A Study of Service Consumption Situation of Local Food Restaurants in Second-tier Provinces, Central Region: Mixed Method Research

Abstract

The aims of this research were 1) to examine the service consumption situation of local food restaurants, 2) to compare levels of customer satisfactions towards the service offering and products according to their different personal characteristics, and 3) to investigate problems, obstacles, and recommendations on the service of local food restaurants in second-tier provinces, central region. The study employed a mixed method research. The results revealed that 1) the consumers visited the local food restaurants in Suphan Buri province the most (19.01 %). Most of the consumers received information about the restaurants from online media (84.90 %). In addition, 36.62 % of them visited the restaurants about 2-3 times a year, and 71.92 % of them visited the average local food restaurants. Theoverallcustomer satisfactions towards theserviceofferingand products was at ahighlevel (3.71 ± 0.69),2) inaspectof process, thecomparisonof customer satisfactions revealed that different genders showed different satisfactions towards the service offering and products of the restaurants. Meanwhile, based on status and education, the customer satisfactions towards theserviceofferingand productsof therestaurants werenot significantly different in all aspects, and 3) regarding problems, obstacles, and recommendations, the product and service designs did not clearly show characteristics of the local ingredients, the standard prices were not specified, and there were a few distribution channels. The locations and guide signs were not clear. Also, there was no support in public relations and promotion strategies. In addition, the staff members were lacking in service knowledge and skills, while the restaurant design and decoration were not interesting.