CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction This report is prepared as a partial requirement of the Marketing Research course of MBA department of AIUB. It is authorized by the course instructor of Marketing Research course. The research outcomes will unveil some behavioral aspect of a significant group of consumers of Bangladesh. 1.2 Background of the Study A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to be consumed on the premises. The term covers a multiplicity of venues and a diversity of styles of cuisine (Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restaurant).

Nowadays this restaurant business is in a

boom as people are going more frequently to restaurants. Both the wide varieties of food and the pleasant atmosphere of a restaurant attract them. A business is not successful without the knowledge of buyers behavior. As young consumers are the major focus of restaurants, preferences of this group is highly valued. Therefore, researches on buying behavior of that group have been organized more than the other age groups. But another group of consumers, who are of age between 51-65 years, and who belong to the upper-middle class and upper class, are also a potential group of customers of restaurant business. What aspects of a restaurant attract those group most or

how they perceive the service features of restaurants, will be analyzed in this research. For a short duration of conducting this research, the target population is selected only from Gulshan and Dhanmondi area here. The senior citizens of Gulshan and Dhanmondi, who are within the age group of 51-65 years, are selected to do the research. 1.3 Purpose of the Study

Through empirical examination, the researchers have chosen to research on this recreation alternative of this populace. There can be various aspects of a restaurant that attract people to go there and have varieties of food with others. In this research, researchers have worked on some of such aspects of restaurants to find out what are the factors that the senior citizens are preferring most or least when they go to restaurants. 1.4 Objectives

This research determines characteristics of a particular market segment regarding restaurants. Thus the specific objectives can be 1. To find out consumers preferences about foods, services, pricing, and location of restaurants. 2. To investigate the attitude of consumers toward different service aspects of restaurants. 1.5 Structure of the Study This report is divided into five chapters. Chapter one consists of the why and how things of the study. Chapter two is the conceptual
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framework. Chapter three shows the methodology of the research. Chapter four elaborates the findings and analysis of the data and information. And lastly, limitations and concluding remarks have been written in the conclusion part in chapter five.

CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

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Consumer behavior focuses on how individuals make decision to spend their available resources on consumption related items (Schiffman
& Kanuk, 1996).

A purchase decision involves risk when the

consequences connected with the decision are uncertain and some results are more desirable than others (MacCrimmon and Wehrung, 1986). Perceived risk is theorized that when it falls below an individuals acceptance value, it has little effect on intended behavior and is essentially ignored (Greatorex
and Mitchell, 1993).

On the other hand, an

extremely high level of perceived risk can cause a consumer to postpone or avoid a purchase entirely. Behaviors of consumers toward product result from various factors; perceived risk is a major one. Likewise, how price sensitive they are, reflects on the buying process. This research will focus on the consumer behavior and

characteristics of upper-middle class people. According to a stratum class model, developed by the sociologist William Lloyd (1949), upper-middle class was differentiated as includes the people who are financially solvent to lead their lives and who have reached the position by their own. No hereditary properties were the means of their wealth. Thats how high-salaried professionals, i.e., doctors, lawyers, corporate executives, etc. fall into this group. Disposable income, which is the current income available to households for spending after the payment of taxes (Debroy,
1996),

determines

consumers price sensitivity as well. Price sensitivity is another factor that determines the preference of buyers in consuming a product.

Customers' needs and expectations have to be anticipated before they announce them, and have to put those actions in place. Meeting these expectations will cement the relationships with customers, increase their satisfaction, and retain the business. Here are six customer expectations and that are the sales cornerstone (source: of outstanding 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. service increased

http://

www.williecrawford.com/loyalty.html):

Customers expect solid information. Customers expect options. Customers expect single source service. Customers expect superior communication. Customers expect consulting. Customers expect a seamless relationship.

