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 *