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Chapter-1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
A restaurant is a business establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to
customers in return for money, either paid before the meal, after the meal, or with a
running tab. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants
also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearance
and offerings, including a wide variety of the main chef's cuisines and service models.
The main purpose of the restaurants was to provide meals to the customers but the
scenario of the restaurants changing now-a-days as the customer visit the different
restaurants for entertainment, get-together, meeting, conference etc. As the number of
the meals eaten outside the home continues to increase, the restaurant industry is one
of the fast growing service industries in epal. !ith growing competitiveness in the
restaurant industries and the similarity of the products" services offered by restaurants,
it has become increasingly important that the restaurants identify the factors that
determine the basis upon which customers choose between restaurants.
The researcher and the practitioner are focused in identifying the key elements
that determine the consumer behaviour regarding how they select the restaurants. #t is
also important to note that customers with different characteristics tend to use
different criteria in selecting restaurants. $%ploring and identifying the key elements
would be fruitful for the restaurants as they can build appropriate strategies to retain
the e%isting customers and to attract new customers.
1.2. LITERATURE REVIEW
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R$&TA'RAT ATTR#('T$&
Restaurant selection criteria are the most important attributes that customers use in
deciding where to dine-out. )ustomers may apply diverse criteria in evaluating the
importance of attribute affecting their restaurant choice. *reviously, the five factors
have been studied to identify the consumer behaviour+ food ,uality, menu variety,
price, atmosphere and convenience factor. -ther researcher suggested three factor
model+ service ,uality, product ,uality and atmospheric as main restaurant attributes
affecting the perceived ,uality of the restaurant e%periences. The total dining
e%perience in a restaurant is comprised of not food itself, but also the atmosphere
.physical aspects/ and the service provided. Although a variety of restaurant choice
criteria were identified, but previous studies have not considered how the selection
criteria differ according to the restaurant types and how fre,uent users for fast-food
and full-service differ in terms of their socio-demographic characteristics and the
criteria they think as important.
R$&TA'RAT T0*$ A1 R$&TA'RAT )2-#)$
Restaurants can be broadly defined into two categories+ fast service and full service
restaurants. Although previous research in customer behaviour in restaurant settings
did not take restaurant type in to account, restaurant type may have significant impact
on customer3s pre-purchase belief and attitudes as well as post purchase evaluation.
&ince customers hold different e%pectation and perceptions of their dining e%periences
in different restaurant type, they may also have different selection criteria when they
decide when to dine-out depending on the restaurant type. -verall full-service
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restaurants are more likely to attract hedonic customers who pay more attention to
restaurant environment whereas fast-service restaurant tend to appeal utilitarian
customers who value functional benefits.
)'&T-M$R )2ARA)T$R#&T#) A1 R$&TA'RAT )2-#)$
The ,uestion of how socio-demographic variables influence consumer behaviour is an
important issue that has to be studied with respect to the consumer3s purchasing
decision. #n customer behaviour literature, personal characteristics are one of the
ma4or factors determining consumer decision-making and subse,uent behaviour. The
person conscious about their health may be affected by the ,uality of food provided in
the restaurant. #n more recent study it was found that the young age people are not
concerned about the ,uality of the food whereas the people above 56 years old are
concerned about the ,uality of food. 7ikewise, male are more utilitarian than female
in selecting restaurant and food items as they seek to eat more useful food than
attractive one.
1. STATE!ENT OF THE "ROBLE!
The study will focus on the restaurant3s key attributes that determine and persist to
satisfy the need of the customers.
&pecifically8 the research will intend to answer the following research ,uestions+
i. 2ow do customers perceive the key attributes of the restaurant9
ii. !hich factor affects the customer the most9 *rice or :uality9
iii. !hat are the main reasons for the fre,uent visit of the customers in a
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particular restaurant9

1.# OB$ECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The study will focus on the services and products provided by different restaurants
and the behaviour of the consumer. Therefore, the following ob4ectives have
considered for the study+
i. To identify the key attributes of the restaurant that affect customer.
ii. To e%amine if there is any difference in selection criteria between fast food
and full service restaurant
iii. To find out the reasons for customer3s choice for the restaurants.
iv. To find the impact of services and products provided by different restaurants
among customers
1.% RESEARCH !ETHODOLOGY
#n this section, the detail about the description of the process of data collection and
how the collected data are analy;ed will be presented.
1.& RESEARCH DESIGN
The proposal will need the e%ploration of the phenomenon. Therefore, the e%ploratory
research approach is used for this study.
1.' "O"ULATION
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<or research, the sample of total population from *okhara valley will be taken who
are interested in eating outside .restaurants/. The respondent will be chosen randomly.
1.( SA!"LE SI)E
About =66 samples of customers in *okhara will be taken as respondent through
which the concrete result will be finali;ed.
1.* DATA COLLECTION "ROCEDURE
1ata will be collected from primary sources and secondary sources. The ,uestionnaire
will be designed and supplied to the respondents for collecting primary data while
secondary data will be collected from websites, maga;ines etc.
1.*.1 "r+,ar- Data
The *rimary data will be collected through general interview. :uestionnaire will be
developed to gather the essential information and the customer will be interviewed
orally.
1.*.2 Se./01ar- Data
&econdary 1ata will be collected through maga;ines, newspaper, leaflets, websites,
R$(A etc.

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REFERENCES
1. http+""en.wikipedia.org"wiki"Restaurant
2. http+""rebanpokhara.com"
. http+""www.lasplash.com"publish"<oodAnd(everage"cat>inde%>chicago>food"Th
e>2imalayan>Restaurant>Review.php