Brand knowledge and non-financial brand performance in the green restaurants: Mediating effect of brand attitude

The restaurant business has been increasingly recognized for its ability to help mitigate many negative environmental impacts. To develop a competitive advantage, green restaurants may adopt an innovative branding strategy. Marketing management recognizes that understanding brand attitude is critical for marketing strategies. Studies have examined the relationship between brand knowledge and non-financial brand performance. However, it remains unclear how the green restaurant brand attitude affects this relationship.This study aims to fill this research gap by identifying the composition and structure of the brand attitude in Taiwan’s green restaurants and examining the mediating effects of brand attitude on the relationship between brand knowledge and brand performance. The findings of this study broaden and deepen the current knowledge of the role of brand attitude in Taiwan’s green restaurant industry. In practice, it is suggested that green restaurant management should develop well-known brand knowledge to form brand attitudes and foster brand performance.     

The effects of restaurant green demarketing on green skepticism and dining intentions: Investigating the roles of benefit associations and green reputation

Food overconsumption is increasingly a concern even as consumers are growing skeptical of companies’ green marketing techniques. Accordingly, green demarketing strategies, which aim to lower consumer demand, have become more prevalent in recent years. Using an online experiment, the current research investigates how green demarketing strategies (vs. green marketing strategy) affect consumers’ level of skepticism toward restaurants’ green practices and influence their dining intentions toward restaurants. Moreover, this study examines how different benefits (health vs. environment) associated with green practices and restaurants’ green reputations (high vs. low) influence the effect of green demarketing (vs. marketing) strategies. The results reveal that although green demarketing may not independently outperform green marketing, when green demarketing was practiced by restaurants with low green reputations to promote environment-associated benefits, consumers exhibited a similar or even lower levels of skepticism and higher dining intentions. This study also provides implications for effective marketing communication in the context of green demarketing.     

Investigating beliefs,attitudes, and intentions regarding green restaurant patronage: An application of the extended theory of planned behavior with moderating effects of gender and age

This study aims to identify customer belief structures underlying the cognitive process of green restaurant patronage by applying the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB). The extended TPB model includes two additional predictors (past behavior and dining frequency) and two moderators (gender and age) to predict customers’ intention to visit green restaurants. This study followed recommended two-phase survey procedures. Salient beliefs of the target population were elicited in the first phase, and the relationships between those beliefs and other TPB constructs were analyzed in the second phase. Perceived behavioral control emerged as the most significant determinant followed by attitude and subjective norm in the Korean green restaurant context. The findings support the inclusion of past behavior as an additional predictor and confirm the moderating effects of gender and age. This study provides useful implications for effective marketing strategies for green restaurants.     

Food safety in restaurants: The consumer perspective

The study aimed to reveal the indicators that consumers in Mainland China employ to evaluate food safety level of restaurants and find how the use of them varies across consumer subgroups. A national survey was carried out and 1076 respondents completed questionnaires which consisted of 33 questions. The results showed that the consumers preferred to assess a restaurant’s food safety level based on “sensory perception of food” and “restaurant environment”. Although official inspection certificate is one of the reliable indicators, the consumers seldom use it. Furthermore, consumers from different subgroups used different indicators. The females were much more finicky – they employed more indicators to protect them from unsafe restaurants. These results demonstrated a need for better education to create discerning consumers to expel those that fail to deliver safe food. Restaurants can rely on the results to develop effective marketing communication to match the consumers’ decision attributes.     

Establishing attributes of an environmental management system for green hotel evaluation

This study establishes attributes of an environmental management system (EMS) for the hotel industry in Taiwan to create an instrument to help address green hotel auditing. Hotel EMS indicators were initially selected from ISO14000 and nine representative foreign green hotel assessment systems. The Delphi method conducted on twenty five experts with government officials, scholars and hotel managers for item modification to identify the preliminary EMS evaluation framework. An indicator selection process was employed to determine the dimensional indicators of the system. The data analysis reveals that a total of 64 indicators into ten dimensions were identified and prioritized in terms of their relative importance and feasibility. Moreover, 38 indicators are suitable for use and 18 of them should be implemented firstly in Taiwan hotel industry. The results also reveal the comparison with Taiwan government's environmental standards. Finally the EMS approach of this study provides managerial implications for government, hoteliers and consumers to improve their environmental management.     

