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Purpose This study aims to examine consumers’ preferences among four calorie-reducing approaches – resizing, reformulation, substitution and elimination – and to understand what motivates consumers to order low-calorie food using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a model. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model was developed based on the TPB with an additional construct of food choice motives. A total of 467 responses were collected. Descriptive statistics, multiple regression and ANOVA were used in the data analysis. Findings Consumers have a clear preference for substitution and elimination. The pattern that ingredients with higher calories were modified at a higher priority indicated that consumers might improve food decisions based on calorie information. Practical implications Restaurants should allow substitution or elimination of certain ingredients from menu items. Including more low-calorie sides will cost restaurants less than changing the main dish. A menu item on an entrée form is more amenable to modification for decreased calorie content as consumers have high taste expectations for popular traditional foods (e.g. burgers and pizza). Originality/value This is the first study to investigate consumers’ preferences among the four popular calorie-reducing approaches. A novel “Build Your Own Meal” approach was used in the questionnaire to allow the participants to choose from more than 150 ingredients, which compensated for personal preferences, thus mitigating possible limitations associated with studies of this kind, and was a good indicator of the participants’ actual ordering behavior.

Consumers sometimes travel to a destination for the main purpose of enjoying the food and services a restaurant can offer. These restaurants are termed destination Restaurants. This study explores what constitutes such an experience at destination restaurants and how such experience influences visitors’ sense of place development for the destination they travel to and their revisit intention for the place. Data was gathered using a self-administered questionnaire distributed to tourists dining in destination restaurants in Hwayang-Dong in Chungbuk province, South Korea. Based on a convenience sample of 244 participants, the results suggest that a destination restaurant experience compromises seven components including ‘Food quality’, ‘Locale image’, ‘Restaurant atmosphere’, ‘Price Fairness’, ‘Ingroup socialization’, ‘Ease of conversation’, and ‘Immersion’. The research showed that locale image, atmosphere, ease of conversation, and immersion significantly affect overall restaurant experience satisfaction. The findings also demonstrated that the destination restaurant experience positively affects tourist place attachment and destination revisit intention.

With consumers becoming increasingly health conscious, the demand for reduced calorie food has significantly increased over the years. However, the definition of low-calorie food remains unclear. T...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the dimensions of restaurant customers’ engagement or disengagement with healthy eating in terms of individual and environmental factors to develop a scale. The results identified the underlying constructs of customers’ individual motives for and perceived barriers to healthy eating, as well as environmental elements of restaurants that encourage or discourage healthy eating. Design/methodology/approach To develop an appropriate set of measures to assess factors influencing customers’ healthy eating behaviors at restaurants, the current study undertook the five steps of scale development suggested by Churchill (1979): specifying the domain of constructs, generating a pool of initial measurement items, assessing content adequacy, administering questionnaires (an online survey method) and purifying and finalizing the measurement (via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using 410 samples and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using 423 samples). Findings The results revealed ten individual factors (health, body image, weight control, feeling better, unappealing food, cost perception, lack of knowledge, state of mind (stress), lack of self-control and negative influences) and five environmental factors (healthy indications, social impact, availability of healthy menu, price policy and unhealthy indications) influencing customers’ healthy eating behaviors at restaurants. Originality/value This study developed an appropriate set of measures to assess individual and environmental factors influencing restaurant customers’ healthy eating behaviors, along with identifying underlying sub-constructs. The reliability and validity of the scale and the factor structure are presented and potential applications and theoretical contributions of the scale are provided as well.

Food safety events threaten not only consumers’ health, but also the value of associated firms. While previous studies examined the impact of food safety events on consumer demand for products, little attention has been paid to the impact on the market value of firms. Using the event study method (ESM), this study investigated abnormal returns (ARs) and cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) of firms associated with 40 food safety events over the past 25 years in the U.S. The results of this study demonstrated the magnitude and duration of the impact of food safety events on firm value. Moreover, firm-specific factors (past history and firm size) and situational factor (media attention) were found to influence the magnitude of the impact. This study contributes to the hospitality literature by extending the knowledge of the impact of food safety events and its practical implications for effective crisis management strategies for food-related firms.

