Global Journal of Management and Business Research
Volume 12 Issue 21 Version 1.0 Year 2012
Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal
Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA)
Online ISSN: 2249-4588 & Print ISSN: 0975-5853

A Study on Customer Preference and Satisfaction towards
Restaurant in Dehradun City
By Neha Joshi
Abstract - India is in the midst of the restaurant revolution. The revenues hotel and restaurant industry in yr.2006-2007 increase of nearly 22 %...The eating habits of people are changing; the style of cooking and the ingredients used increased the popularity of Indian food all throughout....... Indian food had experienced a tremendous change, people started following cooking style and adopted eating habit according to their religion. At present Indian food is recognized all over the country...service quality is an attitude or global judgment about the superiority of a service, industries must achieve a quality service the exceed customer, expectation .service quality determine an organization success or failure, the satisfaction is a function of consumer, experience and reaction to provide behavior during the service encounter.
The level of satisfaction may be influence by various attitudes from internal, external factor.
The demand for food away from home is dramatically increasing. According to the
2003/04 Indian Household Economic Survey, the average weekly household expenditure on meals away from home increased from $13.80 in 2000/01 to $19.20 in 2003/04 (Ministry of
Health, 2006). The growth of demand for food has prompted an expansion of the Indian foodservice industry. The national foodservice industry annual sales rose from $3,176 million in
2002 to $4,800 million in 2007- a nominal Growth of 51 percent.

GJMBR-C Classification: JEL Code: Q31

A Study on Customer Preference and Satisfaction towards Restaurant in Dehradun City
Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of :

© 2012. Neha Joshi. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

A Study on Customer Preference and
Satisfaction towards Restaurant in Dehradun
City
revenues hotel and restaurant industry in yr.2006-2007 increase of nearly 22 %...The eating habits of people are changing; the style of cooking and the ingredients used increased the popularity of Indian food all throughout.......
Indian food had experienced a tremendous change, people started following cooking style and adopted eating habit according to their religion. At present Indian food is recognized all over the country...service quality is an attitude or global judgment about the superiority of a service, industries must achieve a quality service the exceed customer, expectation .service quality determine an organization success or failure, the satisfaction is a function of consumer, experience and reaction to provide behavior during the service encounter. The level of satisfaction may be influence by various attitudes from internal, external factor.
The demand for food away from home is dramatically increasing. According to the2003/04 Indian Household
Economic Survey, the average weekly household expenditure on meals away from home increased from $13.80 in 2000/01 to $19.20 in 2003/04 (Ministry of Health, 2006). The growth of demand for food has prompted an expansion of the Indian foodservice industry. The national foodservice industry annual sales rose from $3,176 million in 2002 to $4,800 million in
2007- a nominal Growth of 51 percent. There was also an analogous trend from 2002 to 2006 in the increase of the number of food service outlets and employees from 8,368 to
10,681 and 59,700 to 78,540 respectively (Restaurant
Association of India, 2007). The expansion of the number of foodservice outlets has lead to an intensely competitive foodservice industry in India (Restaurant Association of India,
2006).
This study aims to contribute to the limited research in this area and provide insight into the consumer decisionmaking process specifically for the India foodservice industry.

I.

Introduction

E

vans 2006. The Indian Food Market Monitoring
Report 2002/03 showed an increasing trend for dining out as a result of higher incomes, an increase in the Dining out is an important part of the lifestyles Indian number of working women, changes in consumptions patterns, and changes in household size and composition (Nimmo-Bell Company Ltd, 2002 India are also facing the pressures of time, particularly in those households with women in the workforce (NimmoBell Company Ltd, 2002). van Ameyde and Brodie
Author : (DIT, Dehradun). E-mail : nehachoksi@sify.com

(1984) reported that
India who dined out more frequently at restaurants were in the younger age group, had smaller or childlessfamilies, and were in the professional, managerial and clerical worker families group. Takeaways were popular among young people and families with young children (vanAmeyde & Brodie,

1984).

