J Nutr Health.  2014 Dec;47(6):463-474. 10.4163/jnh.2014.47.6.463.

Customer perception and expert assessment in restaurant food environment by region: Focused on restaurants in Suwon, Hwaseong city

• Oh MH
• Choe JS
• Kim Y
• Lee SE
• Paik HY
• Jang MJ

• KMID: 2327101
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4163/jnh.2014.47.6.463

Abstract

PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to assess the food environment, particularly focusing on restaurants in three areas (Suwon city, Hwaseong Byeongieom-dong, and Bibong-myun).
METHODS
A total of 662 persons were surveyed on customers' perceptions of the food environment in restaurants. A structured questionnaire composed of 30 questions on 7 factors, sanitation (4 items), displaying information (5), food quality (12), information on nutritional and healthy food choice (6), restaurant's accessibility (1), availability (1), and affordability (1) was used. In addition, an expert assessment of restaurant sanitation, and information on nutritional.healthy food choice was conducted through visiting 126 restaurants.
RESULTS
Scores (range of score : 1~7) for each factors assessing the restaurant food environment were 5.06 for sanitation factors, 5.05 for displaying information factors, 5.13 for taste.appearance factors, and 4.35 for healthy menu factors. Informations on nutritional.healthy food choice showed a low rate: only 16.24% of the subjects answered that there is a message encouraging choice of healthy foods and 27.4% answered that menus contain nutritional information. Significant differences in food environment were observed by region (city, town, rural). The restaurants food environment in the rural area turned out to be poorer than that of the other two areas. In comparison of customer perception and expert assessment, significant differences were observed for 'Employee appearances and uniforms are clean and tidy' (p < .05), and 'There is a message encouraging the choice of healthy foods' (p < .05).
CONCLUSION
This study provided evidence for differences of restaurant food environment by regions. In the rural area, there is a problem in restaurant's accessibility, availability, and affordability because of a lack of variety in menu items and restaurants. This results suggest that there is a need for more healthy food restaurants in the rural area.

Keyword

restaurant food environment; Korean restaurant; customer perception

MeSH Terms

Food Quality
Gyeonggi-do
Humans
Surveys and Questionnaires
Restaurants*
Sanitation

Reference

References

1. Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Korea Health Statistics 2012: Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V-3). Cheongwon: Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;2013.

2. Korea Rural Economic Institute. A base study on developing the consumer behavior survey for food. Seoul: Korea Rural Economic Institute;2013.

3. Suh YS, Jang JH, Kim HS, Chung YJ. Comparison of nutritional status of the Daejeon metropolitan citizens by frequency of eating out. Korean J Nutr. 2010; 43(2):171–180.

4. Lee D, Lee JC, Kim MH. Effect of menu calorie labels on menu sales and consumer's recognition at a Korean restaurant in a hotel. Korean J Community Nutr. 2013; 18(5):505–514.

5. Story M, Kaphingst KM, Robinson-O'Brien R, Glanz K. Creating healthy food and eating environments: policy and environmental approaches. Annu Rev Public Health. 2008; 29:253–272.

6. D'Angelo H, Suratkar S, Song HJ, Stauffer E, Gittelsohn J. Access to food source and food source use are associated with healthy and unhealthy food-purchasing behaviours among low-income African-American adults in Baltimore city. Public Health Nutr. 2011; 14(9):1632–1639.

7. Boehmer TK, Lovegreen SL, Haire-Joshu D, Brownson RC. What constitutes an obesogenic environment in rural communities? Am J Health Promot. 2006; 20(6):411–421.

8. Moore LV, Diez Roux AV, Nettleton JA, Jacobs DR, Franco M. Fast-food consumption, diet quality, and neighborhood exposure to fast food: the multiethnic study of atherosclerosis. Am J Epidemiol. 2009; 170(1):29–36.

9. Hearst MO, Pasch KE, Laska MN. Urban v. suburban perceptions of the neighbourhood food environment as correlates of adolescent food purchasing. Public Health Nutr. 2012; 15(2):299–306.

