• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.84-94
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to empirically test a proposed relationship among perceived restaurant quality, type of restaurant, satisfaction, and return patronage intentions with a focus on solo diners. More specifically, the objectives of this study are to assess the effects of three perceived qualities (i.e., food, service, and physical environment) and types of restaurants on solo diner (1) satisfaction and (2) return patronage intentions. The findings show that the greatest weight was put on food quality in increasing both solo diner satisfaction and return patronage intentions. Service quality was the second important contributor in satisfying solo diners, followed by physical environment quality. In addition, the findings indicated that solo diner satisfaction was affected by different types of restaurants.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.287-294
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• 2017

This study analyzed the comparative importance of the selection of a restaurant for solo diners, and suggests a solution for the ideal type of the restaurant that are appealing to solo diners using conjoint analysis techniques. A total of 280 questionnaires were distributed to consumers who had experience dining alone from June $7^{th}$, 2017 to June $14^{th}$, 2017, and 261 were completed (93.21%). As a result, the importance of the attributes of the restaurant was found to be the menu for solo diners (36.92%), price (30.29%), seating for solo diners (20.87%), and serving time of food (11.91%). The ideal combination of selection attributes was found to be having a menu for a solo diner, having a seat for a solo diner, meal service time of less than 10 minutes, and a low price of 2,500won. These results will form a database that contributes to the development of differentiated products and is building marketing strategies that can satisfy the needs of solo diners.

• The Korean Journal of Food & Health Convergence
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.33-40
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• 2021

In recent years, the trend of Korean cuisine has been more popular and quickly become the favorite flavor of Vietnamese youth. Restaurants serving Korean food are growing strongly in Danang market and are known by many classes of society. To better understand the taste and preferences of Danang people about Korean food, this study determined the behavior and assessment of diners who have used food and beverage services at Korean restaurants in Danang city. In addition, the study also identifies diners' desire to change the tastes of Korean dishes. The results show that Korean restaurants are attractive to young diners, from 18 - 25 years olds with income of $220 - $440, who appreciate Korean foods (especially grilled dishes) and most people intend to return to Korean restaurants in the next consumption. The study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative methods are used through analysis, evaluation and synthesis of previous studies to formulate survey contents, conduct surveys and propose solutions based on the collected results. Quantitative method applied SPSS 25.0 for descriptive statistics analysis. These findings will help Korean restaurant managers to identify target customers, improve the restaurant's dishes to increase sales and develop Korean dishes in Danang.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.323-329
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• 2007

The objective of this study was to compare the healthy dining out attitude of restaurant diners by self-rated health status. Using healthy dining attitude and behavior questionnaire and a single question describing self-rated health status, the needs and importance of healthy dining out was detected. Mean age of the 182 respondents was 38.9${\pm}$11.37 years old and 37.4% of the respondents answered their mean monthly income was over 6,000,000won showing the subjects belonged in high income diners. The needs of healthy dining measured by five scales and offering healthy menus(3.80), labeling foods about original country(3.79), using environmentally friendly foodstuffs(3.71) and labeling nutrients on menu board(3.62) show higher score than others. A total of 76.4% of the respondents assessed their health status as 'good-rated Health' and 23.6% was 'poor-rated health'. There was no difference in frequency of eating out by self-perception of health status but, the 'poor-rated health' group need more nutrition information in restaurant specially for calorie(p<0.05), cholesterol(p<0.05), fiber(p<0.05), functional nutrients(p<0.001) showing significant differences comparing to 'good-rated health' group. In good-rated health group, selection of Korean cuisine for eating out was more frequent than the poor. The results shows the needs of healthy dining can be varied by diner's health status and therefore restaurateur should focus on understanding of the needs of diners with various health status.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.605-616
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• 2013

A multistage approach for service recovery enables restaurant managers to do the most effective recovery strategies to reduce customer dissatisfaction and lead to positive behavioral intentions. The purpose of this study was to identify the most effective service recovery strategies in terms of service stage and examine the relationship between service strategies and behavioral intentions. A total of 227 diners examined the customer perceptions to recovery strategies (tangible strategy and intangible strategy) following service failures in each of the four stages:1) reservation and parking, 2) seating and ordering, 3) meal consumption, and 4) payment and exit. The one-way ANOVA showed that intangible strategies were relatively more effective than tangible strategies regardless of service stages. Free meal or free dessert were most effective in service stage 1 and stage 2 whereas correct the failure and reperformance of service found to be the most effective service recovery strategy. Regarding the association between service recovery strategies and behavioral intentions, multiple regression analysis showed that intangible strategies influenced diners' likelihood of positive behavioral intentions whereas tangible strategies lead to diners' willingness to positive behavioral intentions only in service stage 1. The findings enable restaurant practitioners to improve service recovery activities from a service stage perspective.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.155-166
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• 2021