Individuals also dine out for different reasons
(Lundberg & Walker, 1993). The findings from a study of
Auckland consumers on restaurant selection suggested that the majority of Indian dined out for social and special occasions. The dining out habits of several segments was studied, and the group that dined out most frequently was people in the high income, middle aged group (Rammaniya, 1998).

a) Research Objectives

1. The main objectives of this research are:
2. To identify the factors that influences the decisions of consumers Preference towards restaurant.
3. To determine the most important factors that affect consumers’ choice and satisfaction towards restaurant. 4. To examine the consumption pattern in restaurant
5. Choice factors based on their demographic characteristics and dinning occasion.
6. To study the opinion about the service in restaurant

b) Research Methodology

The research is based on primary and secondary data collection methods and the research type is descriptive. A structured questionnaire will be designed to gather information for primary data and, for secondary data-internet, books and websites previous dissertations/researchpapers/marketingjournals/magazi nes/text etc will be used. A five point multi item likert scale (1- strongly agree and 5- strongly disagree.) will be used for the study.
The research will be conducted in Dehradun. It will involve gathering of information from the customers who visit at restaurant. Convenience sampling method will be used to get the responses from target population.
Sample size of 89 (working and non working) respondents in the age group 18 to 25 year and more than 40 year above will be taken for the survey. To do the research following statistical tools will be used:
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Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue XXI Version I

Abstract - India is in the midst of the restaurant revolution. The

Year 2012

Neha Joshi

A Study on Customer Preference and Satisfaction towards Restaurant in Dehradun City

percentage analysis, Rank analysis, ANOVA-test T-test

analysis,

Chi-square

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c) Hypothesis
H1- HA : There is association between Items preferred in Restaurant across Gender
H2- HA : There is association between Items preferred in Restaurant across Age
H3- HA : There is association between Items preferred in Restaurant across Education
H4- HA : There is no association between Items preferred in Restaurant across Income
H5- HA : There is no association between
Customer satisfactions across the Gender
H6-- HA : There is no association between
Customer satisfactions across the Age
H7- HA : There is no association between
Customer satisfactions across the Education
40
2
There is no association between
H8- HA :
Customer satisfactions across the Income
d) Research Contribution

This research aims to provide a better understanding of the consumer decision-making process for restaurants in India. Understanding restaurant choice behavior can assist restaurant marketers and practitioners when they develop marketing strategies and enable them to select the most salient attributes to attract and retain customers.
Furthermore, a theoretical model of restaurant selection behavior in India developed in this study will help to provide a useful framework for future research regarding consumer behavior in the restaurant industry. This contribution is particularly important due to the limited empirical studies on consumers’ restaurant selection behavior India.
II.

Review of Literature

This part reviews the relevant literature about consumers and services, the consumer decisionmaking Process model and previous studies in consumers’ restaurant selection Behavior. Furthermore, the interrelationships between customer satisfaction, food Quality, service quality and behavioral intentions are discussed. Lastly, the restaurant Choice factors, dining occasion, and demographic characteristics are reviewed. Previous studies on consumer behavior in the restaurant context have identified a number of factors that consumers consider important in their restaurant selection. Following are examples of these studies:
Lewis (1981) investigated the influence of the benefit features of advertising on consumers’ decision to go to a restaurant. Three types of restaurants: family/popular,
Atmosphere, and gourmet were analyzed. Food quality was found as the most important feature determining patronage in tensions to any type of restaurant.
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However, the range of importance of the other features differed by the type of restaurant
Auty (1992) identified the choice factors in the restaurant decision process based on four occasions: a celebration, social occasion, convenience/quick meal, and business Meal. Food type, food quality and value for money were found as the most important Choice variables for consumers when choosing a restaurant.
The order of these choices Criteria varied according to dining occasions. The author further suggested that if the consumers perceived that restaurants provide comparable food type, food quality and price, they would take image and atmosphere of the restaurants into account when making a final decision,
Family/popular and convenience/ fast-food restaurants.
The Kevel’s (1997) results Showed that the relative importance of the restaurant choice factors differed considerably by restaurant type, dining occasion, age, and occupation. The studies of consumer behavior in ethnic restaurants are relatively limited. Previous ethnic restaurant studies have focused on consumers’ perceptions and attitudes or on a particular cuisine (e.g.,
Josiam & Monteiro, 2004 ;)
Among these studies, the unique characteristics of ethnic cuisine are commonly discussed. However, ethnic restaurateurs cannot compete simply on the uniqueness of the cuisine. The results of past studies have emphasized that, in order to succeed, restaurant operators need to pay attention to the attributes that have the highest regard in relation to consumers’ selection behavior.
Service providers need to understand how consumers choose and evaluate their Offerings
(Zeithaml, 1981). Consumers cannot choose and evaluate services in the same manner they do to physical goods as services have distinctive characteristics and Are high in experience quality.
Therefore, consumers find it more difficult to evaluate services when compared to physical goods. Several studies (e.g., Kotler et al., 1998; Zeithaml, 1981; 2003) suggest that the main characteristics that make services different from physical goods are: intangibility, variability, inseparability, perishability, and lack of ownership.
The intangible quality of services is that services constitute performances and they often cannot be seen, felt, tasted, or touched like physical goods (Zeithaml,
1981)., when making restaurant choice decisions,
Consumers used both tangible and intangible factors.
The intangible factors are primarily: food quality, service quality, and value for money the intangible characteristic of services makes these factors difficult to evaluate prior to the actual purchase. Accordingly, restaurant patrons often rely on Tangible clues such as restaurant facilities, décor, and atmosphere to guide them in forming expectations about the restaurants
(Bitner, 1990; Wall & Berry, 2007).

