Research pick: Finer fast-food - "Assessing the determinants of customer happiness and customer loyalty in fast-food restaurant"

When it comes to fast food, there is a prerequisite inherent to the name that customers receive their order quickly. In addition there are the issues of the quality of service and the fairness of the price they pay. These might all combine to drive customer happiness and thus loyalty. A new study in the International Journal of Sustainable Strategic Management from a team in Malaysia looks at data from hundreds of fast-food consumers and applies attitude theory to understand this seemingly simply but perhaps complex equation.

The team of Emily H.T. Yapp and Bagos Wahyudi Amin Tohari of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Labuan International Campus in Jalan Sungai Pagar found that food quality, the physical environment, and price fairness affected customer satisfaction whereas the quality of service offered by the restaurant’s employees did not. The findings were based on an analysis of results from an online self-administered survey of 310 Malaysian fast-food customers.

The team alludes to how badly the COVID-19 pandemic affected the fast-food industry but suggests that for many outlets, there was a rapid rebound once lockdowns and lifestyle restrictions were lifted and the initial waves of disease had passed. People still want fast food even in the peri-pandemic world. The researchers also point out that competition in the sector is greater than ever before and so restaurateurs must rise to this challenge in terms of what they can tempt new customers, what they offer their customers in general, and how they might improve customer happiness and thus loyalty. “Fast-food restaurants have to continuously concentrate and improve their products and services through marketing strategies,” the team writes.

Ultimately, the team found food quality – freshness and taste – were key to customer happiness. If food quality is maintained at a high level and coupled with a comfortable and clean environment, then the restaurateur will have a winning recipe for success. The final key ingredient is to offer this food and service at a keen price.

Yapp, E.H.T. and Tohari, B.W.A. (2021) ‘Assessing the determinants of customer happiness and customer loyalty in fast-food restaurant’, Int. J. Sustainable Strategic Management, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp.123–138.