Track: Service Engineering and Service Management

Abstract

This research investigates whether given set of dining attributes tend to satisfy casual-dining customers, examines for other satisfaction factors, filters satisfaction from retention, and determines the weights and ranks of each of these retention factors. This research gathers factors that promote not just satisfaction but also retention for casual-dining customers, and to set prioritization standards for any casual-dining restaurants. For this research, sample size of 400 casual-dining customers has been surveyed in order to reduce variability. Correlation analysis was used in order to determine the significant relationship of dining attributes to the satisfaction level of casual-dining customers. Herzberg’s two factor theory model was also applied to determine satisfaction and retention ratio of dining customers. Similarly, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to determine and assign weights for each attributes identified in the study. Results of the study indicates that major attributes that contribute to the satisfaction of casual-dining customers are food quality, physical environment design, price and value of food and employee service. On the other hand, based on Herzberg’s two factor theory model and AHP, the top 5 sub-factors that need to be prioritized in order to ensure retention of casual-dining customers are food taste, food presentation, restaurant location, food price and freshness of ingredients while the least 5 sub-factors that do not affect the satisfaction and retention of customers are convenient hours, ease of access of menu, staff appearance, attentive and accommodating staff and delighters. This study will help casual-dining restaurants’ management to avoid greater risks when it comes to budget allocation, investments, and customer retention planning.