10. Lucan SC, Mitra N. Perceptions of the food environment are associated with fast-food (not fruit-and-vegetable) consumption: findings from multi-level models. Int J Public Health. 2012; 57(3):599–608.

11. Roberto CA, Larsen PD, Agnew H, Baik J, Brownell KD. Evaluating the impact of menu labeling on food choices and intake. Am J Public Health. 2010; 100(2):312–318.

12. Saelens BE, Glanz K, Sallis JF, Frank LD. Nutrition Environment Measures Study in Restaurants (NEMS-R): development and evaluation. Am J Prev Med. 2007; 32(4):273–281.

13. Minaker LM, Raine KD, Cash SB. Measuring the food service environment: development and implementation of assessment tools. Can J Public Health. 2009; 100(6):421–425.

14. Clark RA, Coffee N. Why measuring accessibility is important for public health: a review from the Cardiac ARIA project. Public Health Bull S Aust. 2011; 8(1):3–8.

15. Frank L, Glanz K, McCarron M, Sallis J, Saelens B, Chapman J. The spatial distribution of food outlet type and quality around schools in differing built environment and demographic contexts. Berkeley Plan J. 2006; 19:79–95.

16. Jeffery RW, Baxter J, McGuire M, Linde J. Are fast food restaurants an environmental risk factor for obesity? Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2006; 3:2.

17. Lytle LA. Measuring the food environment: state of the science. Am J Prev Med. 2009; 36(4 Suppl):S134–S144.

18. Giskes K, van Lenthe FJ, Brug J, Mackenbach JP, Turrell G. Socioeconomic inequalities in food purchasing: the contribution of respondent-perceived and actual (objectively measured) price and availability of foods. Prev Med. 2007; 45(1):41–48.

19. Zenk SN, Schulz AJ, Hollis-Neely T, Campbell RT, Holmes N, Watkins G, Nwankwo R, Odoms-Young A. Fruit and vegetable intake in African Americans income and store characteristics. Am J Prev Med. 2005; 29(1):1–9.

20. Kim H, Yang I, Shin S. Effect of the service providers' perceived service quality on customer loyalty in restaurants. Korean J Community Nutr. 2000; 5(2):236–242.

21. Byun GI, Cho WJ. Family restaurant customers' quality evaluation and satisfaction depending on the physical environmental variables. Korean J Food Cult. 2006; 21(1):51–56.

22. Lee GR, Yoo YJ, Park GS. A study of the effect of environmental characteristics on overall service quality, and repurchase intentions in Korean foodservice firms. Korean J Food Cult. 2005; 20(6):661–667.

23. Jung MB, Kim SH, Kim YI. Impacts of hotel buffer restaurant's physical environment on both service quality and customer satisfaction as well as customer's loyalty – focused on the super deluxe hotels in Seoul. Korean J Tourism Res. 2010; 25(3):101–120.

24. Koo S, Park K. Dietary behaviors and lifestyle characteristics related to frequent eating out among Korean adults. J Korean Soc Food Sci Nutr. 2013; 42(5):705–712.

25. Kim Y, Seo S, Kwon O, Cho MS. Comparisons of dietary behavior, food intake, and satisfaction with food-related life between the elderly living in urban and rural areas. Korean J Nutr. 2012; 45(3):252–263.

26. Statistics Korea. Korean statistical information service [Internet]. Daejeon: Statistics Korea;2013. [cited 2013 Jan 15]. Available from:. http://kosis.kr/statisticsList/statisticsList_01List.jsp?vwcd=. MT_ZTITLE&parentId=K. MT_ZTITLE&parentId=K.

27. Monthly Restaurant. The customer behavior of eating out 2012 [Internet]. Seoul: Korea Food Service Information Co. Ltd.;2012. [cited 2014 Jan 15] Available from:. http://month.foodbank.co.kr/etc/search_view.php?secIndex=2863&page=15&section=&serial=&keyfield=all&key=?.

