Thai Food in Malaysia: Diagnosing Restaurant Operators’ and Patrons Acceptance Levels

Abstract

This empirical study investigates the extent that the Malaysian restaurant operators and customers accept the Thai food. Any changes in customers' eating patterns of the local cuisines are also evaluated. Restaurant operators and customers in three Malaysia northern states (Perlis, Kedah and Penang) were selected as a sample. Both restaurant operators and customers saw a trend towards Thai foods which are becoming well accepted in this country. Nevertheless, the popularity of Thai food is not to the extent of outshining the local food. Thai foods were found to be not consumed everyday by the local people, but rather as an option or alternative or as part of leisure dining. Another remarkable finding is that respondents seemed to agree that Thai food is internationally popular than the Malaysian food. This indication has significant implications to the related authorities as to why Malaysian food is not as popular as Thai food internationally in spite of having a distinctive flavour and diversity of taste. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR Copyright of International Journal of Business & Management is the property of Canadian Center of Science & Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)