This research relates with service marketing and the marketing mix elements of 7Ps are important disposition here. 7Ps represent Product: The offerings of the company; it may be the service also. Price: The cost of obtaining the product/service. Place: Distribution channels and places/product availability. Promotion: Advertising campaign, incentives, discounts, allowances, coupon etc. People: People engaged with the company. Process: The evaluation of the product/ service outcome. Physical Evidence: The environment in which the service is delivered. It also includes tangible goods that help to communicate and perform the service. (source: http://www.reppel.co.uk/marketing-theory)

The research outcome may reveal which service aspect has higher impact over customers of restaurants. Since restaurant business relates with quality of service significantly, the extended Ps, i.e., process, people and physical evidence will have importance in analyzing peoples preferences. Restaurants depend on services provided to their customers and thus fulfill their expectations. Customers expect quality foods with good taste from restaurants within a good service management. Services are generally intangible, non-standardized, usually sold without guarantees, and need to be experienced before assessing. Consumers find themselves trying to evaluate virtually indistinguishable service alternatives and providers. This study is circled around grey community and accordingly they are the customers here to judge service aspects of restaurants. Attitudes of these customers have a contribution over the judgment and so attitude has an important role to play at this point. Basically an attitude is a lasting general evaluation of an object, person, or issue; a like or a dislike. According to the ABC model, it has three components: Affective: A feeling or emotional response towards the Cognitive: A set of beliefs and knowledge about the object Behavioral: A predisposition towards certain behaviors with attitude object. concerned. respect to the attitude object. (Source: http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:6eZcDkuyOsAJ:en.wikipedia.org)

So, attitude toward an object relates with the knowledge, behavioral intention and emotional response of that object. Therefore, attitude towards different service aspect of grey population of Gulshan and Dhanmondi will be revealed through their choices. The research outcomes may convey some preferences of respondents to the researchers that will expose attitudes of upper-middle class senior citizens regarding restaurant and its service attributes.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A descriptive research is designed to describe characteristics of a population or phenomenon (Hawkins, 2003). This research is descriptive in nature, as it has been focused on characteristics of a particular population, i.e., senior citizens preferences and behaviors toward restaurants. Below is given a brief outline of the applied methods of this research: 3.1 Population Population of the research study is 51-65 years age group of uppermiddle class people of Gulshan & Dhanmondi area. 3.2 Working population The researchers initially had a contact list of 100 people from which respondents of this research have been selected. Lastly, From Gulshan and Dhanmondi region, responses were achieved from 52 respondents by direct endeavors of all researchers. So, working population of this research is 100. 3.3 Sample size Sample size of this research is 52. 3.4 Sampling method & plan

Within a short period of time of one month, it is not possible to conduct a research on a total population. The sample size and sampling methods used here is not the same as a commercial marketing research study. This is due to time and cost factors. Thats why a very small sample size and region have been selected for this study. Sample size of this research is 52. The target segment is the people of 51-65 years age group of upper-middle class. The geographic region of the population is Gulshan and Dhanmondi. So, at a glance, the subject matters of this research have following criteria Sample size: 52 Sampling method: Convenience sampling Target population:

Age range: 51-65 years Socio-economic class: Upper-middle class Geographic region: Gulshan and Dhanmondi

3.5 Tools of research Both primary and secondary sources of information is used. Primary data is collected from the personal interview of respondents. Secondary data is collected from internet, books, and journals. As this research is quantitative in nature, structured questionnaire is used in surveying people through face to face interview. Thus, the tools that are applied in the research sampling are Primary and Secondary Data o Personal or face-to-face interview

Close-ended questionnaire

3.6 Field Study The researchers have achieved data by face to face interview and got the direct responses from the people which are the vital components of this research. Besides, the researchers had a meaningful experience of dealing people and getting output of the questionnaire.

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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS

4.1 Findings and Analysis Majority of the respondents surveyed (55.77%) belong to the age group of 51-55 years. The least number of respondents (17.31%) were in the age group of 61-65 years. In the field of occupation, the respondents were found to be businessman, service holder, retired person, housewife, teacher, doctor, banker and airline pilot. Among the total respondents, there are 31.77% Businessman, 21.15% Service Holder, 13.46% Retired, 13.46% Housewife, 7.69% Teacher, 5.77% Doctor and 7.69% Airline Pilot & Banker. So, the 1/3 of the total respondents was business people. Outcome of frequency of dining out shows
32.7% 19.2% 15.4%

Frequenc y of dining out

35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%

a or

very more

extreme in a

situation. to a

32.7%

Roughly one third interviewed went twice month restaurant while more or less the same number of people dined in a restaurant once or twice a year. The rest number respondents went once in a month

or once in three months. Further research could explain this disparity in numbers. From the research outcome, many restaurants names have come. Among those Santoor got the highest number of

T wice o r O nc e in a O nc e in O nc e o r m o re in a m o nth three twic e a year of m o nth m o nths