Restaurant Authenticity: Factors That Influence Perception,Satisfaction and Return Intentions at Regional American-Style Restaurants

This study assessed perceptions of authenticity and its relationship with satisfaction and return intentions for regional American-style restaurants using randomly selected customers at a Southern-style country-cooking restaurant. Results showed that personal and restaurant attributes influenced perceived restaurant authenticity, with a restaurant’s food and beverage and local community marketing having the strongest influences. Results also showed that perceived authenticity influences restaurant satisfaction and return intentions. Findings suggest restaurants should ensure their food and beverage meets customers’ authenticity standards and that they should promote their community connections in order to enhance diner loyalty and return patronage. Implications are discussed in detail.     

Modeling predictors of restaurant employees’ green behavior: Comparison of six attitude-behavior models

In this study, a new model of how commitment affects green behaviors was developed, tested, and compared with 5 models of the theory of planned behaviors (TPB) to verify the key influential factors of restaurant employees’ green behaviors. Final questionnaires were distributed to 551 restaurant employees through cluster sampling, and 425 valid samples were received. AMOS 18.0 was used to conduct a 2-stage structural equation modeling analysis to achieve the research purposes. According to data analysis, the commitment model was the strongest model beyond TPB and extended TPB to explain restaurant employees’ green behaviors for the development of food environment sustainability.     

Revenue management strategies under the lunar–solar calendar: Evidence of Chinese restaurant operations

This paper discusses the lunar–solar calendar-driven festivals that affect Chinese restaurant operations. In-depth interviews and a survey were carried out with 50 catering professionals to provide information that was subsequently used to estimate the change of restaurant turnover due to the identified festivals. Four core common lunar–solar calendar-driven festivals that create more demand for dining out across China were identified. They generated extra revenue, which was nearly 10% of total annual business for restaurants. The study also ascertained 21 measures related to revenue management strategies to cope with these demand variations. In addition, a new restaurant revenue management strategy framework was developed. Recommendations based on this study were suggested to multi-functional restaurants and hotel systems.     

Restaurant food waste and the determinants of its effective management in Bulgaria: An exploratory case study of restaurants in Plovdiv

Restaurant food waste represents a significant societal challenge in transitional economies where frequency of dining out is rising. The problem of restaurant food waste in this context is however under-researched which hampers understanding of its causes and effects. This paper contributes to knowledge with a case study of food waste management in restaurants of Plovdiv in Bulgaria, a transitional economy in South-Eastern Europe. Through the lens of qualitative research, it establishes the causes of restaurant food waste and explores managerial approaches to mitigation. The study highlights the crucial role of targeted governmental support in more effective management of restaurant food waste. The government should train restaurateurs on how to quantify and characterise major food waste streams. It should further provide reliable services of municipal waste collection to facilitate on-site food separation and recycling. Lastly, public awareness campaigns should be developed to better engage customers in restaurant food waste minimisation.     

Dimensionality of ethnic food fine dining experience: An application of semantic network analysis

This study attempts to find the underlying dimensionality in online reviews of fine-dining ethnic food restaurant experiences in Hong Kong. This research adopted semantic network analysis with Clauset–Newman–Moore clustering. Consequently, diverse and specific dimensionality was explored in this research, including ambiance, service, food, drinks, desserts, view, location, occasions, reputation and price. The content of the reviews on five types of ethnic restaurants was different in some dimensions. Marketers of fine-dining ethnic restaurants can select a particular focus when they promote their restaurants, develop menu plan and train staff members. This study implies that the quality dimensions of traditional restaurants may not accurately represent the factual dimensions, thereby resulting in implications for developing a new index of restaurant quality.     

