Qualitative study of main attributes that determine the consumer quality and price perceptions of a Ia carte restaurants

Abstract

This paper presents a qualitative study of the determinants of perceived quality and price for la carte restaurant customers. For this, four focus group interviews were conducted joining customers categorized as: couples without children, friends ' group, families, and executives. The most important identified determinants of perceived quality were: food attributes, service, ambient, wait time, cleaning, safety, support facilities, menu, drink attributes, privacy, accuracy, decoration, and confirmation of expectations. These determinants were compared with the perceived quality model suggested by Parasuraman et al. (1985) and some modifications were proposed based on the results gathered on the la carte restaurants study and on other evidences presented in literature. On the other hand, the most important determinants of perceived price were: food quality, decoration, ambient, service, support facilities, menu, cleaning, drink attributes, portion amount, previous expectations, and privacy. The results suggest the existence of a relationship between the determinants of perceived quality and perceived price for la carte restaurants customers. These results are compared with other literature studies.