to recast service quality through the lens of information technology. It synthesizes the 5-S model of smart service quality (AKA SSQ) as a new conceptualization of service quality application in smart hospitality contexts such as smart restaurants.

This study undertook a qualitative research design based on theoretical synthesis from service quality, information technology and attention restoration. Drawing from online review comments and semistructured interviews from smart restaurants, the authors improvised the SSQ model to identify the essence of smart service in smart dining establishments.

“5-S” reflects an extension of the literature to denote a new SSQ abstraction pertinent to s-servicescape, s-assurance, s-responsiveness, s-reliability and s-empathy. A nomological network was posited to better understand the importance of smart design and consequence of SSQ.

The emergence of smart dining gives rise to smart restaurants, which puts technology at center stage. As consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with self-service technology, auto-payment and ordering systems and robotic services, technology in foodservice will continue to play an essential role to better serve diners. Geared with advanced innovations and intelligent devices, smart restaurants are now more than mere eateries. It is a trend and a lifestyle.

This novel SSQ concept adds new nuances to the literature by acknowledging the technological essence in today’s hospitality industry. By integrating smart technology into the service quality paradigm, the authors are able to observe several interesting behaviors exhibited during smart dining, including tech-induced restoration, which opens a new avenue to understand how attention restoration could be attained through immersion in a technologically advanced setting. By synthesizing theoretical essence from service quality, attention restoration and information technology, the authors are able to create a new dialog that should warrant a forum of discussion in future studies.

Consumers prefer to choose restaurants that value hygiene and safety; therefore, appropriate epidemic prevention measures could restore 30% of lost customers and enhance a restaurant’s reputation during infectious disease outbreaks. Providing customers with safe epidemic prevention service quality is an important mission of the restaurant industry during an epidemic. This study aims to construct an epidemic prevention service quality scale for restaurants (REP-SERV scale).

The REP-SERV scale was constructed through internet big data analytics and qualitative and quantitative research procedures.

A total of 16 key service factors for restaurant epidemic prevention were extracted through internet big data analytics. The REP-SERV scale contained 28 items in six dimensions, including hygiene, empathy, flexible service, support service, personnel management and body temperature and seating arrangement.

The REP-SERV scale can help many restaurant operators clearly determine the deficiencies and risks of restaurant epidemic prevention services.

The findings can provide references to effectively measure and improve the epidemic prevention service quality in restaurants, thereby providing customers with a comfortable and safe dining environment.

The purpose of this paper is to incorporate third-party certification to test a theoretical model that demonstrates the effects of third-party certification on perceived food quality, perceived service quality, and trust and the effects of these factors on word of mouth (WOM) intentions in the context of luxury restaurants. It also investigates the moderating roles of attention to social comparison information (ATSCI) and the education level.

An online survey sent to customers who are patronizing luxury restaurants in the US 317 empirical data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling.

Third-party certification facilitated patrons’ positive evaluation of food and service quality. In addition, this positive evaluation fostered trust in the restaurant. Finally, ATSCI and the education level had significant moderating effects on the relationship between third-party certification and patrons’ trust in the restaurant.

This study proposes risk-reducing effect of third-party certification on the luxury-restaurant business. Third-party certification is employed as a mechanism for communicating restaurant quality in food and service to patrons. Both stakeholders and patrons in the restaurant industry can obtain benefits from the third-party certification because it minimizes uncertainties and information asymmetries in luxury restaurants’ quality and service, and thus generating likelihood of WOM intentions.

The purpose of this study is to propose an integrated model that examines the impact of three elements of foodservice quality dimensions (physical environment, food, and service) on restaurant image, customer perceived value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions.

Data were collected from customers at an authentic upscale Chinese restaurant located in a Southeastern state in the USA via a self‐administered questionnaire. Anderson and Gerbing's two‐step approach was used to assess the measurement and structural models.

Structural equation modeling shows that the quality of the physical environment, food, and service were significant determinants of restaurant image. Also, the quality of the physical environment and food were significant predictors of customer perceived value. The restaurant image was also found to be a significant antecedent of customer perceived value. In addition, the results reinforced that customer perceived value is indeed a significant determinant of customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction is a significant predictor of behavioral intentions.

The proposed model and study findings will greatly help researchers and practitioners understand the complex relationships among foodservice quality (physical environment, food, and service), restaurant image, customer perceived value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in the restaurant industry.

This study is the first to develop an integrated model that explicitly accounts for the influence of three restaurant service quality factors on restaurant image and customer perceived value. Using structural equation modeling, this study empirically confirms that the model with the causality from quality, in particular three dimensions of foodservice quality in this study, to restaurant image is superior to the one with causality from image to quality in the context of restaurant.