Abstract Assuming that the more a restaurant’s manager know the preferences of his/her clients, the greater the chance to maximise the experience of the customers and therefore the revenue of the restaurant. However, very little is known about the attributes that influence menu-item choice of such customers in a restaurant context and consequently, on the relative importance attached to specific attributes shaping the overall appeal of a menu-item. Despite the familiarity that consumers have with making menu-item choices, there exists a significant paucity of academic research exploring the relative importance of attributes that influence menu-item selection in a restaurant context. This research aims to respond to the following question: what are the attributes that influence menu-item choice in a casual and fine-dining restaurants context? To explore further the reasons that influence menu-item choice, the authors also investigate the extent the customers’ level of food involvement and the social context have an impact on the attributes influencing menu-item choice in these two restaurants’ contexts. This study utilises the Best-Worst method to examine consumer-based preference in relation to the relative importance of attributes that influence the menu-item choice of casual and fine-dining restaurant patrons. Respondents should have patronised a casual or fine-dining restaurant within the last 4 weeks and 6 months respectively and were randomly allocated the task to respond the questions either with a casual-dining context in mind or with a fine-dining context in mind. Consumer attribute-based preferences are also examined in relation to an individual’s level of food involvement and effect of social context, giving the authors the opportunity to split the entire sample into sub groups. The overarching objective is to draw comparisons in order to determine whether the attributes that influence menu-item choice differ between segments of consumers. Quantitative data was collected from 1208 respondents in Australia representative of casual and fine-dining restaurant patrons. Results of the study indicate that “the combination of ingredients” is the most influential attribute on patrons’ menu-item selection at casual and fine-dining restaurants, with a probability of 100% for that attribute to be chosen as the most important one when selecting a dish. Conversely, the “avoidance of certain foods” and “the core ingredient of the dish is sustainably produced” are the least important attributes influencing the menu-item selection of restaurant patrons, with a probability of 30 and 38% for these attributes to be chosen as the most important one when selecting a dish. Interestingly, the ranking and relative importance of menu-item attributes significantly differed between segments of consumers with a high and low level of food involvement. The “the combination of ingredients” remains the most important reason for people highly involved in food. Whereas “a sufficient portion size that will satisfy my appetite” and “a dish that I have tried before and know that I will like the taste” have probabilities of 100 and 94.5% to be chosen as the most important attribute when selecting a dish for people with low food involvement.

中文翻译：

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餐厅环境中影响消费者菜单项选择的因素

摘要 假设餐厅经理越了解他/她的客户的喜好，就越有可能最大化客户的体验，从而最大化餐厅的收入。然而，对于影响这些顾客在餐厅环境中选择菜单项的属性，以及因此对塑造菜单项整体吸引力的特定属性的相对重要性，我们知之甚少。尽管消费者对菜单项选择很熟悉，但在探索影响餐厅环境中菜单项选择的属性的相对重要性的学术研究方面却非常缺乏。本研究旨在回答以下问题：在休闲和高级餐厅环境中，影响菜单项选择的属性是什么？为了进一步探讨影响菜单项选择的原因，作者还调查了顾客的食物参与程度和社会环境对这两家餐厅环境中影响菜单项选择的属性的影响程度。本研究利用最佳-最差方法来检查基于消费者的偏好与影响休闲和高级餐厅顾客菜单项选择的属性的相对重要性之间的关系。受访者应该分别在过去 4 周和 6 个月内光顾过休闲或高级餐厅，并随机分配任务以考虑休闲用餐环境或考虑高级餐厅环境来回答问题。还根据个人的食物参与程度和社会环境的影响检查了基于消费者属性的偏好，这使作者有机会将整个样本分成子组。首要目标是进行比较，以确定影响菜单项选择的属性在不同消费者群体之间是否不同。定量数据来自澳大利亚 1208 名代表休闲和高级餐厅顾客的受访者。研究结果表明，在休闲和高级餐厅，“食材组合”是顾客选择菜单项的最有影响的属性，该属性被选为最重要的概率为 100%。选择一道菜。反过来，“避免某些食物”和“菜肴的核心成分是可持续生产的”是影响餐厅顾客菜单项选择的最不重要的属性，这些属性被选为最不重要的属性的概率分别为 30% 和 38%。选择菜肴时最重要的一个。有趣的是，菜单项属性的排名和相对重要性在食品参与度高和低的消费者群体之间存在显着差异。“配料组合”仍然是人们高度参与食品的最重要原因。而“足以满足我食欲的份量”和“我以前尝试过并知道我会喜欢它的味道的菜”的概率为 100 和 94。