Technological breakthroughs, combined with the demographic challenges of an aging population and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, spur new business opportunities in the service robot industry. From a management perspective, these technologies are positively evaluated in terms of increasing productivity, new business opportunities, and financial benefits (Belanche et al., 2020). However, although automation and robotics have already gained attention in the tourism and hospitality industry, research on their use in restaurants and the customer's attitude toward these new service solutions is still limited (Berezina et al., 2019; Ivanov et al., 2019; Kuo et al., 2017).

This study analyzes the user-generated reviews of Paris-based Michelin three-star restaurants in terms of how they are discursively constructed. Using the reviews posted in Tripadvisor in 2019 as data, it examines how positive reviews (PR) and negative reviews (NR) are framed with distinct discursive practices. While PR and NR a re both characteriz ed by the discursive practice of highlighting professed culinary expertise of the reviewer, this feature is more foregrounded in NR, where the reviewer is generally more oriented to showing themselves as being entitled to write a review. In terms of communicative styles, PR is also characterized by a heavy use of symbolic and metaphoric language, while more ordinary style of language is used in NR, embedded in the context of critiquing specific items of dish or service. While PR and NR both tend to make references to Michelin star status as a basis of their evaluation, they were shown to differ in terms of the tones or keys used in describing chefs, and also in the way the target of evaluation is formulated. The findings shed light on how and why the members of foodie community construct the language the way they do, and have implications for genre analysis.

In the fast food industry, a variety of brands compete for consumer preference and loyalty. However, the factors driving the loyalty, especially in an emerging market need examination. This study adapted Şahin, Zehir and Kitapçı’s (2012) repurchase model to examine the consumer-related (brand experience, preference and satisfaction) and brand-related (brand popularity) factors impacting two dimensions of loyalty (attitudinal and behavioural). Data from 717 emerging market consumers using quantitative methods and a non-probability judgmental sampling, revealed through structural equation modelling that brand preference, satisfaction and popularity influenced behavioural loyalty through attitudinal loyalty.

This study aimed to identify whether or not four service situations varying according to positive and negative combinations of physical evidence and functional service influence store image and purchase behavioral intentions of customers at bulgogi restaurants. The video-scenario technique was used for the study. Data were analyzed with the SPSS (Window 19.0) package using frequency analysis, one-way ANOVA, 2 by 2 factorial ANOVA, exploratory factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis to confirm the hypotheses. The combined effect of functional service and physical evidence influenced store image and purchase intention. In terms of seperate effect of physical evidence and functional service, the effect of employee service on store image was more powerful than that of physical evidence, even though the effect differed depending on the situation. Purchase intention was only influenced by functional service quality from employees under the four different scenarios. Thus, when opening a Korean restaurant, proper management of tangible evidence suitable to service, and the prices expected from local customers should be determined. Additionally, extremely high or low levels of physical evidence management should be avoided.

This study on the importance and satisfaction of selection attributes for customers using Michelin restaurants. The survey was conducted on 309 respondents who had visited and used restaurants by classifying the Michelin restaurants into starred restaurants and Bib Gourmand restaurants. The data was collected and the frequency analysis, t-test verification, and IPA analysis were performed using the SPSS 25.0 statistical program. The results of the study examined the difference between the importance and satisfaction of the choice of starred restaurants. Overall, the importance was higher than satisfaction. The importance of hygiene and cleanliness was recognized by many customers that the expectation for the overall Starred restaurants was very high. Bib Gourmand, showed that the importance was higher than satisfaction. In terms of importance and satisfaction, the taste of food is the most important and the satisfaction is high. Comparing the IPA analysis of the attributes of 1) hygiene and cleanliness, food quality, convenience, and facade of food, 2) service professionalism and variety of menus, 3) food price, atmosphere and amount, and 4) the attitude and kindness of the employees were shown. This study has great significance in providing practical basic data for the management of domestic Michelin restaurants.