Millennials’ willingness to pay for green restaurants

The hospitality industry is currently witnessing an increase in the number of restaurant companies with sustainable business models. This research explores the determinant factors of millennials’ willingness to pay (WTP) by looking at the qualitative decision of whether to pay more and the quantitative decision of how much extra to pay. While literature has investigated the factors that lead people to choose green restaurants, no analysis that simultaneously considers the qualitative and quantitative decisions has been conducted for the millennial generation. This study fills this gap by estimating the Heckit model, which (1) allows us to simultaneously model both decisions and detect their determinants—“green consumerism,” “health consciousness,” “income,” and two psychographics (“green restaurant preference” and “predisposition to make an effort in terms of time and distance”)—and (2) permits the control of sample selections bias, which turns out to be a critical issue in this research.     

Impact of Restaurant Experience on Brand Image and Customer Loyalty: Moderating Role of Dining Motivation

This study seeks to determine which restaurant experiences influence the image of a restaurant's brand and formation of customers' loyalty. The research examines the connections among restaurant experiences, brand image, satisfaction, and loyalty in the context of full-service restaurants. This study also investigates the moderating effect of customers' dining motivations on the formation of brand image. The results of this study suggest that: (a) A restaurant's environment and food quality positively influences brand image and customers' satisfaction, (b) customers' perceptions of price fairness do not influence brand image but does affect customers' satisfaction, (c) development of customers' positive brand image does not drive satisfaction but does influence loyalty in full-service restaurants, and (d) customers' dining motivations moderate the relationship between restaurant experiences and perceptions of brand image. These results provide a basis for investigating which restaurant experiences are critical in eliciting development of a positive brand image and which have behavioral consequences. This study also offers mangers a perspective for developing marketing strategies to strengthen brand image in full-service restaurants.     

Understanding the human side of green hospitality management

Green training is considered as crucial factor in green human resource management, stimulating environmental performance in an organisation. However, the effects of environmental training on the performance of organisations in the hospitality industry have so far been under-studied. At the same time, hospitality industry in India has attracted significant attention, and therefore deserves to be studied further. This study explores the mediating effects of green competencies and proactive environmental management maturity as well as the moderating effect of environmental commitment. In order to conduct empirical analysis, a survey instrument is developed for data collection. The results indicate the following relationships: (a) a positive and significant relationship between green training and environmental performance; (b) a mediating effect of green competencies; (c) a mediating effect of proactive environmental management maturity; and (d) a moderating effect of environmental commitment. This work provides insights towards the ‘human side’ of transitioning towards sustainable hospitality management.     

Beyond the authentic taste: The tourist experience at a food museum restaurant

This study investigates the factors influencing food experiences perceived by food tourists in the context of a food museum and its associated restaurant. A qualitative exploratory approach was employed, using Chinese tourists visiting Hangzhou Cuisine Museum in Zhejiang province. This research finds that food tourists look for knowledge accumulation and gastronomic experiences when visiting a food museum and restaurant complex, and each experience is formed by both tourist and setting factors. The findings highlight the significant and more complex engagement of setting factors in the museum restaurants. The institutionalised characteristics of museums are equally expected within the in-house restaurants, and social trust in the museum along with external factors that verify authentic representation of the museum contributed to the perceived authenticity of the food tourist's dining experience. This paper discusses broad implications for food experience design at food museums and restaurants as emerging tourism attractions.     

American theme restaurants: A study of consumer's perceptions of the important attributes in restaurant selection

In recent years, a number of American theme restaurants have established in Hong Kong. Keen competition exists for this type of restaurants. Customers who visit this type of restaurant seem not only to enjoy their food but also to enjoy their environment. However, little is known about what customers expect and how they select this type of restaurant. In order to have an understanding of customers’ behaviour in relation to the customers’ perceptions of important restaurant attributes in selecting an American theme restaurant in Hong Kong, a study was conducted. The results indicated that ‘Food quality’, ‘Servers’ attitude’, ‘Value for money’, ‘Atmosphere’ and ‘Word‐of‐mouth’ were the five important restaurant dimensions as considered by consumers in selecting an American theme restaurant. Customers for this type of restaurant are likely to be professionals, highly educated and belong to the middle‐income group in the society. Customers usually go to the American theme restaurants for meetings, fun and enjoyment. Marketing implications and directions for future studies are discussed.     

