Effects of Rural Restaurants’ Outdoor Dining Environment Dimensions on Customers’ Satisfaction: A Consumer Perspective

Abstract

The catering industry is one of the important industries that promote rural tourism development. Hence, rural restaurants have high research value. However, few studies have examined rural restaurants and their outdoor dining environments (ODE). In this study, from the perspective of consumers and using exploratory factor analysis, three ODE dimensions (quality and facilities, image and atmosphere, and landscape elements) were proposed that affect customers’ satisfaction with rural restaurants. Moreover, the differences between different customer groups in terms of the various dimensions were analyzed. The research results provide management recommendations and fundamental knowledge for rural restaurant managers and rural restaurant designers and articulate different consumer groups’ expectations with regard to rural restaurants.

The Evaluation of Rural Outdoor Dining Environment from Consumer Perspective

“…In the process of sorting out the image information, we combined the three dimensions proposed by Yang et al [ 4 ] with the ODE landscape elements that frequently appear in the statistics for preliminary classification, and classified the elements into 37 types. Then, we referred to the Delphi method [ 42 ] that Bao et al used to classify wetland landscapes [ 43 ].…”

“…The rural catering industry is vital to promoting the rural economy and protecting local cultural capital, and can also promote the joint development of urban and rural areas. As an important attraction for rural restaurants, the rural outdoor dining environment (ODE) plays an important role in the development of rural restaurants [ 4 ]. As a traditional settlement, the countryside is an important spatial carrier for agricultural production, ecological conservation, and cultural inheritance, and it has irreplaceable functions and status as urban areas [ 5 ].…”

“…Hong and Hsu [ 23 ] summarized restaurant interior environments into four dimensions: physical environment (architecture, restaurant name, sign, interior design and decoration, furniture and equipment, layout, lighting, temperature, aroma, and music), product and service (appearance and flavor of food and beverages, plating, the items on and design of the menu, tableware, employees’ expressions, employees’ physical movement and gestures, employees’ introductions, communication, and storytelling), employee’s aesthetic traits (appearance, voice, and body odor), and other customers’ aesthetic traits (customer appearance, voice, behavior, and etiquette). Yang et al [ 4 ] proposed three ODE dimensions that influence consumer satisfaction with rural restaurants: quality and facilities (uniform, appearance, garnish, table setting, service quality, table placement, illumination, and decorations), image and atmosphere (name, natural sound, signage, and music), and landscape elements (pavement, artificial structure, buildings, and ornamental plants), and found that customers in rural areas tend to prefer to experience natural landscapes, and no other study proposed the ODE dimensions as far as we know. Albright et al [ 24 ] found that women and older adults tend to be more interested in making healthy choices in restaurants.…”

“…Bai et al [ 25 ] also found that women were more selective in choosing safe restaurant environments to protect themselves. Based on the above, we know that most of the previous studies on the dining environment focused on the building or indoor environment, and few studies focused on the consumer preference of ODE in rural restaurants [ 4 ]. The outdoor environment of a rural restaurant differs somewhat from the influencing elements of the indoor environment, and together they affect consumer satisfaction in dining.…”

Berpadu dalam Harmoni: Pemanfaatan ElemenFloral dalam Bisnis Kuliner

“…Konsumen dapat merasakan keharuman bunga, melihat keindahan visualnya, serta merasakan tekstur dan sensasi unik yang ditawarkan oleh bunga yang digunakan. Dari sisi bisnis, penggunaan elemen floral dalam seni kuliner menjadi tren yang semakin populer dalam beberapa tahun terakhir (Fernandes et al, 2020;Yang & Luo, 2021). Restoran dan kafe berlomba-lomba untuk menciptakan hidangan dengan tampilan yang indah dan menarik menggunakan elemen floral.…”