Benefit segmentation in the restaurant industry

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between personal values, demographics, life style, concern for nutrition, eating patterns, restaurant patronage patterns, and required benefits. To accomplish this, consumers were first clustered into four segments based on benefits sought in food preparation and food consumption. Second, univariate ANOVA and discriminant analysis are used to determine the nature of the hypothesized relationships. It was found that benefits are influenced by demographics, personal values, concernfor nutrition, and eating patterns. The data also suggest that required benefits influence restaurant patronage patterns.