Abstract
This study has been designed to stress the thoughts that soups should be offered taking into account customer's preference aimed at leading to eventual customer's satisfaction and the importance that Korean traditional food should take the lead in shifting dining-out industry's paradigm to customer-orientation instead of product-orientation. From August 15 through August 30, 2003, the drawn-up questionnaires were handed out to 500 numbers of adults aged over 20 living in Seoul, metropolitan city of Korea and the finally collected 361 questionnaires from them have been analysed as a subject for this study. It showed that the male respondents(44%) dined out much more frequently than the female respondents(35%) and their rate of 5,000-7,000 Won for a meal was most preferred as their average expenditure at one sitting in the restaurant. When eating Korean food at home or in a restaurant, the majority(5l,3%) of them think the soups(Tang) should be served coupled with their ordered meals. Among soups using flesh and meat as a staple material, they most preferred beef & bone soup(33.2%), followed by beep rib soup(30.4%) and beef soup with seasoned red pepper(l0.8%), and among soups using fish & shell and crustacean as a staple material, most preferred were hot fish soup(20.6%), loach soup(l5.2%) and hot crab soup(11.4%). Among soups using beans as a staple material, they most preferred soybean paste stew(33.2%), uncurdled soybean curd stew(29.4%) and Dambuk stew(l5.8%). Among soups using fowls and birds as a staple material, chicken soup with ginseng(51.9%), plain chicken soup(l8.4%) and chicken soup with red pepper sauce(l2.3%) falls on the most preferred. Among soups using vegetables and seaweeds as a staple material, most preferred are sea mustard soup(25.3%), Kimchi soup(16.8%), soybean paste soup with Chinese cabbage(13.0%) and bean sprout soup(10.1%). The soups(Tang) most preferred in the morning time are those soups whose staple materials are vegetables and seaweeds, such as sea mustard soup, bean sprout soup, Kimchi soup and soybean paste soup with Chinese cabbage while the soups most preferred for the lunch time are beef & bone soup, beep rib soup, chicken soup with ginseng and beef soup with seasoned red pepper while beef soup with seasoned red pepper, beef & bone soup, soybean curd stew and Kimchi soup are most preferred soups for the dinner time. The survey showed that 41 % of the subject preferred chicken soup with ginseng for a food considered good by themselves for their health. The male respondents preferred Bosin-tang(soup of edible-dog meat) than the female counterparts did, while the female respondents preferred chicken soup with ginseng than the male counterparts did. The survey showed that when eating korean traditional food, 70% of the subject are visiting a restaurant where soups are cooked delicious while 61% of the subject think that price does not matter if only food tastes good, which is reflecting that taste of food is a decisive factor in selecting menu rather than its price is. In conclusion, you can say that taste of soup is the most important factor creating steady customer in the restaurant, taking it into account Korean people most prefer their traditional food when dining out.