Restaurants and COVID-19: What are consumers’ risk perceptions about restaurant food and its packaging during the pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent U.S. in-restaurant dining restrictions deleteriously affected the restaurant industry. While dining restrictions were adopted to prevent human contact, evidence suggests that consumers may mistakenly perceive that restaurant "food" and its "packaging" are risky sources of COVID-19. To explore consumers' COVID-19 risk perceptions about food itself, restaurant food specifically, and restaurant food packaging, this study collected nationwide U.S. consumer survey data (n = 958) using an online consumer panel. Findings showed that: (1) consumers were less concerned about contracting COVID-19 from food in general than restaurant food and its packaging, with consumer restaurant concern highest for food served in restaurants, and lowest for hot/cooked restaurant food followed by restaurant food from carry-out; and (2) the risk perceptions of consumers varied with financial concern for food, gender, and being in a high-risk category of COVID-19. Implications for researchers, restauranteurs, government, and food safety professionals are discussed.     

Do green HR practices enhance green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity in hotel industry?

The devastating effects on the environment have raised many questions on the environmental performance of an organization. As the environment is severely affected by the operations of giant businesses, i.e. ‘hotel industry.’ There is a need to explore the factors that influence employee environmental performance by incorporating green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity as mediators. The data are collected using the survey method. The statistical techniques applied to the dataset were confirmatory factor analysis and partial least square structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that green HR practices positively and significantly related to green intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and proactive environmental management maturity. Similarly, green motivation is significantly and positively linked with employee environmental performance. In contrast, proactive environmental management maturity is positively and insignificantly linked with employees’ environmental performance. In contrast, mediation analysis reveals that green motivation, i.e., intrinsic and extrinsic, partially mediates the association between green HR practices and employee environmental performance. However, no mediating effect of proactive environmental management maturity is found between the proposed associations. The paper contributes to the literature in many ways. Firstly, it explains the role of Green HR practices in forming green motivation among employees of the hotel industry, and previously no researchers studied this combination in the context of the hotel industry. Secondly, green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity are incorporated as mediators to have in-depth knowledge about the employees’ environmental performance.     

Critical food safety violations in Florida: Relationship to location and chain vs. non-chain restaurants

This study explores the relationship between the number of critical food safety violations and the restaurant's status as either a chain or independent foodservice provider and location. The State of Florida categorized the restaurant operations according to the type of license obtained, chain or independent. Chain restaurants are defined as multi-unit restaurants owned or operated by the same company or individual that total seven locations or more. Data for the current study was retrieved from the public records for the fiscal years 2009–2010 and 2010–2011. The study found that both the aggregate number of critical violations and risk factors and the number of individual critical violations and risk factors were significantly different among chain and non-chain restaurants in the state of Florida. Results indicate that the number of critical violations received is impacted by both the location of the restaurant and whether the restaurant is independently operated or a chain. The current study assists in explaining underlying reasons for repeated food safety violations despite Florida's required food safety training certification of restaurant managers and training of their staff; providing implications for academics and foodservice practitioners alike.     

A model for wine list and wine inventory yield management

Fine dining restaurants with extensive wine lists often have high-value wine inventories and low inventory turnover ratios that reduce the owner's return on investment. The restaurant management literature does not provide fine dining restaurant managers with the tools that enable them to evaluate and make changes to wine list selections, pricing and inventory levels in order to improve the returns from the investment in wine inventory. This paper contributes to the literature by drawing concepts from yield management, retail science and menu engineering to develop a yield statistic and analytical model for managing wine list and wine inventory productivity. WINSPID (wine sales per inventory dollar) is the product of wine mark-up and inventory turnover ratio. Graphs of wine sales and inventory data, mark-up and inventory turnover ratio enable the restaurant manager to analyse, improve and monitor the wine list, wine inventory and wine supplier performance.