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ABSTRACT
In recent past, research studies on the restaurant industry concentrated on variables such as variety of drinks with little focus on attributes such as food quality, service quality and atmosphere. The little amount of research highlighting these attributes if at all, were carried out in the Chinese and American systems, highlighting their value systems only. The present conceptual research is aimed at narrowing these research gaps by examining the impacts of service quality, food quality and atmosphere on customer satisfaction and behavioral intention in the restaurant industry, in the South-East Asian context, with particular emphasis on the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. This conceptual research is intended to carry out an in-depth review of literature pertaining to three independent variables (i.e. food quality, service quality and atmosphere) and two dependent variables (i.e. customer satisfaction and behavioral intention). Particularly, the study hypothesized that food quality, service quality and atmosphere will significantly influence customer satisfaction and behavioral intention in the restaurant industry in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. Several implications of this study were further discussed.
Keywords: Customer satisfaction, behavioral intentions, food quality, service quality, atmosphere, restaurant.
INTRODUCTION
The food and beverage industry, and in particular the restaurant sector is known to be one of the most competitive industries in the world (Maze, 2013). There is continuous flux, in terms of new entrants, expansion and closing of businesses. Over the last half decade, Klang Valley has experienced a population growth spurt, drawing mainly middle to high income earners along with large numbers of tourists. The combination of these population segments creates a demand for good food; not just good, but restaurants that can offer healthy, nutritious and tasty foods, with a creative flair, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. This coupled with convenience and a desire for a highly pleasant dining out experience, is cause to believe there will be consistent demand for consumer direct food establishments.
Additionally, the fact that global population has quadrupled over the last century and has been estimated by the United Nations to reach 9.7 billion by year 2050, along with rising incomes in developing countries, is reason to believe that it will drive up global food demand which is expected to increase anywhere between 59% to 98% by year 2050...