본 연구는 원주시 내 대형 초밥 뷔페에서 제공되는 초밥, 회 등 26개 수산물 가공품을 대상으로 DNA 바코드를 분석하여 원재료의 종을 동정하였다. DNA 바코드 증폭을 위하여 미토콘드리아의 16S ribosomal RNA 및 cytochromec oxidase subunit I 유전자 부위를 증폭하는 프라이머 세트를 이용하여 증폭된 PCR 산물의 염기서열을 분석하였다. 확보한 염기서열은 BLAST Search를 이용하여 미국국 립보건원 GenBank에 등록되어있는 생물 종의 염기서열과 비교하여 염기서열 유사도와 매칭 점수를 고려하여 최종 종을 동정하였다. 모니터링 결과 분석 제품의 58%는 제품명과 사용된 원재료가 일치하였지만, 27%에서는 불일치가 관찰되었다. 초메기초밥에는 가이양(Pangasianodon hypophthalmus)이 꽃돔회에는 붉평치(Lampris guttatus)가 사용되었으며, 날치알군함 및 청어알무침에는 열빙어 (Mallotus villosus) 알이 사용되었음을 확인하였다. 타코와 사비군함 및 오징어간장소스에 사용된 원재료는 주꾸미 (Amphioctopus fangsiao) 및 남방주꾸미(Amphioctopus membranaceus)로 각각 동정되었다.

This study was conducted on the foundation of the previous research on determinants such as customer satisfaction and behavioral intention, along with the literature review and research on factors related to the service quality elements. We collected and analyzed the 185 materials by conducting the survey upon the customers who have previously visited the restaurants. As a result of the analysis, we identified that the elements of restaurant service quality have significant effects on the behavioral intention and satisfaction level of the customer through the customer satisfaction. In addition, by using KANO model, we investigated the qualities that attract the customers of the restaurant in order to establish the measures that will maximize the customer satisfaction. Also, to overcome the limitation of KANO model, we additionally analyzed the Better-Worse index. The results of the two quality evaluations were identical to each other, showing the need for improving the physical environment of the restaurant services. Accordingly, more interests and efforts to stimulate the behavioral intention of the restaurant are needed.

Recently, public complaints about unpleasant odor are increasing, particularly in urban areas. One of the odor sources is meat grilling restaurants in the vicinity of the residential areas. In this study, we characterized the odorous compounds generated from the stack of grilling restaurants, and evaluated the removal efficiency of the control facilities. As a result of the field investigation, the dilution index of the complex odor exceeded 500 times that of all test restaurants. The main substance was acetaldehyde. In addition, the correlation coefficient (R2) between the total odor and the sum of odor activity values (SOAV) was 0.73, a value high enough to indicate significant responsibility. The performance of the control facility has been shown to be strongly influenced by maintenance activities, such as cleaning and filter replacements.

The restaurant industry is more engaged in innovation now. Many entrepreneurs realized that the restaurant sector faces major challenging market environments: changing needs of customers, high competition, low barriers to entry, high labor costs, and innovation technology. The market orientation drives business learning about customers. Engaged customers can assist firms to improve performance by getting involved with the firm’s product innovation. Innovation could help restaurants to improve the products and service quality, cut costs, increase sales and profits; it is the basic condition for the survival of restaurant entrepreneurs. However, studies about how the innovation affects restaurant performance were still limited to describe the overview of products innovation process (Ivkov et al., 2016). Resource-based theory takes the internal resources and capabilities of a firm as valuable sources of competitive advantage. How to combine internal resources and quickly respond to market needs to create performance of innovation entrepreneurship that still unclear and worth exploring in depth discussion. Based on the above, This study personal interview with twelve restaurant entrepreneur, government experts and scholars reveal how absorptive capacity could strengthen the link between positional advantage and innovation for entrepreneurship restaurants with the influence of customer engagement. The positional advantages can make enterprise differentiate with their competitors, that including entrepreneurial orientation, human capital and market orientation (Jogaratnam,2017). The experts believe that innovation entrepreneurs need to adopt an open mind, seek new opportunities in the catering market, acquire or develop new technologies and launching new products / services in the market, using high returns and high risk strategies in search of success in market. Training and educating team members are effective way to improve their innovation entrepreneurship.