Despite the enormous impact of food crises on restaurants, limited understanding of their long-term impacts and associated factors has undermined crisis managers’ ability to handle crisis situations effectively. This article investigated the long-term impact of food crises on the financial performance of restaurant firms and identified the factors that influenced this impact. This explanatory study examined the case of Jack in the Box, whose 1993 Escherichia coli scare was the first and largest restaurant-associated food crisis in modern times. An event study method was used to uncover stock price movements of Jack in the Box, in conjunction with 73 unrelated food crises that occurred from 1994 to 2010. Stock prices of Jack in the Box exhibited significantly negative responses to other firms’ food crises, moreover, the negative spillover effect was stronger if the crisis occurred closer in time, was similar in nature, and was accompanied with no recall execution. These findings shed light on the long-term financial impact of food crises and offer insights for crisis managers to develop more effective crisis management strategies.

The restaurant industry’s increased portion sizes have led to accusations that they contribute to food overconsumption. Reducing excessive food portions in restaurants, however, may be considered risky by foodservice operators concerned about consumers’ perceived value of the food. Two quasi-experiments were conducted examining how changes in portion and plate size would affect restaurant consumers’ perceived reasonable price of food and their willingness to pay. A two-by-two, between-subject factorial design was used in study 1 (n = 101) with plate size (small & medium) and portion size (regular & reduced) as independent variables. Study 2 used a between subject design with three experimental conditions: large portion, medium portion, and small portion (n = 71). Results showed that the impact of a reduced portion size on consumer’s perceived value of the food depended on the consumers’ perceived quality of the food and their purchase intention.

Food packages have emerged as an important Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication tool. This study examined the effect of on-package CSR claims on consumers' health benefits perceptions, taste perception, attitude and behavioral intentions toward the food company. A 4 (CSR claims: none, food manufacturing, employee welfare, and eco-friendly packaging) by 2 (type of food: essential vs. indulgent) factorial experimental study was conducted to test the hypotheses. The findings demonstrate that consumer-oriented CSR claim (food manufacturing) is most strongly associated with consumers' health benefits perception, whereas employee-oriented CSR claim (employee welfare) is most strongly linked to taste perception and attitude toward the company. All CSR claims were found to positively influence consumers' intentions to purchase and willingness to pay premium. Additional content analysis of the textual data indicated that the employee welfare CSR was most positively perceived. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Historical cookbooks as a source of recipes and food preparation information would be expected to document advancements in food safety related to kitchen equipment, cleaning, foodborne illness knowledge, and consumer education materials. In turn, this food safety information might be expected to contribute to consumers' food safety behaviors. Using both quantitative and qualitative research methodology, this study assessed how food safety information in cookbooks changed and how quickly advancements were incorporated. Faster assimilation into cookbooks was associated with kitchen equipment, educational resources (hotlines and websites), and foodborne illness outbreaks. The rate of incorporation of education materials was moderate. Cleaning advances were the slowest to be incorporated. Modern cookbooks published after the 1980's rapidly evolved with advances in food safety knowledge.

Media communication has become a crucial part of crisis communications due to the rapid dissemination of information along with its immense impact on consumers and other stakeholders. Based on a st...

This study examines the content of professional, semi-professional, and user-generated reviews. By comparing these three review types, this study was able to identify characteristics and factors unique to each type of review. Although, the amount of discourse in a particular factor varied, food is clearly the most important review factor regardless of review type. Semi-professional reviews emphasize atmosphere and decor more than both newspaper and user-generated reviews, while price factors were more prevalent in semi-professional reviews and user-generated reviews than in newspaper reviews. Understanding the varied structures of review types provides guidance for both restaurateurs and review users.

