Parents' meal choices for their children at fast food and family restaurants with different menu labeling presentations

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study examined the effect of nutrition labeling formats on parents' food choices for their children at different restaurant types. SUBJECTS/METHODS: An online survey was conducted with 1,980 parents of children aged 3–12 years. Participants were randomly assigned to fast food or family restaurant scenarios, and one of four menu stimuli conditions: no labeling, low-calorie symbol (symbol), numeric value (numeric), and both low-calorie symbol and numeric value (symbol + numeric). Participants selected menu items for their children. Menu choices and total calories were compared by nutrition labeling formats in each type of the restaurant. RESULTS: Low-calorie item selections were scored and a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted for an interaction effect between restaurant and labeling type. In the fast food restaurant group, parents presented with low-calorie symbols selected the lowest calorie items more often than those not presented with the format. Parents in the symbol + numeric condition selected significantly fewer calories (653 kcal) than those in the no labeling (677 kcal) or numeric conditions (674 kcal) (P = 0.006). In the family restaurant group, no significant difference were observed among different labeling conditions. A significant interaction between restaurant and labeling type on low-calorie selection score (F = 6.03, P < 0.01) suggests that the effect of nutrition labeling format interplays with restaurant type to jointly affect parents' food choices for their children. CONCLUSIONS: The provision of easily interpretable nutritional information format at fast food restaurants may encourage healthier food choices of parents for their children; however, the effects were negligible at family restaurants.

The effect of providing nutritional information about fast-food restaurant menus on parents' meal choices for their children

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: To encourage healthier food choices for children in fast-food restaurants, many initiatives have been proposed. This study aimed to examine the effect of disclosing nutritional information on parents' meal choices for their children at fast-food restaurants in South Korea. SUBJECTS/METHODS: An online experimental survey using a menu board was conducted with 242 parents of children aged 2-12 years who dined with them at fast-food restaurants at least once a month. Participants were classified into two groups: the low-calorie group (n = 41) who chose at least one of the lowest calorie meals in each menu category, and the high-calorie group (n = 201) who did not. The attributes including perceived empowerment, use of provided nutritional information, and perceived difficulties were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The low-calorie group perceived significantly higher empowerment with the nutritional information provided than did the high-calorie group (P = 0.020). Additionally, the low-calorie group was more interested in nutrition labeling (P < 0.001) and considered the nutritional value of menus when selecting restaurants for their children more than did the high-calorie group (P = 0.017). The low-calorie group used the nutritional information provided when choosing meals for their children significantly more than did the high-calorie group (P < 0.001), but the high-calorie group had greater difficulty using the nutritional information provided (P = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that improving the empowerment of parents using nutritional information could be a strategy for promoting healthier parental food choices for their children at fast-food restaurants.

A study on the Determinants Affecting Consumer's Perception on Consumer-Brand Relationship Quality in the Fast Food Restaurant

The purpose of this study was to analyze the determinants affecting the consumer-brand relationship quality (CBRQ) in the fast food restaurant. The questionnaires were distributed to 250 students in the K University located in Masan, who were sampled by convenience-sampling method from December, 6 to 14, 2004. The 246 questionnaires were responded, and 12 unusable questionnaires were excluded, then 234 were used for the final analysis (response rate: 93.7%). SPSS (12.0) was used for the statistical analysis. The result of this study showed that the CBRQ of low monthly income group was significantly lower than that of high monthly income group (p<.05) , and the CBRQ of more frequent visiting group was significantly higher than that of less frequent visiting group (p<.001). The CBRQ of group who spend less than 30 minutes on their visiting the fast food restaurant was lower than that of group who spend more than 30 minutes (p<.01). As a conclusion, the operators in the fast food restaurant should focus on the concentrated marketing strategy for the frequent-visiting customers who had a strong quality of consumer-brand relationship in order to increase sales volume, and at the same time they should try to make marketing strategy to induce the less frequent-visiting customers who had less strong consumer-brand relationship quality to their restaurants in order to strengthen quality of consumer-brand relationship, which would be resulted to lead them to their restaurant more frequently.