CHAPER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

“Customer satisfaction is one of the most important issue concerning business

organization of all types, which is justified by the customer oriented philosophy and the

principles of continues improvement in modern enterprise” (Arokiasamy, 2013).

The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines food simply as thing that people and

animal eat. Customers depend on their food for their physiological needs to survive. The failure

to supply the bodies with sufficient quantities of food can result in disease and death. Vlisides

et al. (2000), note that food is important not only for its nutritional value, but also for its social

significance, such as sacrifice, prestige and expression of friendship.

Numerous research studies have shown that customer satisfaction is an important topic

for food service managers. A high level of customer satisfaction leads to an increase in repeat

patronage, brand loyalty, as well as recruiting new customers by enhancing an organization’s

reputation. Other than customer satisfaction, most of the research also shown that the most

important factors influencing a customer’s decision when choosing a restaurant are food

quality, service quality, value, cleanliness, and whether their food prepared to order.

Among all the possible determinants of customer satisfaction in restaurants, studies have

found that food quality is rated as the most powerful predictor of customer intent to return.

Pettijohn, and Luke (2007) studied fast food restaurant customer satisfaction where they

found that food quality had the highest mean among all the variables. Even though Shoemaker’s
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(2008) study about university food service did not use food quality to predict the customer’s

intention to return, it did show that food quality had the highest rating among all of the variables

which was used in the market segmentation study. Therefore, it is logical to surmise that

customer satisfaction with a university’s food quality is influential in determining intentions to

return. Other than food quality, the restaurant’s physical setting may also affect customer

satisfaction and return intentions. Sulek and Hensley (2004) proved that atmosphere of the

dining area was a significant predictor of satisfaction in the overall dining experience.

University dining facilities have begun to emphasize décor, music, and lighting as a selling

point to customers. This helps to create an expectation of the dining experience. Hence, it is

rational to believe that the customer’s perceptions of service quality and a restaurant’s

atmosphere may be influential in determining their return intentions. In addition to atmosphere,

service quality has been found to be a significant factor in determining customer satisfaction

and their intentions.

Price and value is also an important factor. A study by Qu (2002) regarding determinant

factors and choice intention for dining at Chinese restaurants found that price and value was

significantly related to the customer’s satisfaction and their intention to return. Furthermore,

Shoemaker (2008) found that students considered reasonable price an important variable when

deciding where to eat. As a result, the researcher believes that price and value is a critical factor

to be included in this study in determining the customer’ satisfaction.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the factors that affect the customer’s satisfaction and the

return intention to a particular food establishment.

That will answer to the following questions:

1. Is there a significant relationship between gender and age group to the customer’s

satisfaction?

1.1 Gender

1.2 Age group

2. Is there a significant relationship between monthly income to the price and value?

3. How does the customer’s satisfaction be described?

4. How the factor of a food establishment does affect the customer’s satisfaction?

5. Is there a significant relationship between factors of a food establishment to the

customer’s satisfaction?

6. Is there a significant relationship between customer’s satisfaction to the return

intention?

Significant of the Study

This study will help to determine the precise factor of food establishment which affect

the customer’s satisfaction and the return intention. The researchers hope that the study will

benefit the food service operators in providing best practices as well as provide a contribution

to the body of knowledge. This research will aim to support these benefits in terms of food

quality, service quality, price and value, atmosphere and the return intention of the customers.
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The outcome of this study is the factors that a food establishment affects the customer’s

satisfaction and the return intention of the customers that will benefit to improve their food

establishment. The food establishment will know what will be enhancing in terms of food

quality, service quality, price and value, and atmosphere.

This will give them strategies to improve more the factors and make them the meet the

customer’s satisfaction. Therefore, it is important to know what their customer’s product

satisfaction is.

Scope and Delimitation

This study will focus and limits only on the factors that affects customer’s satisfaction

and the return intention of the customers to a particular food establishment. The respondents

will be given a survey questionnaires and responds to it. The factors that affect the customer’s

satisfaction of food establishment and the return intention of the customers will categorize on

the survey questionnaires instruments. This research instruments will only take once. To be able

to determine the result, likert scale will be used to the questionnaires.

The study will be conducting in several areas around Poblacion, Angat, Bulacan, during

the first semester (S.Y. 2017-2018). Only a group of customers to a food establishment will be

use of the respondents of the study.