This study is to examine how different timing of free gifts (pre-informed vs. surprise) under different consumption occasions (ordinary vs. special) independently and/or together affect consumers’ affective (overall utility) and attitudinal (satisfaction) evaluations of dining service experiences. According to utility theory (Kahneman, Wakker & Sarin, 1997), an individual’s final choice is determined by his/her evaluation of utility which refers to the experience of feelings and emotions in response to a service. Anticipated utility occurs before a purchase or an actual event; experienced utility occurs during the event. In examining the customers’ dining experiences in conjunction with free gift timing and a consumption occasion, this study focuses on anticipated and experienced utility. Two hypotheses are proposed: H1. Consumption occasions moderate the effect of timing of free gift offer on overall utility and satisfaction with the service experience in a restaurant dining environment. Specifically, on a special (vs. ordinary) consumption occasion, surprise (vs. pre-informed) free gifts increase consumer’s overall utility about and satisfaction with restaurant service experience. H2. Overall utility mediates the interactive effects of free gifts and consumption occasions on satisfaction with restaurant service. Data were gathered using a web-based experiment with a 2(free gift: surprise vs. pre-informed) x 2 (consumption occasion: special vs. ordinary) between-subject design. As a result, both H1 and H2 are supported. Participants dining at a restaurant for a special occasion had higher overall utility about their restaurant service experience when they received free gifts as a surprise as opposed to pre-informed gifts. On the other hand, participants who dined on ordinary occasions perceived an overall utility of the restaurant service to a greater extent when they received pre-informed free gifts than surprising gifts. The results indicated that it is important to consider the strategic timing of complimentary gifts to enhance customer experiences. Moreover, this study found that overall utility mediates the effect of free gifts on satisfaction only under special consumption occasions. In special occasions, participants who receive free gifts elicit affective emotions and then, they are satisfied with the restaurant service, but participants under ordinary occasions are directly satisfied with the service through free gifts.

Customers rely primarily on peers’ restaurant reviews but also on pre-consumption ratings, provided by professional critics edited in legitimating institutions, such as dining guides. Few studies have analyzed the discourse of iconic guides describing the awarded restaurants. This study provides empirical data by examining the way culinary excellence is depicted in restaurants websites and the way dining guides report it in their own websites. The methodology of this research is a lexicometric analysis based on the exclusive club of three stars French Michelin restaurants. The results show that starred restaurants and guides websites do not approach culinary excellence the same way. The results firstly show that the restaurant websites do not emphasize on symbolic, aesthetic and hedonic values. Reversely, the Michelin guide does. Secondly they indicate that luxury products presence is exclusively anchored in the Gault Millau guide, far from the simple casual food that triggered their Nouvelle Cuisine approach. Thirdly, the chefs’ family anchoring is characteristic of the restaurants websites and their peers’ recognition of the restaurant websites and the Michelin guide. These results are discussed and recommendations for restaurant managers are formulated.

This study aims to analyse the overall sentiments of online reviews on restaurants in Malaysia using predictive text analytics. As we know in opinion mining, sentiment analysis is a prominent technique in predictive text mining. It is a technique that categorises opinions in unstructured text format into binary classification (ie. good or bad). The authors attempt to go beyond the binary classification by viewing texts as empirical entities derived using the Term Frequency - Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) weighting algorithm. These empirical entities, based on online reviews of restaurants in Malaysia, are then manifested into hypothetically defined constructs closely reflecting their thematic and semantic nature. The were 4914 customer reviews from restaurants across 20 towns and cities in Malaysia scraped off TripAdvisor.com using web crawler tools. Then a series of analytical tests were carried out. First the online reviews were parsed, filtered and clustered using SAS Text Miner. Then the online reviews underwent the TF-IDF process to identify significant terms and weightages were assigned according to their importance. The TF-IDF process resulted in a series of important nouns and adjectives from the text corpus. Using these weightages of nouns and adjectives, the authors went on to thematise these terms based on their semantic nature to manifest hypothetical constructs. These constructs were based on the Mehrabian–Russell Stimulus Response Model. Subsequently the authors tested the associations among the constructs using variance-based and covariance-based Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The authors were encouraged by this exploratory methodological approach in formulating predictive text analytics using SEM. Results indicated that sentiments were generally positive towards restaurants and the important terms derived were price, hospitality, location, waiting time, availability of parking and size of food portion.

Value co-creation has become an emerging venue of the customer engagement research. The purpose of the study is to investigate a model that represents the process (behavior and value) and consequence (satisfaction) of customer co-creation in the restaurant context. Specifically, with the theoretical support of service-dominant logic, the present study explores customer co-creation behavior as a key predictor of co-created value, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. The results of the study confirm that customer value cocreation is a subtle process by examining the relationship between customer co-creation behavior at the “co-production” stage and co-created value at the “co-creation of value” stage. The findings of the study contribute to the evolving knowledge of customer cocreation of value, and offer practitioners in the hospitality and tourism industry effective marketing strategies based on re-examining customer relationships and engagement, thereby maximizing customer value.

