Great Expectations for Fine Dining: Lessons for Small Business Resturateurs
Abstract
As the 21st century unfolds, our work and our leisure will be changed by our growing sense of individualism and spiritualism. Experts say consumers in the new millennium will overturn much of what we know about target marketing: turning upside down traditional thinking about what we 'II buy, how we’ll live and work and how we’ll eat. For the aging baby boom generation, the new "meal-lennium" will be more about "time-using" (social event) than "time-saving" (eat-and-run). The fine dining experience will become the triumph of individualism over the ever-faster pace of the new economy as baby boomers den1and to be treated and catered to as individuals.
This study investigated the difference between baby boom men and women in attitude, consumption emotions, and satisfaction resulting from a visit to a fine dining restaurant. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire from residents of a large mid western city using a judgment sampling approach. While there was no difference in the mean values on these constructs, the causal model revealed significant differences in the profile of emotions influencing satisfaction.
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