Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand consumers’ behaviour in fast-food restaurants in Spain. To this end, the authors conducted a survey that combined a classification of food values, as proposed in the relevant literature, with a related model that links personal values to behaviour. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 400 consumers was gathered from two different, leading fast-food chains operating in Spain. With these data, respondents were grouped through hierarchical cluster analysis and K-measures, and in accordance with Lusk and Briggeman’s (2009) food values and the food-related lifestyle model. The authors validated these clusters by means of ANOVA and discriminant analysis, which led to useful observations about inter-group differences in consumers’ habits, as well as their satisfaction, trust and loyalty. Findings The results indicate that consumers can be clustered into three groups based their food values assessments: the “mainly utilitarian” group, the “mainly hedonic” group and the “ethical values” group. These groups not only demonstrate diverse habits, but also differ on key variables such as satisfaction, trust and loyalty. Practical implications The authors offer several managerial recommendations for designing and developing segmentation strategies in the fast-food industry. Any such strategies should acknowledge that all consumer groups appear to value restaurants’ efforts to provide them with both hedonic and utilitarian benefits, although the extent varies across groups. Originality/value Among the relevant literature, this research is the only one that examines the existence of distinct consumer groups based on their food values assessments. In addition, this paper analyses inter-group differences in terms of both diverse consumptions habits (frequency of visits, expenditure, etc.) and key marketing variables (satisfaction, trust and loyalty).

Among the numerous internal and external forces that compete for consumers' attention in the context in which they buy their food, this paper will seek to provide a review of the most important external influences, such as the variables related to food itself. To this end, in addition to the food attributes traditionally identified in fields such as consumer behavior, it will give special consideration to the classification of food values. Although the influence of these variables on consumer decisions depends on the individual, analyzing them will undoubtedly increase understanding of consumers' decisions. Additionally, identifying and describing these variables will enable subsequent research on how they influence both consumer behavior and other key outcomes for producers, manufacturers, and retailers in the food industry, such as satisfaction, trust, and loyalty.

PurposeThe importance of food values for the post–purchase process has not been widely studied. Most previous research in this line has focused on examining either the attributes of specific food categories, without taking the corresponding values into account, or food-purchasing attitudes and behaviour. To address this gap in the research, this paper delves deeper into the influence of food values on post–purchase variables.Design/methodology/approachSpecifically, it analyses the influence of food values on satisfaction (both with the purchase and with the establishment), switching costs and loyalty. To this end, a sample of 708 consumers, collected through online questionnaires in Spain, is analysed using various descriptive statistics and causal models.FindingsThe findings confirm the influence of food values on satisfaction and that satisfaction positively influences loyalty. Switching costs were not found to moderate the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey had to be completed online, and, thus, respondents needed to have an e-mail address. This influenced the respondents' profile, since many consumers over the age of 54 do not have e-mail, do not use it, or are more reluctant to complete online surveys.Practical implicationsPurchase satisfaction was not found to affect switching costs, which reinforces the idea that loyalty can sometimes be spurious. It would thus be an indicator that, as long as consumers have no other option, they will continue to shop at the establishment. In contrast, establishment satisfaction did generate switching costs. This finding could be due to aspects such as convenience, the development and maintenance of relationships with the employees, knowledge of where products are located in the store, etc. Customers may be dissatisfied with their purchase, yet still satisfied with an establishment, which could entail very high switching costs for them and, therefore, cause them to remain loyal (albeit spuriously) to the establishment.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the literature in this field by examining the influence of food values on key post-purchase variables.

This paper analyzes the effects of: (i) Food values on their related benefits (hedonic and utilitarian); (ii) both kinds of benefits on attitudes toward eating hamburgers; and (iii) attitudes on purchase intention. To this end, we adapted the food values scale to the context of fast-food hamburger restaurants. Data were collected from a survey of 512 Mexican consumers and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that the strongest influences are those exerted by food values, first, on hedonic benefits and, second, on utilitarian benefits. In contrast, the weakest influence is that exerted by utilitarian benefits on attitudes, followed by that exerted by hedonic benefits on attitudes. Among other findings, this study highlights the importance consumers give to the taste and safety of food, as well as the greater importance given to hedonic benefits compared to utilitarian ones. These findings have several important implications for managers in the industry.

Purpose Guarantee the product protection and correction of errors, to improve the costs derived from quality defects and to reduce the final over control. Methods In this paper, the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system is applied to the processing line of compost used in the cultivation of mushrooms and other edible cultivated fungi.Results From all stages of the process, only the reception of spawn (stage 1), raw materials (stage 3) and composting Phase II-pasteurization and conditioning (stage 7) has been considered as Critical Control Point. The main hazards found were the presence of pathogenic bacteria (stages 1 and 3), the high content in heavy metals (step 3), the use of unauthorized pesticides or doses above the permitted (stage 3), the presence of unauthorized organic matter (stage 3), the contamination by contact with the compost of Phase I (stage 7), and the wrong distribution of compost (stage 7). Conclusions The implementation of this knowledge will allow the composting plants to control the quality and safety of their products, in order to provide safe compost to the mushroom producing industries.

Currently universities need to be competitive. The current environment forces universities to design strategies where the student becomes the center of their activity. Elements such as student satisfaction become key performance indicators of the strategy, so that universities are required to establish metrics that make it possible to measure the level of performance achieved based on the objectives they had previously set. In order to verify it, through a series of dimensions that measure the satisfaction of the teaching-learning process, a scale has been proposed to measure satisfaction. To confirm the consistency of the proposed scale, the reliability and validity indicators of the same were verified. The selected sample corresponds to university students studying undergraduate and master’s degrees in the online mode. Results obtained show the importance of correctly setting the objectives and contents of the different subjects that make up the curricula of each grade, as well as the outstanding role that the teacher has in said process.