The Korean buffet restaurant, which was developed by combining the Korean food and a buffet, allows a large menu to be enjoyed at a reasonable price and has become popular with men and women, young and old, and become a new type of eating out. This study examined the effects of the waiting time management and menu quality on the customer satisfaction and re-visit intention in a Korean buffet restaurant to help quality improvement and development of Korean buffet restaurants. The customer satisfaction and re-visit intention only had a significant effect on the staff attitude toward waiting time. Hygiene, sensory factor, and variety of menu quality were significantly related to customer satisfaction and revisit intention, respectively. In addition, satisfaction with food and service had a significant effect on the re-visit intention and customer satisfaction. Therefore, it is important to establish a virtuous cycle structure that will improve the re-visit intention by satisfying customers through waiting time management and menu quality for the development of Korean buffet restaurants.

This study was conducted to survey the perception and preferences of customers that have dined at Korean restaurants in China and investigate the importance and performance level of quality attributes, customer satisfaction, revisit intention and recommendation intention. The survey was conducted January 31~March 1, 2016 in China. The 293 questionnaires (97.7%) were analyzed using SPSS(Ver. 23.0) and AMOS(Ver. 21.0). Results of this study are as follow: Customers that dined at a Korean restaurant in China were composed of 157 women and 136 men. Regarding the reason for preferring Korean cuisine, taste, hygiene and nutritional value of Korean food were the most significant quality factors. Regarding complaints about Korean food, Chinese people placed much emphasis on freshness of ingredients when dining out, based on the majority of complaints about ingredients that were not fresh. The main reason for leftover food were personal eating habits and that of customers revisiting food taste and nutrition. Path model among customer satisfaction, revisit intention and recommendation intention revealed the factor of menus and attributes of menu items regarding customer’s age that had an impact on customers’ satisfaction, and association with customers’ satisfaction, revisit intention and recommendation intention as well.

This study analyzed the comparative importance of the selection of a restaurant for solo diners, and suggests a solution for the ideal type of the restaurant that are appealing to solo diners using conjoint analysis techniques. A total of 280 questionnaires were distributed to consumers who had experience dining alone from June 7th, 2017 to June14th, 2017, and 261 were completed (93.21%). As a result, the importance of the attributes of the restaurant was found to be the menu for solo diners (36.92%), price (30.29%), seating for solo diners (20.87%), and serving time of food (11.91%). The ideal combination of selection attributes was found to be having a menu for a solo diner, having a seat for a solo diner, meal service time of less than 10 minutes, and a low price of 2,500won. These results will form a database that contributes to the development of differentiated products and is building marketing strategies that can satisfy the needs of solo diners.

The purpose of this study is to provide basic data for the development direction and strategy for medicines through analysis of differences in choice attributes according to customers awareness of medicines and experience. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted on dietary education among national network trainees and lecturers by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock in Daegu, Gyeongsan, and Ulsan, Seoul from December 5, 2016, respectively. First, factor analysis results showed that six factors were extracted with respect to the choice of the restaurant. Second, the difference in each factor according to the recognition and experience of medicinal herbs was the health related factor as sex, females, age 50~59 years, companion others, and publicity and advertising' factors were more important for publicity and advertisement when the gender was female, the customer's age was 40~49 years, the companion was other, and the time of use was during the weekend. Among the factors related to 'getting dressed', the more important gender was female, age 40~49 years, and the other partner, The factors related to 'time' were as follows: sex, age, age 20~29 years, no accompanying companions, no time of use, and time importance. The 'menu' factors were more important for men, gender, women, age 40~49 years, companion for guitar, and usage time for weekend dinner. The 'service' factors were more important in 'service' as sex, male age, age 20~29, companion family, usage time, and weekend dinner.

Obesity has become a major health concern among the public, and menu labeling was mandated in many countries several years ago as an intervention to reduce obesity. Although the pursuit of healthy foods is apparent, research indicates that majority of restaurant customers do not use nutritional information for menu selection. The present study investigated customer attitudes and behaviors regarding menu labeling; specifically, the relationships among customer motivation, attitudes, menu label use, and healthy menu selection. Data were collected from a survey of 509 restaurant customers in South Korea. The findings indicated a positive effect of motivation on attitudes, menu label use, and healthy menu selection, respectively. Attitudes also positively influenced menu label use and healthy menu selection. Regarding the relationships among the variables in the proposed model, the strongest relationship was found between menu label use and healthy menu selection. In addition, attitudes serve as a mediator in the relationships between motivation and menu label use, and between motivation and healthy menu selection. Menu labeling use also mediates between attitudes and healthy menu selection. These findings can help governments or industries improve customer use of menu labels and therefore help reduce public obesity. This study is valuable in that it investigates restaurant customer use of menu labels since the menu labeling initiatives were mandated several years ago. It is academically important in that it examines various customer attitudinal and behavioral variables together regarding menu labeling.