Customer Satisfaction

McColl-Kennedy and Schneider (2000) and Reichheld and Sasser (1990) pointed

out that customer satisfaction is important for a restaurant success. Greywitt and Tewet

(2004) stated that customer satisfaction based on customer dining experiences is based on

four factors: environment: 24%, meal: 30%, service: 26%, and cost: 21%. Mill (2004)

listed nine attributes of customers’ expectations towards restaurants as follows: quality of

service, availability of parking, food quality and satisfactory preparation, convenient

hours of operation, helpful employees, reasonable prices, cleanliness of operation, food

safety, and responsiveness to the customer’s complaints.

Zenithal et al. (1993) indicated that repeated dining and positive word of mouth is

a result of the customer satisfaction with the service provider. Cacippo (2000) concluded

that 5% increase in customer loyalty increases profits by 25%. A very satisfied customer

is nearly 6 times more likely to be loyal and recommend the restaurant service than a
normally satisfied customer. Zeithmal and Bitner (1996) believed that the extent of

satisfaction depends on service quality, product quality, price, and personal factors.

Recently, customer satisfaction theories, applied by consumer behaviorists

(Almanza et al., 1994; Johns and Tyas, 1996) to food service have pointed out that

customer satisfaction leads to positive behavioral intentions such as repurchase or return

patronage. Fornell (1992) examined 27 different businesses and found that loyal customers are not
necessarily satisfied customers, but satisfied customers tend to be loyal

customers. Highly satisfied customers are much more loyal than satisfied customers and

any drop in total satisfaction results in a major drop in loyalty (Jones, 1990).

Perceived price fairness is considered an important factor for customer

satisfaction because customers evaluate the value of service on basis of the price they

paid (Anderson et al., 1994). Restaurant customers may be very sensitive to price

fairness; customers utilize comparisons of menu item quality vs. price paid, or price paid
vs. level of service given to assist them in the decision making processes.

2.5 Relationship of Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, and Customer Loyalty

Many researchers perceived service quality as critical issue in the hospitality

industry. Zeithaml (1998) defined service quality as the judgment of a customer about a

product overall excellence. Researcher also agreed that high level of satisfaction

increases repeat patronage and improve service provider market reputation (Yuksel &

Yuksel, 2002). Service quality has a significant impact on the customer purchase

intentions (Cronin & Taylor, 1992). Lee (1998) concluded that the perceived product and

service quality had an effect on customer satisfaction and directly influenced customer

loyalty. From the managerial perspective the service quality and the customer

satisfactions play similar roles toward building customer loyalty (Oh, 2000).

The relationship between satisfaction and loyalty has been observed in several

studies. Customer satisfaction is one of the most important outcomes of the marketing
activities in the restaurant industry (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2000). Expanding the business could
affect customer satisfaction (Barsky, 1992). Cronin and Taylor (1992)

found that customer satisfaction has a significant effect on purchase intentions in service

sector. Getty and Thompson (1994) reported that in the lodging experience the

customers’ intentions to recommend depend on their perception of both their satisfaction

and service quality. Hence, it can be concluded that there is a positive relationship

between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2000).