Determinants of Choice for Dining out to Fast Food and Traditional Food

Abstract

Expenditure on food-away-from-home has been increasing with a rapid increase in market share of fast food industry. In this paper, food-away-from-home has been analyzed in the context of two different types of restaurants i.e. fast food and traditional food restaurants. The trend in the fast food may impact the structure of the food distribution and demand for goods at farm level. This study investigates the effects of selected socio-demographic variables on consumers' choice for fast food and traditional food restaurants. The variables considered in this study were age, income, gender, taste, cost and quality of customer service. These variables were used to check whether and to what extent they affect consumers' choice to dine out to either fast food or traditional food restaurants. Gender and quality of customer service found to be insignificant for fast food restaurants, while significant for traditional food restaurants. All other variables were found significant for both types of restaurants.