This study investigated restaurants’ response to the aging population’s preferences. Gaps between previously identified preferences and current restaurant design were examined. The observational survey assessed: parking and outside accessibility, comfort and inside accessibility, menu readability, and restrooms. Occasional gaps were found even though restaurants were generally well-designed. Casual dining restaurants were more likely to meet consumer preferences as to the exterior, seating, and service. Limited-service restaurants better met preferences for the bathrooms, lighting, and sound. This information may be helpful when building or remodeling restaurants and may help restaurants to attract older customers.

A survey (n = 151) explored consumers’ experiences with wine-on-tap, a current trend in the U.S. foodservice industry. Wine consumers’ innovativeness (R2 = .49) was explained by wine involvement, opinion leadership, and usage of information sources. Those who recently tried wine-on-tap (n = 43) were significantly more innovative (innovators) than those who never tried it (noninnovators). Furthermore, noninnovators expected to pay significantly less for a glass of wine-on-tap when compared with wine poured from a bottle. Contrary to expectations, the driving force for noninnovative behavior is lack of availability and awareness as opposed to a lack of interest in wine-on-tap.

An online survey explored foodservice operators’ (N = 57) perceptions of wine-on-tap, a recent trend in the United States. Adopters (39.1%) considered themselves more innovative, willing to take risks, and influential on others’ opinions than nonadopters (60.9%). Foodservice operators who currently offer wine-on-tap utilized interpersonal information sources (e.g., distributors) more frequently than nonadopters. Additionally, adopters perceived wine-on-tap’s characteristics more positively than nonadopters, indicating wine-on-tap was significantly easier to use than bottled wine. Among other implications, networking stood out as an important driver of innovative behavior in the foodservice industry.

Consumer-generated feedback is hard to ignore these days. Word-of-mouth has expanded beyond a customer’s immediate friends and family; with the help of technology it reaches thousands of current and prospective guests. In light of this, scholars and practitioners are exploring the subject of consumer-generated feedback. Today, most of the research regarding this subject focuses on the use of consumer-generated feedback to make purchase decisions. In contrast, the present study explores the use of such information for the purposes of improving hotel operations. This article examines the amount of value placed on consumer-generated feedback, the relative importance placed on positive and negative feedback, and its effects on perceived quality. Furthermore, this study inquires as to the specific uses given to consumer-generated feedback in the hotel industry. It is the researchers’ contention that valuing feedback has positive effects on perceived quality. The findings conclude that hotels can use consumer-g...

The increasing popularity of social media has prompted the need to examine the effects of social media comments on consumers’ responses to food safety information. By adopting and extending a dual-process model, this study assessed the effect of source credibility, the content of comments, and relationship quality on consumer responses to social media comments using a scenario-based survey. The results showed a significant interaction effect between source credibility and content of comments; while negative comments induced negative responses regardless of source credibility, positive, or mixed comments led to less negative responses when the source was highly credible than when the source was less credible. The insignificant effect of relationship quality signified a stronger influence of the information itself compared to the influence of the relationship quality with the person delivering information.

In response to increasing U.S. obesity rates, legislators have begun mandating that chain restaurants make nutrition information available. While other studies have addressed various aspects of nutrition information labeling in restaurants, there has been little research into the efficacy of the various forms of delivery of restaurant nutrition information. The results of this study indicate that menu nutrition formatting has little impact on customer behavior. This study also found that when nutrition information was influential in the decision making process, consumers chose food items averaging 30% less calories. Consumers who did not change their food selection based on nutrition information still indicated they found the information valuable and appreciated its availability.

Due to the danger of food-borne illnesses associated with temporary foodservice establishments coupled with the increasing popularity of farmers’ markets, there is a growing need for an authentic examination of employees’ food safety practices. This study adopted a technology-based observational tool to assess whether farmers’ market foodservice employees performed proper hand-washing behaviors. Using smartphones, a total of 73 farmers’ market employees were observed, with their hand-washing behaviors compared to the Indiana State Health Code and County Health Inspector’s requirements. Results indicated that the frequency of hand washing varies depending on employee’s role, market location, and market size.