A Study on Customer Preference and Satisfaction towards Restaurant in Dehradun City

& Burn, 2000). Accordingly, consumers may feel a lack of control in the purchase of services ( Cowell, 1989).
Food quality is rated as the most important attribute influencing restaurant decisions in many studies on consumers’ restaurant selection behavior
(e.g., Auty, 1992; Lewis, 1981; Soriano, 2002; Sulek &
Hensley, 2004). The elements that constitute food quality proposed in this study are unique tastes and ingredients, menu variety, Appearance and presentation, healthy food options, and familiar food.

In the data analysis there is classification and
Frequency of different demographic profile like as
“Gender, Age, Education, Income statement. Chi-square test, T- test, ANOVAs help to understand the relation between different demographic factors, customer preference and satisfaction. from the cross tabulation of different factors I make the relation then apply the chisquare test on the basis of the test result we come to know the Association or No association among different factors. Table 3.1 (a) : Mean value among different measures
Statement

SA

A

N

Food is served hot and fresh
The menu has a good variety of item
The quality of food is excellent
The food is testy and according to my test
The order is taken correctly and there were no discrepancies while serving the item
Employees are patient when taking order
The menu was easy to read
Employees speak clearly and politely
Employees are friendly and courteous
The service is excellent
My restaurant provides value of money and i pay attention to ambience of restaurant

61
26
42
28

25
55
39
53

3
5
6
6

D
2
2

38
54
41
46
45
29

40
27
45
39
35
43

8
4
2
1
5
10

3
4
1
3
4
6

28

51

9

SD

M

St. D

2

1.34
1.84
1.64
1.82

0.55
0.72
0.71
0.75

1

1.73
1.52
1.58
1.56
1.64
1.95

0.77
0.78
0.60
0.69
0.79
0.90

1

1.82

0.70

1

SA(1)= Strongly agree, A (2) =Agree, N (3) = Neutral, D(4) Disagree, SD (5) Strongly disagree, StD = Standard deviation Interpretation : From above Table, it is being Interpreted that the :
Mean value for food is served hot and fresh is 1 .34
Mean value for the menu has a good variety of item is 1 .84
Mean value for the quality of food is excellent is 1 .64
Mean value for the food is tasty according to my taste is 1 .82
Mean value for the order is taken correctly and there were no discrepancies while serving the item is 1
1.73
Mean value for Employees are patient when taking order is 1 .52
Mean value for the menu was easy to read is 1 .58
Mean value for Employees speak clearly and politely is 1 .56
Mean value for Employees are friendly and courteous is 1.64
Mean value for the service is excellent is 1.95
Mean value for my restaurant provide value of money and I pay attention to ambience of the restaurant is 1.82

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Analysis and Discussions

III.