28. Agency Small Business. Commercial information systems [Internet]. Daejeon: Small Enterprise and Market Service;2008. [cited 2013 Jan 15] Available from:. http://sg.kmdc.or.kr/index.sg#/analy/result/D_205321_0/.

29. Hong K, Joung H. Restaurateur's willingness to participate in the healthy restaurant program in Seoul. Korean J Nutr. 2009; 42(3):268–277.

30. Hwang JJ. How does nutritional information about fast food menu items influence consumer choice behavior according to their health consciousness and nutritional knowledge? Korean J Hosp Adm. 2012; 21(2):93–112.

31. Yoo YJ, Lee JK, Choi YS. The evaluation of service employees' sanitary management in hotels. Korean J Food Cookery Sci. 2006; 23(5):565–572.

32. Wong F, Stevens D, O'Connor-Duffany K, Siegel K, Gao Y. Community Interventions for Health (CIH) collaboration. Community Health Environment Scan Survey (CHESS): a novel tool that captures the impact of the built environment on lifestyle factors. Glob Health Action. 2011; 4:5276.

33. Baranowski T, Missaghian M, Watson K, Broadfoot A, Cullen K, Nicklas T, Fisher J, O'Donnell S. Home fruit, juice, and vegetable pantry management and availability scales: a validation. Appetite. 2008; 50(2–3):266–277.

34. Hair JF, Black WC, Babin BJ, Anderson RE. Multivariate data analysis. 7th edition.Upper Saddle River (NJ): Prentice Hall;2009.

35. Kye SH, Moon HK, Chung HR, Hwang SH, Kim WS, Moon HY. A study for the improvement of sanitary condition in Korean style-restaurant in Seoul city area (I) -evaluation on sanitation of working environment and facilities for the kitchen–. Korean J Food Cult. 1995; 9(5):457–465.

36. Kye SH, Moon HK, Chung HR, Hwang SH, Kim WS. A study for the improvement of sanitary condition in Korean style-restaurant in Seoul city area (II) -evaluation on sanitary management of cooking equipment and personal hygiene–. Korean J Food Cult. 1995; 10(1):1–10.

37. Kim SJ, Yi NY, Chang HJ, Kwak TK. Current status of sanitation management performance in Korean-food restaurants and development of the sanitary training posters based on their risk factors. Korean J Food Cult. 2008; 23(5):582–594.

38. Yu JL, Park DY. Korean family's perception of the importance of the quality of restaurants according to family life cycle. Korean J Community Nutr. 2002; 7(1):130–140.

39. Sohn CY. Perception of nutrition labeling on restaurant menus among adults in Suwon. Korean J Community Nutr. 2009; 14(4):420–429.

40. Chung HJ, Cheon HS, Kwon KI, Kim JY, Yoo KS, Lee JH, Kim JW, Park HK, Kim SH, Hong SM. The recognition and requirement of nutrition labeling in fast-food restaurants. Korean J Nutr. 2009; 42(1):68–77.

41. Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Menu nutritional information manual [Internet]. Cheongju: Ministry of Food and Drug Safety;2013. [cited 2014 Jan 20]. Available from:. http://www.mfds.go.kr/nutrition.

42. Hong K, Joung H. Developing a questionnaire to evaluate the healthy restaurant program. Korean J Nutr. 2011; 44(6):562–576.

43. Ma X, Barnes TL, Freedman DA, Bell BA, Colabianchi N, Liese AD. Test-retest reliability of a questionnaire measuring perceptions of neighborhood food environment. Health Place. 2013; 21:65–69.

44. United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Access to affordable and nutritious food-measuring and understanding food deserts and their consequences: report to congress [Internet]. Washington, D.C.: Economic Research Service;2009. [cited 2014 Apr 10]. Available from:. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/ap-administrative-publication/ap-036.aspx.