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An Investigative Study of Factors Influencing Dining out in Casual Restaurants

Among Young Consumers

Article in European Business & Management · January 2018

DOI: 10.11648/j.ebm.20180401.16

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European Business & Management
2018; 4(1): 39-43
http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ebm
doi: 10.11648/j.ebm.20180401.16
ISSN: 2575-579X (Print); ISSN: 2575-5811 (Online)

An Investigative Study of Factors Influencing Dining out in

Casual Restaurants Among Young Consumers
Vimal Chandra Verma1, Devashish Das Gupta2
1
School of Management, BBD University, Lucknow, India
2
Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, Lucknow, India

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To cite this article:

Vimal Chandra Verma, Devashish Das Gupta. An Investigative Study of Factors Influencing Dining out in Casual Restaurants Among Young
Consumers. European Business & Management. Vol. 4, No. 1, 2018, pp. 39-43. doi: 10.11648/j.ebm.20180401.16

Received: October 11, 2017; Accepted: November 7, 2017; Published: January 9, 2018

Abstract: Purpose: India is known for highest number of young people in the world. Students as consumers are more
dynamic and emerging consumer group for restaurants. Focusing on younger diner attitude and preferences, the aim of this
paper is to use factor analysis approach to group different factors influencing their motivation behind dining out in casual
restaurants. Total 31 variables were identified based on literature review. Data analysis was done using SPSS 20. Nine factors
were identified which had high loadings. The sample for the study was drawn using convenience sampling technique of
university students which is a major limitation of the study. Further random sampling may be used taking large sample size for
more generalized results. The findings of the study would help the marketers to analyze major factors influencing dining out
behavior of younger consumers.

Keywords: Consumer Behavior, Casual Dining Restaurants, Factor Analysis, Food Retail

1. Introduction
According to a report by the National Restaurant months. Increased polarization towards urban areas and
Association of India, due to rise in eating out Indian changing lifestyle, tastes, preference for food and increasing
economy has propelled the restaurant industry to $ 48 billion number of females working and eating-out options has given
and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11 per cent over the rise to F&B industry.
next five years to reach $78 billion by 2018. Casual dining Dining out has seen tremendous growth in recent years as
and quick service restaurants evidenced 70% of the organized people of urban cities have found different reasons to have
segment, leaving far behind pubs, bars, clubs and lounges their food outside their home such as birthday parties,
(PBCL) from 12%, cafes take 8% share remaining fine wedding, hangover with friends, celebrating the success as
dining and frozen desert outlets. It has been estimated that in youth celebrates when results are out, reunion and valentine
the time to come India will evidence more than 2.1 million day parties and other occasions are being celebrated by dine
outlets providing cuisine that is appealing to different taste out.
buds. The location will be mainly retail, travel, leisure and As per the India leisure and entertainment report by
lodging. The growth in retail and travel is faster and it is Knowledge Tree Company dining out has been found as one
expected that it will account for 145,000 and 87000 outlets of the three most popular recreational activities by Indian
respectively by 2015 as per Euro monitor estimates. The size consumers.
of food service industry is expected to be Rs. 62,500 crores A casual dining restaurant is one which serves
by the year 2015. The growth in overall restaurant industry is moderately priced food in casual atmosphere setting. It
at 5%- 6% annually. It has been evidenced that Indian comes between fast food establishments and fine dining
consumers are being attracted towards dining out, especially restaurants.
in urban areas. It has been found that about 50 percent of While deciding on to go for dine out people have endless
India’s populations dine out at least once in every three options from fast food to casual dining restaurants and
40 Vimal Chandra Verma and Devashish Das Gupta: An Investigative Study of Factors Influencing Dining out in
Casual Restaurants Among Young Consumers

