• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.23 no.2 s.98
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• pp.270-279
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• 2007

The purposes of this study were to analyze the profitability of audited restaurant franchise firms and to investigate the financial variables affecting profitability. This study decomposed profit variation into the three main factors comprising the Du Pont Identity (operating efficiency, asset use efficiency and financial leverage). The operating efficiency of restaurant franchise firms was on the rise until 2004, but dropped dramatically in 2005. Especially, the profit margin dropped from 13.46% in 2004 to 6.54% in 2005. The asset use efficiency has been decreasing since 2003. The total asset turnover ratio, which can be indicative of over-investment, dropped from 1.55 in 2003 to 1.50 in 2005. The financial leverage remained stable after 2002. There were major differences in debt accumulation among the firms, and the current level of debt was thought to be higher in the restaurant industry than in other industries. Based on the results of a multiple regression analysis, we concluded that the factors affecting ROE were the debt-equity ratio, total asset turnover and the size of the firm. The debt-equity ratio and total asset turnover had a significantly positive effect on ROE, while the firm size had a significantly negative effect on ROE. However, the current ratio and sales growth rate were not significant. The finding that firm size and profitability were negatively related implied that restaurant franchise firms should pursue qualitative growth rather than quantitative growth. There was no major difference in profitability between domestic brands and foreign brands. However, the domestic brand was more efficient in terms of asset usage than the foreign brand.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.39-48
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• 2022

Purpose: COVID-19 has negatively influenced the financial performance of restaurant firms. Previous literature suggests that the franchising strategy effectively helps restaurant firms recover from difficult business conditions through various methods for expanding business size and enhancing business efficiency. According to risk-sharing theory, restaurant franchisors may minimize operational risks by sharing the risks with their franchisees. For instance, restaurant franchisors could generate more stable cash flow using franchise fees from their franchisees. However, research on the effect of franchise's risk reduction factor on business performance during pandemic is scarce. Thus, this study aims to examine the positive moderating effect of franchising between COVID-19 and restaurants' financial performance. Research design, data, and methodology: Panel data including financial information and franchising status of restaurant firms were collected for analysis. In order to control for unobserved firm-specific factors, generalized least squared estimation in fixed effects model was conducted. Huber-White robust standard errors were used to deal with heteroscedasticity issues. Results: It was found that COVID-19 pandemic has a negative effect on the restaurants' financial performance such as ROA (return on assets), ROE (return on equity), and PM (profit margins), which confirms the findings from existing literature. More importantly, results show that the degree of franchising has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between COVID-19 and financial performance of restaurant firms. This suggests that more active engagement in franchising may decrease negative impacts of COVID-19 on the restaurants' financial performance. Conclusions: The study supports existing literature related to risk-sharing theory, by confirming that pandemics, such as COVID-19, negatively affect financial performance of the restaurants. Furthermore, it was found that franchising strategy can help lessen negative impacts of pandemics on the firm performance. These findings can contribute to the franchise and restaurant management literature by suggesting the role of franchising in reducing business risks, thereby positively affecting financial performance. Moreover, this study offers business managers of franchisors and franchisees insights for utilizing franchising in restaurant risk management. Policymakers may also gain information on aiding restaurant firms during global crisis, such as COVID-19.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.45-56
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• 2018

Purpose - Consumers perceive various risks while using food service franchise stores. Food service franchise stores offer consumers not just menus, but services, physical environment, and prices, which can be perceived as risk to consumers. This means that consumer behavior in foos service franchise stores needs to be studied based on perceived risk theory. Perceived risk consists of performance risk, financial risk, social risk, psychological risk, and time risk. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of perceived risk on satisfaction and trust, and in turn affect loyalty. The results of this study will provide guidelines for marketers to develop strategies to reduce the perceived risk of consumers. Research design, data, methodology - In order to achieve research purposes, the authors developed several hypotheses. Data were through online survey through an online survey firm. A questionnaire survey was distributed to customers who have visited the restaurant in the past three months. The survey was conducted from March 5, 2017 to October 14, 2017. A total of 1,500 people were e-mailed and 260 were returned. A total of 245 items were used in the analysis except 15 of the questionnaire. Data was analyzed by using SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 21.0. Results - The findings of this study are as follows: First, performance risk, economic risk, and psychological risk had negative effects on satisfaction. Social and time risks did not affect on satisfaction. Performance risk and time risk had negative impact on trust. Second, economic, social, and psychological risks did not affect trust, but satisfaction had significant positive effect on trust and loyalty. Third, satisfaction had positive effect on loyalty. Conclusions - The implications of this study are as follows. First, food service franchise marketers should increase their customer loyalty by establishing a risk reduction strategy. Second, there are various risks to customers visiting the store. Therefore, marketers need to analyze the perceived risks of customers. Third, it is also necessary to eliminate the perceived risks of customers. In addition, a restaurant franchise company needs to find a reasonable way to reduce the material cost and present a reasonable menu price.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.37-47
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• 2017

Purpose - Recently, the food service franchise market is experiencing rapid growth and competition is intensifying. Therefore, consumer choice has expanded, and reputation management has become important as a strategy for survival of corporations. Based on previous studies, this research proposed the theoretical framework about the structural relationships among reputation, trust(cognitive trust, affective trust), and loyalty. Research design, data, and methodology - This study examined the structural relationship between reputation, trust, and loyalty from the customer's perspective. Based on comprehensive validation procedures across nine food service Franchise firm types, This study found support for a five-dimensional scale with the following dimensions: Customer Orientation, Employer Brand, Reliable and Financially Strong Company, Product and Service Quality, and Social and Environmental Responsibility. In order to verify the research purposes, research model and hypotheses were developed. The data were collected from 227 food service franchise consumers through online survey. The data was analyzed with SPSS 24.0 and Amos 23.0 statistical program. Result - The results of the study are as follows. First, customer orientation, reliable·financially strong company and product·service quality have significant impact on corporate cognitive trust. And employer brand, product/service quality and social·environmental responsibility have significant impact on corporate affective trust. Second, cognitive trust and affective trust have significant impacts on consumer loyalty. Conclusions - The implications of this study are following as: From the theoretical perspective, this study considers trust as two dimensions such as cognitive and affective, not a single dimension, and identify what dimensions of franchise firms affect consumers' reputation perception and in turn lead cognitive and affective trust, and loyalty. This study also provides several managerial implications. In the franchise market where competition is intensifying, it is very important to analyze the attitudes of consumers in order to gain an advantage in competition with other competitors. In this study, it is meaningful that the study was conducted on consumers who have experience using a restaurant franchise company. Also, reputation is necessary to pay attention to the company because it is an important variable that strengthens with customer through confidence in food service franchise business, and leads loyalty and consumer consumption. Therefore, marketers should develop marketing strategies considering various reputation factors.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.118-132
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to present the psychological capital as a leading factor affecting organizational commitment, to determine the role of job satisfaction as a mediator among those, and finally to find the way to increase the commitment by suggesting a new idea for human resources management in the foodservice firms which were having difficulties in finding new employees and in high turnover rates. A survey was conducted on the employees in foodservice firms including both franchise management and direct management restaurants for the period of the month of February 2012, and the data were analyzed with frequency analysis, reliability test, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, path analysis, and mediating effect analysis by using SPSS 15.0 and AMOS 7.0. As a result of the study, the psychological capital factors such as hope, resiliency, and optimism had significant effects on organizational commitment, and job satisfaction strongly mediated the relations of the psychological capital factors as presented above and the organizational commitment.