Over the past few years, researchers have studied the topic of online consumer feedback. Most of these studies focus on consumer decision making, and managing a hotel's image. Consequently, more research could explore consumer-generated feedback from the viewpoint of hotel operations and service quality improvement. The present research explored the ways in which hotel General Managers use feedback from consumers (namely online), experts, and internal sources to improve service quality. A combination of a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews were utilized. The study targeted General Managers of upscale hotels. Quantitative data was analyzed using multiple and simple regression analysis, correlations, and ANOVA. Results demonstrate that General Managers pay unequal amounts of time and effort to evaluating the various types of feedback. Furthermore, there were also significant differences in the perceived reliability of each source. The present research discovered a strong link between customer satisfaction survey scores and online reviews, as reported by General Managers. The reviews of consumers and experts also displayed significant relationships.

This article presents a thematic analysis of Yelp.com users’ motivations to read and articulate user-generated reviews. This study’s purpose was to identify factors of usage, trust, influence, and contribution of restaurant reviews on Yelp.com. This study found that information search reduction and community membership were the greatest factors encouraging Yelp.com use. Respondents reported trusting Yelp.com due to the community aspects of the website and felt they were able to sort out biased reviews easily. Lastly, the primary reasons for contributing reviews to Yelp.com were altruistic in nature, for example, helping other users make good purchase decisions and rewarding good businesses.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to examine why and when restaurant consumers use and contribute user-generated reviews. This research is needed to determine the relevance of user-generated restaurant reviews in the current marketplace. Design/methodology/approach – The research methodology is based on a quantitative approach, and focused on current Yelp.com users as its population. Questions focused on the amount of usage, motives for usage, level of trust, users’ tendencies to seek novelty in restaurants and motives for contribution. Findings – Users tend to trust the reviews on Yelp.com and engage in the community aspects of the platform. Yelp.com users also are altruistic in their motivation for contributing reviews to Yelp.com. Yelp.com users who access it tend to act on the information found within the reviews. Originality/value – Research articles have focused on user-generated reviews in the past; however, few have examined motivations of using and posting restaurant reviews. The value of conducting research comes from being able to understand the importance of user-generated restaurant reviews for customers in a comprehensive manner.

Research suggests numerous benefits associated with studying abroad. Given the increasingly global nature of the world, it would seem that there is a significant need for international exposure; however, only 1.4% of U.S. students have studied abroad. This study examined program evaluations from 11 short-term undergraduate study abroad programs encompassing a span of 9 years. A total of 185 participants completed the survey using evaluations designed for program improvement, which were collected at the conclusion of each experience. Data were examined using a mixed-methods approach with the goal of identifying programmatic characteristics that contributed to increased student satisfaction. Results indicated that students' preferences were prioritized in terms of logistics, culture, and pleasure. In addition, the engagement and source of experience significantly influenced students' satisfaction with their study abroad experience, implying that students prefer programs with active components and local guides. Findings were examined in light of Mezirow's Transformative Learning Theory.

Purpose – The present study aimed to understand the relationships between the various kinds of feedback received by hospitality operators. Information from guests, experts, and internal sources are often received, valued, and processed in various ways. The researchers sought to further explore the usage of such feedback and implications for theory and practice.Design/methodology/approach – A survey was sent to hotel general managers of four‐ and five‐diamond properties around the USA using the listing of the American Automobile Association (AAA). A total of 140 responses were received. The researchers utilized correlations and canonical correlation analysis to help understand the relationships among the variables.Findings – The results of the study revealed moderate to strong correlations between improvement in consumer‐generated feedback and customer satisfaction; between improvement in AAA ratings and customer satisfaction and mystery shopping scores. There were also moderate to high correlations among ...