having five star fine dining experience. What factors 5. Research Methodology
motivate the consumers to dine out and what attributes make
them select specific restaurants? In a study Njite et al., (2008) A questionnaire as a research instrument was developed
[8] concluded that previous experience and former considering various aspects of students food shopping. It
knowledge plays a vital role while making a restaurant basically included, convenience social interaction, service
selection decision. Generally quoted reasons for dining out and quality aspects in regard to casual dining. The sampling
side at fast food establishments included a way to socialize, method employed convenience sample based on student
convenience such as it is quick and easy to get (Raydell et al., faculty within the BBD University, Lucknow. The survey
2008) [10]. Employee competence and convenience and good was administered on 210 university students from different
customer relations were found to as vital factors influencing disciplines such as B. Tech., M. B. A, and PhD. yielded 181
customer’s selection for fine dine restaurant (Njite et al., usable responses for the purpose of the study.
2008) [8]. Casual dining has not been explored well by the The questionnaire was divided into two parts. Part A
researchers especially considering youth in India. covered various questions related to their casual dining
As per census of India statistics the number of students in behavior and Part B covered nominal variable including their
India has reached 315 million. This growth has placed India demographic details.
on second position but also Indian students would make The theme concerned with factors related to casual dining
fourth biggest nation in the world. restaurants 31 item scales that measured the degree of the
importance of these features in context to food shopping
(1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree).
2. Literature Review The theme related to student’s demographic attributes
Students as diners have not been popular area of research. included nominal questions such as their age, gender,
However, for last few years marketer’s interest has drawn education, casual restaurant dining frequency in past month
attention towards exploring and targeting young consumer and their preferred reason to dine out.
group. According to Jenkinson, (2000) [7] it can be 5.1. Hypothesis
considered as potentially lucrative segment and to have long
term marketing relationship with them. Having the H1- Demographic factors such as age, gender and
responsibility to arrange and organize their options for food education have statistically no significant relationship with
they heavily depend upon dine out and fast food options casual restaurant frequency.
which is convenient and easy to get and casual dining also H2- Demographic factors such as age, gender and
gives them a way to celebrate and socialize with friends. In a education have no positive relation with preferred reason to
study conducted by Baloglu and Uysal (1996) [1] on tourism dine out.
research suggested that there are two factors as push
motivator and pull motivator which encourages and attract an 5.2. Statistical Analysis
individual to dine out side home. Epter (2009) [5] said in his The data analysis was done using SPSS 20.0 version. The
study that socialization was a common reason to dine out. sample attributes are presented for their demographic details
Special occasion was found as most important reason using frequencies.
followed by socializing with friends and convenience for Factor analysis is applied to 31 item five point Likert scale
dining out among people in Ireland (Cullen 2004) [2]. concerned with reasons for casual dining and store attributes
Dobson, S., & Ness, M. (2009) [3] found in their research while selecting a restaurant. Factor scores are saved as
that student market should not be considered as en-masse variables with respect to their loadings. On nominal variables
since they have different preferences cross tab and chi square tests were used.

3. Need for the Study 5.3. Demographic Characteristics

Students are emerging as young consumers in casual The sample included 66.7% females and 33.7% males, in
dining and the field has yet not been explored extensively. which 48.6% post graduate, 40.9%, were under graduate and
For the marketers of food retail industry it becomes vital to 10.5% in their doctoral program. In terms of their visit to
explore their dining out motivation and analyze different their preferred casual dining restaurant 39.8% visited once,
attributes they look inside a restaurant. 28.7% visited 2 to 3 times, 20.4% visited 4 to 5 times and
11% visited more than six times in past month. 56.4%
hanging out with friends, 21.5% on weekend, 10.5% were
4. Objectives found habitual, 6.1% went for casual dining to celebrate with
(1) To identify and group the factors influencing dining out friends while results were out and 5.5% on birthdays.
behavior of students.
(2) To find out gender wise, age wise and education wise
differences in frequency, preference to dine out in
casual restaurant.
 European Business & Management 2018; 4(1): 39-43 41

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of sample. Factor 1 Factor Loadings

Factor 4
Demographics n %
There is some special occasion 0.830
Gender
I am fond of specific food. 0.827
Female 120 66.3
Factor 5
Male 61 33.7
I do not have proper knowledge of recipe 0.795
Age
I do not know how to cook. 0.768
18 to 25 years 157 86.7
I do not like cooking food 0.819
26 to 35 years 21 11.6
Factor 6
36 years and above 3 1.7
Availability of promotion coupons and schemes 0.814
Level of education
Restaurant promotes itself on face book and other
PG 88 48.6 0.845
social media sites
Undergraduate 74 40.9
Factor 7
Doctorate and Above 19 10.5
Food matches my tastes and dietary requirements 0.871
Restaurant visit frequency for casual dining in past month
Restaurant serves special requirements 0.574
Once in past month 72 39.8
Factor 8
2 to 3 visits in past month 52 28.7
Washing dishes is monotonous work 0.828
4 to 5 visits in past month 37 20.4
Cooking is tedious work 0.703
6 and above visits in past month 20 11.0
Factor 9
Preferred reason to dine out
Service is consistent inside restaurant 0.834
Hanging out with friends 102 56.4
Food quality is good 0.595
Weekends 39 21.5
Habitual 19 10.5
Birthdays 10 5.5 The solution was obtained using cumulative variance and
After results are out 11 6.1 communalities. Approximately 72 percent of total variance
was explained nine factors. The first factor is strongly
5.4. Factor Analysis correlated with pleasant aroma inside restaurant, location of
restaurant is convenient, restaurant has good lighting,
The original variables included 31- item five- point scale soothing music, is defined as store oriented dinners. The
concerned with the preference and motivation behind dining second factor is associated with prefers soft drink with food,
out to a casual dining restaurant. The analysis was done using availability of fast food, it can be said as fast food seekers.
principal component analysis with Varimax rotation and The third factor emerged with high correlated variables as
factors having Eigen values greater than one were extracted. offers special discount to students, price is reasonable, which
Table 2. KMO and Bartlett’s Test. is defined as prudent dinners. The fourth factor consists of
there is some special occasion, I am fond of specific food can
KMO and Bartlett's Test be named as specialty dinners. The fifth factor highly
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .754
Approx. Chi-Square 2756.234
correlated with I do not have proper knowledge of recipe, I
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity df 378 do not know how to cook, I do not like cooking food which
Sig. .000 can be called as cooking novices. In factor six variables such
as availability of promotion coupons and schemes and
The solution resulted in nine factors. Ten factors were restaurant promotes itself on face book and other social
dropped due to cross loading. To confirm that the test media sites were found positively correlated. They can be put
variables are inter-correlated is indicated by a KMO value under social media savvy. Food matches my tastes and
of .754 taking together Barlett’s test of sphericity which dietary requirements and restaurant serves special
resulted in chi- square test statistic of 2756.00 with 378 requirements shown high correlation under factor seven
degrees of freedom. It indicates the rejection of null which can be put under factor food portion seekers. Washing
hypothesis, that there is no inter correlation among variables dishes is monotonous work and cooking is tedious work were
at 5% level of significance. The solution is presented in the clubbed in one factor which can be put under culinary
rotated component matrix in table 3 below. Cronbach’s Alpha dislike. Service is consistent inside restaurant and food
value is .888. quality is good were found closely associated with each other
which can be put under factor quality conscious dinners.
Table 3. Factors with loadings.
Education was also found to have no relationship with
Factor 1 Factor Loadings casual restaurant dining frequency since (chi- square = 7.909
Pleasant aroma inside restaurant 0.681 df = 6, p> 0.001. There was also evidence of no significant
Location of restaurant is convenient 0.626
difference between age and casual restaurant dining visit
Restaurant has good lighting 0.584
Soothing music 0.501 frequency (chi- square = 17.563 df =6, P>0.001. thus it can
Factor 2 be concluded as that male and female students behave
Prefers soft drink with food 0.721 similarly while dining out in casual restaurant. Education was
Availability of fast food 0.576 also found to have no impact on dining out.
Factor 3
Dining out preference was also not associated with age
Offers special discount to students 0.721
Price is reasonable 0.719 (chi- square =14.381 df=8, p>0.001. Gender also has no
42 Vimal Chandra Verma and Devashish Das Gupta: An Investigative Study of Factors Influencing Dining out in
Casual Restaurants Among Young Consumers

