The Impacts of Perceived Service Quality and Restaurant Type on Customer Satisfaction and Return Patronage Intentions

The purpose of this study is to empirically test a proposed relationship among perceived restaurant quality, type of restaurant, satisfaction, and return patronage intentions with a focus on solo diners. More specifically, the objectives of this study are to assess the effects of three perceived qualities (i.e., food, service, and physical environment) and types of restaurants on solo diner (1) satisfaction and (2) return patronage intentions. The findings show that the greatest weight was put on food quality in increasing both solo diner satisfaction and return patronage intentions. Service quality was the second important contributor in satisfying solo diners, followed by physical environment quality. In addition, the findings indicated that solo diner satisfaction was affected by different types of restaurants.