Restaurant Food Choices by Moms: An Exploratory Study

Restaurants are always seeking to better understand customer decisions. Mothers are of significance to restaurants as they have a direct influence on others, primarily children and spouses. This study focuses on what affects the restaurant food choices of “Moms” (a woman with at least one child 10 years or under). Three categories of factors were uncovered: externalities which occur outside of the restaurant environment, concurrencies which occur in the restaurant at the point of purchase, and confirming factors which cause an item to be confirmed or rejected after the purchase intention has formed. This article examines the externalities category.