Restaurant foods have been shown to be high in sodium and limited sodium content information provided through menu nutrition information (MNI) is available at the point of purchase. Dining out and use of MNI are behaviors that can be altered by consumers who are trying to decrease their sodium intake.The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between reported consumer actions to decrease sodium intake and dining out frequency and awareness and use/or intended use of MNI.A secondary analysis was conducted using responses from 5,588 US adults aged 20 years or older who participated in the 2013-2014 cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey household interview.The main outcomes were dining out frequency and seeing MNI, using MNI if seen, or would use MNI if provided.Linear and logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship of consumers reporting and not reporting action to decrease sodium intake and the outcome measures.Reported consumer action to decrease sodium intake compared to no action was associated with an overall decreased dining out frequency of approximately one meal per week (mean±standard error=3.12±0.10 compared to 4.11±0.14; P0.01). When separated by type of restaurant, the relationship was significant for fast-food or pizza establishments (mean±standard error=1.35±0.05 meals compared to 2.00±0.07 meals; P0.001), but not other types of foodservice operations. The odds of seeing MNI, using MNI when seen, or would use MNI if provided were higher for consumers reporting actions to decrease their sodium intake compared to those who were not for both fast-food or pizza establishments and restaurants with wait staff (odds ratio ranged from 1.17 [95% CI 1.04 to 1.32] to 2.24 [95% CI 1.82 to 2.76]; P values ranged from0.05 to0.001).Compared to consumers reporting no actions to decrease sodium intake, consumers reporting actions indicate they dine out less frequently, specifically at fast-food or pizza restaurants and report they are more likely to use MNI. These results may inform the restaurant industry of the actions of a potentially growing consumer group and provide insights for future public health initiatives targeting population sodium reduction.

Research suggests that emotions and emotional intelligence are related to student motivation. Additionally, instructional design is known to influence student attitudes and subsequent content engagement; therefore, this study examined the relationship between students' attitudes towards E-learning and their emotional intelligence. The emotional intelligence of 33 postsecondary hospitality students was assessed using Bar-On's EQ-i:S. Students were then directed to a computer-based lesson. Upon completion, student attitudes towards the computer-based delivery were assessed using Keller's Instructional Material Motivation Survey. Pre-and post-tests were performed to assess knowledge gain. In general, as students' ESI increased, their attitude towards the computer-based instruction also increased. Students with average-high ESI expressed significantly more positive attitudes towards the instruction than those with low-average ESI.

This study examined the effectiveness of two educational delivery techniques via menu training. The techniques were lecturing and computer-based, Internet delivered, self-directed learning. The sample consisted of undergraduate students from a major mid-western university (n = 77). Participants were randomly divided, given a pre-test followed by the designated treatment and a post-test. Data were analyzed using paired t-tests, and ANOVA. The survey instrument was checked for reliability using Cronbach's Alpha. Results indicate that there were no significant differences between the post-test scores. This suggests that in this narrow application, either method would be effective in attaining the desired level of proficiency.

There are many different instructional methods, for example face-to-face, self-directed, small-group, and mastery learning, each having different advantages, disadvantages, and applications. Concurrently, the use of computer-based technology for the delivery of educational content is growing rapidly. Computer-based technology permeates American society and education through instructional design, content, and delivery. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, computer ownership in the United States increased from 8% in 1984 to 61.8% of homes in 2003, with 54.7% of those homes also having access to the Internet. Additionally, more than 75% of households with school-aged children had computers, while 67% also had Internet access. At school, 92.3% of secondary students and 85% of adult students used computers in their studies. Further, 66% of adult students reported Internet access through their school (Day, Janus, & Davis, 2005). Given this level of saturation and the fact that comparing the effectiveness of traditional face-to-face delivery methods with computer-based methods has been well studied, some researchers have suggested that research should move from comparing techniques to evaluating the benefits and effectiveness of educational technology on its own merits (Feinstein, Raab, & Stefanelli, 2005).