A survey on customers' perception of a hygiene grade certification system for restaurants / 한국영양학회지

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#This study investigated customers' perception of a hygiene grade certification system for restaurants and this study also determined way to promote the application of the hygiene grade certification. @*Methods@#A total of 315 customer responses were used for the data analysis. Statistical analyses were conducted using the SPSS program (ver. 23.0) for frequency analysis, χ2-tests, t-tests, analysis of variance, and Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). @*Results@#The composition of the respondents was 43.8% males and 56.2% females. The 73.3% lived with their families while 26.7% lived alone. Among those surveyed, 84.5% dine out at least once a week and 66.8% dine out during weekends evening. In addition, the most preferred types of restaurants were Korean restaurants (37.5%), delivery restaurants (14.6%), and Western restaurants (8.9%). Information about restaurant was most frequently obtained through Internet searches (54.0%). The average expenditure of eating-out per person was 15,483 Korean won, and the overall satisfaction averaged 3.58 out of 5 points. According to the results of IPA, the restaurant selection attributes that were priorities for improvement were the foods' taste and restroom cleanliness. In addition, 30.5% of respondents recognized the hygiene grade certification system for restaurants. The intention of dining at restaurants with a hygiene grade certification in the future was on average 4.02 out of 5 points. A total of 56.8% of respondents were willing to pay more for a restaurant with a hygiene grade certification. The average percentage of additional price was 6.02%. @*Conclusion@#In order to apply and quickly disseminate the hygiene grade certification system all over the Korea, the study results suggest that relevant policy should be provided by the Korean government for certified restaurants along with the relevant education and promotion of the system to customers.