Title: The moderating effects of service and ambience on customer satisfaction in a fast-casual restaurant: a German case study

Authors: Goetz Greve

Addresses: Department Marketing and Sales, HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration, Adolphsplatz 1, 20457 Hamburg, Germany

Abstract: In recent years, fast-casual has evolved to become the fastest growing segment within the restaurant industry. This type of restaurant combines the upscale décor of a casual restaurant with elements of a fast service restaurant. The author proposes a conceptual model that investigates the relationship between service quality, food quality, and ambience quality, as well as the interaction of food quality with service quality, ambience quality, and customer satisfaction in a fast-casual restaurant setting. The results of the empirical research indicate that the service quality dimensions influence customer satisfaction and that service quality negatively moderates the link between food quality and customer satisfaction.

Keywords: customer satisfaction; fast-casual restaurants; partial least squares; PLS; service quality; ambience quality; food quality; hospitality industry; Germany; case study; conceptual models; restaurant industry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHEM.2014.066990

International Journal of Hospitality and Event Management, 2014 Vol.1 No.2, pp.147 - 163

Received: 25 Feb 2014
Accepted: 19 May 2014

Published online: 24 Jan 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article