Objectives: Driven by a growth of single-person households and individualized lifestyles, solo dining in restaurants is an increasingly recognizable trend. However, a research gap exists in the comparison of solo and group diners' menu-decision making processes. Based on the self-control dilemma and the temporal construal theory as a theoretical framework, this study compared the ordering intentions of solo vs. group diners with healthy vs. indulgent (less healthy) entrées. The mediating role of consumption orientation and the moderating role of amount of menu nutrition information were further explored to understand the mechanism and a boundary condition. Methods: A scenario-based online survey was developed using a 2 (dining social context: solo vs. with others) × 3 (amount of menu nutrition information: no nutrition information vs. calories vs. calories/fat/sodium), between-subjects, experimental design. Consumers' level of nutrition involvement was controlled. A nationwide survey data (n = 224) were collected from a crowdsourcing platform in the U.S. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance, independent t-test, univariate analysis of covariance, and moderated mediation analyses. Results: Findings reveal that solo (vs. group) diners have less (vs. more) intentions to order indulgent menu items due to a more utilitarian (vs. more hedonic) consumption orientation in restaurant dining. Findings also show that solo (vs. group) diners have more (vs. less) intentions to order healthy menu items when the restaurant menu presented nutrition information including calories, fat, and sodium. Conclusions: The findings contribute to the literature of foodservice management, healthy eating, and consumer behavior by revealing a mechanism and an external stimuli of solo vs. group diners' healthy menu-decision making process in restaurants. Furthermore, the findings provide restauranteurs and health professionals with insights into the positive and negative impacts of menu nutrition labelling on consumers' menu-decisions.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.344-355
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• 2009

This study is to set up a hypothesis and a research model based on how much the relational benefits can affect customer satisfaction and long-term relationship with the theoretical and practical results of established precedent researches, to analyze the structural equation model on casual dining restaurant diners, to evaluate the research model and subsequently to provide marketing implications. First of all, social and psychological factors prove to be influential among relational benefits felt by diners-out. Secondly, customer satisfaction has influence on long-term commitment for a restaurant. In other words, the higher customer satisfaction level for a restaurant is, the stronger willingness a customer has to recommend or revisit the restaurant, as several precedent studies support. As demonstrated in indirect advantages, these social and psychological benefits felt by diners-out have mighty effects on long-term relationship orientation, and satisfaction levels prove to be an important medium which can make these influences. As a result, restaurant employees' attitude toward customers is the most important factor rather than economic benefits such as reduced price, free gifts and coupons are, since customers put social and psychological benefits forward like intimate terms with restaurant workers, a sense of stability, and a relief from uneasiness. Therefore, constant service education should be done from the start to cope with customers' demands fast and flexibly and increase customer satisfaction.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.15-28
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• 2018

This study categorized Korean seafood diners according to their lifestyle attributes of seafood consumption. This categorization facilitated to set more detailed marketing strategies to each consumer groups so it can lead to promote seafood dining industry in Korea. For this study, a survey was conducted from September 10 to October 9, 2017 in the form of self-completed surveys from seafood restaurant diners living in Busan, Korea. A total of 251 questionnaires were collected and used for data analysis. The results were as follows. There were eight attributes of lifestyle which Korean seafood diners have had such as 'rationality', 'freshness', 'taste', 'health', 'ambiance', 'the latest trend of seafood dining', 'scarcity' and 'familiarity'. The largest number of respondents(154 out of 251, 61.4%) responded that they considered 'rationality' important when choosing their seafood restaurants among the eight attributes. 'freshness(135 out of 251, 53.8%)' was followed. 'the latest trend of seafood dining' and 'familiarity' were the ones that the smallest number of respondents(61.4, 10.8%) considered those as significant attributes for their seafood restaurants selection.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.173-183
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• 2022

With over 15,000 Thai restaurants worldwide and 5,342 in the USA alone, Thai cuisine has been repeatedly internationally acclaimed for its taste, flavors, smell, and nutritional values. The Thai Ministry of Commerce has also established a global objective to find and award the best Thai food restaurants using Thai Select Premium (TSP), Thai Select Unique (TSU), and Thai Select brand labels. Therefore, using systematic random sampling, 620 diners were selected from certified Thai Select restaurants (TSR) in either Los Angeles, New York, Miami, or Chicago to ask for their opinions concerning factors important to each restaurant's service loyalty (SL). The four constructs, 18 observed variables, and six hypotheses were analyzed using LISREL 9.1. Results revealed a significant positive effect (88% R²) on the causal factor interrelationships on TSRs' SL. Additionally, the three factors affecting SL the most were service tangibility, taste perceptions, and brand image, with total effect values of 0.94, 0.43, and 0.31, respectively. Finally, when each US diner was asked why they chose to eat Thai food, respondents overwhelmingly indicated that taste (49.50%) and healthiness (32.90%) were most important. The study also adds to the literature by highlighting the importance of Thai cuisine contributing to healthier lifestyles.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.180-191
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• 2015

This study attempted to identify the relationships among perceived value (hedonic and utilitarian values), consumption emotions, and satisfaction. In addition, this study also tested the relationships of measurement items of these variables. The data were collected from American restaurant diners who have experienced any Asian restaurants within the last 30 days. A total of 435 responses was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, reliability test, and regression analysis were utilized to analyze the data. The results found that hedonic value influenced positive emotions and satisfaction. Utilitarian value increased positive emotions and satisfaction while decreases negative emotions. In addition, positive emotions increased customer satisfaction; negative emotions decreased customer satisfaction. In the measurement level, traditional music, traditional aspects of food, and restaurant layout of hedonic value influenced positive emotions and interior design had an impact on customer satisfaction. On the other hand, food taste and healthy food option of utilitarian value influenced positive emotions and satisfaction; only food taste was negatively related to negative emotions. Managerial implications were provided.