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Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue XXI Version I

Most services are not produced and consumed until after they are sold. The production and consumption of a service experience is usually a simultaneous process (Zeithaml & Bitner, 2003). A restaurant service has a high level of contact between diners and service employees. Accordingly, the skills and performance of restaurant staff are vital to diners’ perception of restaurant experience ( Kotler et al., 1998 ).
Services cannot be stored. In contrast to physical goods that can be stored and sold at a later time, services cease to exist if they are not sold when they become available (Hoffman & Bateson, 2001). For instance, a customer who does not show up for a reserved table in the restaurant will cause the restaurateur to turn down the chance to serve other diners if the restaurant is full (Kotler et al., 1998). Service providers often find it difficult to balance the supply and demand of services, given the unpredictable nature of consumer demand for services (Hoffman & Bateson,
2001).
Services are an experience. Consumers pay to get access to and experience a service but do not get a tangible ownership of that service (Clemes, Mollenkopf,

A Study on Customer Preference and Satisfaction towards Restaurant in Dehradun City

a) Chi-Square Test Item Preferred In Restaurant Across
The Demographical Factor
Hypothesis 1
Ho : There is no association between Gender and
Item preferred in restaurant
HA : There is association between Gender and
Item preferred in restaurant
Table 3.2 (b)

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Chi-Square
Tests

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42
2

Value

df

Asymp. Sig.
(2-sided)

Pearson ChiSquare
Likelihood Ratio
Linear-by-Linear
Association
N of Valid Cases

15.44

2

0.0004

16.47
15.02

2
1

0.0002
0.0001

Table 3.2 (d) chi-square tests

Value

Pearson ChiSquare
Likelihood Ratio
Linear-by-Linear
Association
N of Valid Cases

df

Asymp. Sig.
(2-sided)

9.5653311

4

0.048

9.901645
5.1485956

4
1

0.042
0.023

89

Inference : The above HO : is Rejected” (chi-square with

89

Inference : The above HO : is Rejected (chi-square with 4 degree of freedom=15.44, p=.0004)
There is no association Item preferred in restaurant across the Gender
Hypothesis 2
Ho : There is no association between Age and
Item preferred in restaurant
HA : There is association between Age and Item preferred in restaurant
Table 3.3 (c)
Value
Pearson ChiSquare
Likelihood
Ratio
Linear-byLinear
Association
N of Valid
Cases

Hypothesis 3
Ho : There is no association between Education and Item preferred in restaurant
HA : There is association between Education and
Item preferred in restaurant

df

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

9.85

4

0.043

10.38

4

0.034

0.53

1

0.465

4 degree of freedom=9.56, p=.048) There is no association Item preferred in restaurant across the

Education

Hypothesis 4
HO : There is association between Income and
Item preferred in restaurant
HA : There is no association between Income and
Item preferred in restaurant
Table 3.2 (e) chi-square test

Value

df

Asymp. Sig.
(2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square
Likelihood Ratio
Linear-by-Linear
Association
N of Valid Cases

7.88
8.46
2.83

4
4
1

0.095
0.075
0.092

89

Inference : The above HO : is accepted. (Chi Square

with 4 degree of freedom=7.88, p= 0.095).
There is association Item preferred in restaurant across the Income

89

Inference : The above HO : is Rejected (chi-square with 4 degree of freedom= 9.85, p=.043)
There is no association Item preferred in restaurant across the Age

b) Ranking of factor for preferring a particular restaurant Table 3.3 (f)
Serial No

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

WAS

Rank

Factor
Quality
Rates
Variety in the menu Efficiency
Cleanliness
Location
Ambience
Good taste

Count
46
6
2

Count
10
26
6

Count
8
16
16

Count
6
21
4

Count
11
9
9

Count
2
3
24

Count
1
5
12

Count
5
3
16

6.44
5.49
3.61

1
2
6

1
15
13
4
15

7
21
10
2
8

8
20
19
2
10

7
12
18
8
14

14
7
8
19
12

40
8
6
8
9

12
3
2
46
2

2.82
4.93
5.16
2.77
5.25

7
5
4
8
3

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3
13
19

A Study on Customer Preference and Satisfaction towards Restaurant in Dehradun City

Inference : The Table 14 gives the distribution of the

respondent according to the ranking of the factor for preference towards a particular restaurant….The food quality was ranked 1st ,2nd for rates,3rd for good taste,4th for location,5th for cleanliness,6th for variety in the menu,7th for efficiency, and 8th ranked given by the respondent for ambience .

c) T-Test For Analyzing The Customer Satisfaction
Across The Gender
Hypothesis 5 :
HO : There is association between Customer satisfactions across the Gender
HA : There is no association between Customer satisfactions across the Gender

Levine’s
Test for
Equality
of
Variance
s
F

t-test for Equality of Means
Sig.

t

df

Sig. (2-tailed)

