Menu Issues and Its Role in the Customer’s Meal Experience among Selected Casual Restaurants

Abstract

The study determined the management considerations and customers’ perceived meal experience on menu issues of selected casual restaurants, with the objective to identify best practices on menu issues for menu development of suchrestaurants. The study was conducted in the four selected casual restaurants, two from Quezon province, namely Air Summit Gourmet, and Eduvigis, Coffee, Bar, and Restaurant, and two from SM Aura Bonifacio Global City, specifically the Tamarind: A Taste of Thai, and Kettle. The data were gathered on September 20-29, 2016. All in all, 176 questionnaires were distributed, and only 153 were collected, with a response rate of 86.93% from the total of 153 respondents, 12 management representatives and 141 customers participated. The researcher used self-structured questionnaire which undergone face validation and reliability testing using Cronbach Alpha. The questionnaires have two sets, one set was distributed to the management representatives and the other set was given to the customers of selected casual restaurants. Management representatives were selected through purposive sampling method wherein only managers/chefs involved on menu development participated in the study, while customers were selected through convenience sampling. The data gathered were statistically treated using Percentage to describe the profile of management representative and customers. Weighted Mean was used to describe the management consideration and customers’ perceived meal experience on menu issues. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare differences on management consideration and customers’ perceived meal experience on menu issues. Results showed that among four management issues, menu designing was only rated as considered and the rest were rated as highly considered. On the other hand, customers agreed that the perceived meal experience on menu issues was observed during their visit. Hence, results showed that there is significant difference on management considerations and customers’ perceived meal experience on menu issues of selected casual restaurants. Thus, hypothesis was rejected. Customers also encountered seventeen problems during their visit on selected casual restaurants. Among these problems were issues on the pictures, inappropriate price for its quality, and lack of options or menu variety, confusing menu item categorization, poor menu card design, low quality of food, and unavailable menu item during customers’visit. With these findings, the researcher came up with best practices that can be used to address menu issues. The researcher offers several recommendations for menu development. Restaurant managements must consider customers feedback on their menu, in order to fill the gap between management considerations and customers’ meal experience perception on menu issues. It is recommended to the management of these casual restaurants to apply the best practices recommended for menu development. Use menu engineering for menu development is suggested. Further studies on comparing menu management in different segments of restaurant can be very useful to enhance understanding of restaurant menus. It is also recommended to conduct a study in determining how menu affects customers’ menu item selection and sales.