Effects of history, location and size of ethnic enclaves and ethnic restaurants on authentic cultural gastronomic experiences

Abstract

Purpose The extant gastronomy literature has rarely examined a connection between authentic gastronomic experiences and destinations. Specifically, ethnic enclaves, which are unique gastronomic and cultural destinations providing ethnic cuisine and cultural experiences to visitors, have been under-researched. Thus, this study aims to address this knowledge gap. Design/methodology/approach Using a 2 (history: long vs short) × 2 (location: Central Business District vs rural; main street vs alleyway) × 2 size/ownership type (big vs small; chain vs independent) between-subjects design, two experiments were conducted using a sample of 557 British consumers to test the effect of history, location and size of ethnic enclaves and ethnic restaurants on consumers’ authentic cultural and gastronomic experiences in a UK context. Findings In Study 1, ethnic enclave’s size affected consumers’ authentic cultural experiences. In Study 2, restaurants’ history and ownership type positively influenced consumers’ authentic gastronomic experiences. Both studies consistently reported the positive relationship between authentic experiences and behavioural intentions. Practical implications For ethnic enclaves, the management team may consider expanding the size of ethnic enclaves to increase consumers’ authentic cultural experience. For those ethnic restaurants within the ethnic enclave, any independent or old ethnic restaurants should actively promote both characteristics in their marketing materials to create a feeling of offering authentic gastronomic experiences to customers. Originality/value This study identified important ethnic enclave-related factors and ethnic restaurant-related factors forming consumers’ authentic cultural and gastronomic experiences.

Typographic design of outdoor signage, restaurant authenticity, and consumers’ willingness to dine: extending semiotic theory

“…Third, this study contributes to the restaurant authenticity literature. Previous studies seem to neglect the importance of external environmental factors (Song and Kim, 2022), particularly those related to signage language. Among the limited academic attempts, foreign language shown on the restaurant signs did not increase diners’ authenticity perception (Magnini et al , 2011).…”

“…For example, De Vries and Go (2017) reported external façade contributes to restaurant authenticity. However, scholars found that both the foreign language displayed on outdoor signboard (Magnini et al , 2011) and the area (city center vs rural area) that the ethnic restaurant is located in Song and Kim (2022) do not contribute to the level of restaurant authenticity. As a result, the theoretical knowledge in this area is still limited, and our study aims to shed light on this understudied area.…”

“…Scholars (e.g., De Vries and Go, 2017;Lin et al, 2022) have been emphasizing the significant role of restaurants' internal and external environment in shaping customers' authenticity perception as it often reflects the business culture. However, little empirical support is available on the association between the restaurant's external environment (e.g., external façade and signage) and customers' authenticity perception of restaurants (Magnini et al, 2011;Song and Kim, 2022), and the dominant literature focuses on the internal environment, such as food, décor, music, and staff ethnicity (Mohamed et al, 2020;Richards, 2021;Song et al, 2019;Yang et al, 2022).…”

“…external façade and signage) and customers’ authenticity perception of restaurants (Magnini et al , 2011). Song and Kim (2022) and the dominant literature focuses on the internal environment, such as food, décor, music and staff ethnicity (Mohamed et al , 2020; Richards, 2021; Song et al , 2019; Yang et al , 2022). Therefore, this study aims to fill this knowledge gap with contextual evidence of ethnic restaurants’ outdoor signage.…”

Guest editorial: Creating, managing and marketing gastronomy experiences in hospitality and tourism

“…The study proposed by Song and Kim (2022) deals with the relation between gastronomic experiences and destinations, by focusing on ethnic enclaves. The authors develop two experiments by leveraging a sample of 557 British consumers to test the effect of history, location and size of ethnic enclaves and ethnic restaurants on consumers' authentic cultural and gastronomic experiences.…”