43
5.02

0.02

1.48

87

0.14

Inference : The above HO : is Accepted, (p=.14> .05, t= 1.48).There is association Customer satisfaction across the Gender
d) Anova Test For Analyzing The Customer Satisfaction
Across The (Age, Education, Income)
Hypothesis 6 between Customer
HO : There is association
Satisfactions across the Age
HA : There is no association between the
Customer Satisfactions across the Age
Table 3.5 (h) : Age
Sum of
Squares
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total

df

Mean
Square

1.16

2

0.58

17.48
18.64

86
88

Hypothesis 8
Ho : There is association between Customer
Satisfactions across the Income
HA : There is no association between Customer
Satisfaction across the Income
Table 3.5. (j) : Income

F

Sum of
Squares

Sig.

2.86

0.06

0.2

Inference : The above HO : is Accepted (p=.06 p>.05, f=2.86) There is association Customer Satisfaction across the Age
Hypothesis 7
HO : There is association between Customer
Satisfactions across the Education
HA : There is no association between Customer
Satisfactions across the Education
Table 3.5 (i) : Education
Sum of
Squares
Between
Groups
Within
Groups
Total

Inference : The above HO : is Accepted (p=0.85 p>.05, f=.065) There is association Customer Satisfaction across the Education

df

Mean
Square

F

Sig.

4.5

18

0.25

0.65

0.85

27
31.5

70
88

0.38

Between
Groups
Within Groups
Total

df

5.94
37.97
43.91

18
70
88

Mean
Square F
0.33
0.54

0.608

Sig.
0.88

Inference : The above HO : is Accepted (p=0.88 p>.05, f=.608) There is association Customer Satisfaction across the Income
IV.

Result, Findings, Conclusion,
Limitation

a) Results and findings

Out of all the respondent 73% are male and 27% are female Out of all the respondents 76.4% are of age 18-30 year, 18% are 31-40 year and 5.6 % are more than
40 years
Out of all the respondent 31.5% are comes under up to Graduate, 59.6% are post Graduate and 9% are doctorate

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Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue XXI Version I

Equal variances assumed

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Table 3.4 (g)

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A Study on Customer Preference and Satisfaction towards Restaurant in Dehradun City

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Out of all the respondent 68.53% comes under less than 30000Rs., 19.1% are 30000-40000 and 12.35
% comes under over 40000 Rs
Out of all the respondent 46.1% are comes under once a week, 22.5% are more than once a week,
16.9% once a month, and 14.6 % comes in very rare
Out of all respondent 36% are vegetarian, 29.2%
Non vegetarian and 34.8% are come under both
Out of all the respondent 4.5% are goes for
Breakfast, 28.1% Lunch and 67.4% Dinner
Out of all the responded 6% Respondent willing to pay 100-200, 23% 300-500, 40% 600-800 and 31% comes in more than 800
There is no association item preferred in restaurant across the gender
There is no association item preferred in restaurant across the age
There is no association item preferred in restaurant across the education
There is association item preferred in restaurant across the income
The Table 14 gives the distribution of the respondent according to the ranking of the factor for preference towards a particular restaurant….The food quality was ranked 1st ,2nd for rates,3rd for good taste,4th for location,5th for cleanliness,6th for variety in the menu,7th for efficiency, and 8th ranked given by the respondent for ambience
There is association customer satisfaction across the gender
There is association customer satisfaction across the age
There is association customer satisfaction across the education
There is association customer satisfaction across the income

b) Conclusion

It is evident from the study that majority of the consumer have visited different restaurant at different times. So the restaurant owner has to take steps to retain the customer and make them a permanent customer. Majority of respondent came to know about the restaurant through their friends .and restaurant advertise in local media news paper, magazines to attract more customer. From the study majority of people are male who visit to restaurant ,and mostly are youngster , their qualification are post graduate income level of respondent is good they mostly visited in restaurant in a week and from the data majority of people like to vegetarian ,and around 67% are go for dinner its show the majority of people who visit have to take dinner Quality and taste are the two major factor consider by the respondent in selecting a restaurant ,so the restaurant owner, s should not compromise on these aspect at any cost.

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c) Limitation

The sample size is small, so we cannot determine the accurate result
Less time period
No of question is not enough for consider the customer preference and satisfaction
Area is limit so we do not get the actual satisfaction of the customer towards restaurant

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