significant difference with preferred reason to dine out (chi- making their offering to young diners in terms of discussed
square = 6.983, df= 4, p>0.001. There was also no significant factors.
difference between education and preferred reason to dine To sustain in restaurant business attracting consumers is
out (chi-square= 10.029 df = 8, p>0.001. vital. The results of this study can be utilized by the
restaurants while devising marketing strategies to attract
6. Results and Discussion young diners. Store oriented dinners put more stress on
aspects of physical and atmospheric ambiance of the store.
Demographics For fast food seekers, it is advised to have offering which is
Total 181 usable responses were gathered by the not heavy on their pockets and quickly available. Prudent
researcher. The sample population consisted of university dinners enjoy dinning out in restaurants which offers
students. Mostly students were from 18 to 25 year age group discounts and seek good value. Specialty dinners need to be
which could be expected as the survey was done among taken care of by offering specific cuisine. The cooking
university students. Zalatan in 1998 [11] found in his novices do not enjoy cooking and therefore, they avoid and
research that women were dominant and played key role in prefer to dine out side.
family’s purchase decision over past two decades. Its gives a Social Media Savvy dinners are interested in browsing
clear representation for their higher purchases potential. information related to food on social media sites. Nusair et al.
Therefore the majority in female respondents considered for (2013) [9] said in their study that college students are highly
research is relevant. In his study Greenberg (2012) [6] technologically savvy and heavy users of social media
concluded that student spend $13 billion on dining out at websites. They want stress on promoting the restaurants on
casual restaurants in 2011 which gives a base to choose different social media websites. Food portion seekers are
college students as relevant sample for the study. The highly conscious towards their dietary requirement. Culinary
variables for the research were taken after extensive literature dislikes are the consumers who feel monotonous and avoid
review. Factor analysis reduced 31 variables to 9 factors. cooking food by their selves. Quality conscious dinners
Objective 1: To identify and group the factors influencing would prefer restaurants which offer good quality food and
dining out behavior of students. consistency in service. Hanging out with friends was found
The factors scale and factor within this research were as major reason behind dining out in casual restaurants by the
taken from Jennifer L. Duncan et al.’s (2014) [4] study on students 56.4% followed by weekends 21%. Its gives a clear
segmenting patrons of casual dining research and some from picture that socialization is a major reason for dining outside
literature review in relevant area of research. The basic home.
factors were found as store oriented dinners, fast food
seekers, prudent dinners, specialty dinners, cooking novices, Limitations and Further Research
social media savvy, food portion seekers, culinary dislike,
quality conscious dinners. The study was basically conducted in university campus,
Objective 2: To find out gender wise, age wise and and due to limitation of time convenience sampling technique
education wise differences in frequency, preference to dine was adopted to draw the sample. Although it gives the clear
out in casual restaurant. findings but the differences may exist with of campus students.
The cross- tab analysis and chi-square was used to Therefore, a more comprehensive study taking a large sample
examine the relationship between demographic should be attempted. As the demographics factors differ
characteristics of young diners and their frequency to dine country to country the results may not be generalized.
out and preferred reason. There was no significant difference
found in male and female diners when analyzing their
frequency to dine out and preferred reason. Therefore, we References
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