DISSERTATION PROPOSAL HMCA SUPERVISOR: MR STEWART MORRELL

CONTENTS
1. Aim and objectives
1.1 Aim 1.2 Objectives

2. Background to the study 3. Methodology

3.1 Type of dissertation 3.2 Secondary data 3.3 Primary data

4. Timeframe 5. References

1.Aim and objectives

1.1 Aim:
To evaluate the level of authenticity within three Chinese restaurants in Manchester and compare customers perception according to their origin.

1.2 Objectives:
1. To explore how the terms authentic and fusion apply to the restaurant sector. 2. To examine the change of authentic Chinese recipes within restaurants in Manchester 3. To critically analyze how multicultural staff can influence the authenticity of Chinese restaurants. 4. To compare and contrast british and asian perceptions towards the Chinese restaurant sector. 5. To draw conclusion and make recommendations about what the future customer might want from the Chinese restaurant sector in Manchester.

2.Background to the study

Previously published studies (Mintel, 2011) have shown that the popularity of Chinese restaurants increased from 2002 until 2011 on the UK market. This restaurant sector expanded by location, by number of venues and by profit, showing that at the moment Chinese food is a dominating ethnic cuisine. It can be said that the same had happened to Indian cuisine in the UK. As seen on Mintel statistics (2011), Indian cuisine has always been one step ahead of Chinese cuisine. However as time passed Indian food has started loosing its authenticity, creating instead a more anglicized version of it (Ahmad, 1996). The same is happening today to Chinese restaurants. This creates a problem area because consumers in the UK are increasingly looking for more authentic ethnic dishes as stated in a recent article (SooCheong, Yinghua & Young, 2011). This study will focus on evaluating the level of authenticity of three Chinese restaurants in Manchester, determining how far have they developed from how Chinese food and service are originally. First of all this evaluation will start by exploring how the terms authentic and fusion apply to a restaurant, through its different departments. Secondly, a comparison will be made between original Chinese recipes and what recipes and ingredients the three restaurants in Manchester use. This might show that Chinese cuisine is fallowing the same path as Indian cuisine did, by becoming more anglicized. (Ahmad, 1996) Moving forward, the influence of multicultural staff will be critically analyzed. As said before, authenticity affects every department in a restaurant, including staff. This examination will show

how much is the level of authenticity affected by chefs, service or managers of different nationalities than Chinese. By using primary data, a comparison will be made between the british and the asian perception of these three Chinese restaurants. This might reveal how british tend to believe that the restaurant they are in is authentic, however contradicting the asian belief of an anglicized product. Finally, predicting what consumer needs might be in the future regarding Chinese restaurants, there will be recommendations made for these three restaurants in Manchester.

3. Methodology
3.1 Type of dissertation
The type of dissertation chosen is an empirical research dissertation, which has a literature base and also a primary research. Literature base refers to journals, statistics and reports, not older than five years and primary research refers to collecting and analyzing new data regarding the subject chosen. The philosophy chosen is objectivism. As a non-subjective moral code exists, in this study this approach will be taken and followed. There are certainly right and wrongs in everything, no matter what someone feels. All the information in this study will be put in an objective light. The research approach will be inductive, using a qualitative method. The strategy chosen will be action research, which may implement change in the three Chinese restaurants in Manchester. Mixed methods will be used to collect and analyze the data, such as recent surveys and reports, as well as interviews. The time horizon chosen will be cross-sectional and a timeframe will be presented in the proposal.

3.2 Secondary research

Some of the key words that will be researched are: authentic cuisine, fusion cuisine, authentic Chinese recipes, Chinese ingredients, multicultural staff, Chinese restaurant in Manchester. The electronic data bases that will be used are Emerald, Mintel, Business Source Premier and Hospitality and Tourism Index. Also books from the MMU library will be used in order to collect all the necessary data. The main journals that will be used for this dissertation are: - Authentic British food products: a review of consumer perception (Angela, 2001) - Acculturation: the symbolism of ethnic eating among contemporary British consumers (Ahmad, 1996) - A melting pot of flavors (Linda, 2000) - Tabletop Trends (Bellamy 2004) - Effects of authentic atmospherics in ethnic restaurant: investigating Chinese restaurants (SooCheong, Yinghua & Young, 2011)

3.3 Primary research

The primary data that will be collected will be qualitative data, consisting of interviews, as well as questionnaires. The establishments that will take part of this analysis will be three Chinese restaurants within Manchester. The population that will take part of the research will be british and asian customers of these establishments as well as employees and employers. The population that will take part in this study will be around 120 people.

There will be three interviews taken per restaurant, and as there are three restaurants analyzed in this dissertation, there will be nine interviews in total. The persons interviewed will be one manager, one person from the service and one person working in the kitchen, from each restaurant. The questionnaires will be 34 per restaurant, making a total of 102 questionnaires. The people completing these questionnaires will be customers of the restaurant of british or asian origin.

TIMEFRAME WAS SUBMITTED SEPERATELY

5.References
SooCheong, J., Yinghua, L., Young, N., (2011) Effects of authentic atmospherics in ethnic restaurant: investigating Chinese restaurants International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 23(5), pp. 662-680 Bellamy, G. (2004) Tabletop Trends Restaurant Hospitality, 88(5) pp. 94-100 Linda, M. (2000) A melting pot of flavors Prepared Foods, 169(3) pp. 35 Ahmad, J. (1996) Acculturation: the symbolism of ethnic eating among contemporary British consumers British Food Journal, 98(10) pp. 12-26 Angela, M. (2001) Authentic British food products: a review of consumer perception International Journal of Consumer Studies, 25(3) pp. 246-254 Mintel Group, (2011) Thai and other emerging ethnics foods