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response. Besides that, Voot, Sajna and Ninfas created good attention of senior citizens. Preference ranking of Bangladeshi cuisine has got the 2nd position with Thai cuisine (both are 56.9%). Majority of the upper-middle class senior citizens liked Chinese cuisine (68.6%).
Preferences of attributes of res taurants
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 94.23%

57.69%

61.54% 48.08% 30.77% 7.69% 32.69% 44.23% 36.54% 19.23%

3.85% 1.92% Quality of f ood

25% 17.31%

19.23%

Price of f ood

Customer Services

A tmosphere Location of and ambiencethe restaurant

V ery important Important Indif f erent

In this research, almost 95% people wants quality food as their first choice, more than 61% wants better customer service as their first choice and around 50% of respondents show their sensitivity on price of food. While this population chooses a restaurant to dine out, they are least concerned about the atmosphere and location of the restaurant. To bulk of them these two features hold secondary importance. Another interesting result is around 50% respondents are concerned about the price of food when they want to go to a restaurant. 96.15% respondents presented their maximum importance on the taste of food whereas around the half of total respondents are concerned about the cholesterol level of foods. In addition, roughly
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20% grey population is indifferent toward the fat or cholesterol level in foods and food value. So, the result is revealing the attitude of respondents regarding their attitude to be less health aware than they should be. The lowest ranking of the maximum importance is found in the point of food decoration. Price of food is considered very important to 51.92% respondents when they have set of choices. By regression outcome, it is found that most of the respondents do not consider price of food while dining out. This may happen because of the fact that there is little recreation in Dhaka and people try to enjoy themselves while going out to restaurants.
Other service f eatures of a restaurant pref erred by respondents
1 00% 90% 80% 70% 65.38% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 1 0% 0%
Overall C haracteristics management of crowd Dcor M annered & cooperative personnel Parking facilities A vailability of Distance from Time of Other A /C , TV , residence serving food C onveniences generator

65.38% 51.92% 36.54% 51.92%

69.23% 57.69% 38.46% 34.62% 28.84% 26.92% 26.92% 23.08% 19.23% 15.38% 7.69%

42.31% 40.38% 38.46% 34.62% 28.85% 25% 25% 19.23% 5.77%

9.62%

11.54%

There are other features that are seriously considered by the grey
Very important Important Indifferent

consumers while they go to their favorite restaurants. In this case, the outcome has revealed that more than 50% respondents consider very important the subsequent aspects- 1) parking facilities, 2) personnels good conduct and cooperation, 3) availability of A/C and generator, 4) quality of overall management and 5) time of serving food. Almost 70% people in this mature age

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group prefer that time of serving food is very important to them. Higher rating on to be indifferent toward the aspects of restaurants has been found in 1) other conveniences like conveniences for children or physically challenged people [34.62%], 2) characteristics of crowd [25%]. On the other hand, to few people these two aspects are very important. So, these parts of a restaurant are irrelevant to the grey consumers when they dine in a restaurant. From this research it has been found that people (mannered and cooperative personnel), process (time of serving food) and physical evidence (overall management) have impact on peoples minds. This research verifies the importance of the extended Ps of marketing in the eyes of the respondent in the modern world. During this research, it is identified that this particular age group are financially solvent and have a good level of monthly disposable income (MDI). This matter relates to their frequency of dining out. Among them, those who have MDI of > 45000 taka, their frequency to go to restaurants are higher (twice or more in a month) than the other income groups. The people who have > 25000tk MDI are frequently dining out once or twice a year. So, that is comparatively less than the people of higher MDI. 4 respondents were reluctant to express their MDI. So, this outcome is taken from 48 respondents. Higher price sensitivity has been occurred in respondents who have 1 earning member in their family. Those who have 2 earning members, bulk of them give quite a good importance on the price of restaurant foods.

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According to occupation, result of frequency to dine out is presenting another view. Most of the senior citizens of various occupations generally go to restaurants once or twice a year. Only businessmen have greater frequency of dining out. Some of them are habituated with dining out twice or more in a month. Senior have Most
5 3 22 2 1 1 3 33 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 5

What is your occupation? * How frequently do you dine out? Crosstabulation 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Once or tw ice a year Once in three months Once in a month 9

citizens it with of in

bring family. the this

foods at their homes to

respondents

research, disclosed the moderate frequency in this regard. While 50% do it sometimes, do it seldom

Tw ice or more in a month 40.38%

or often. That means, people of 51-65 years generally bring food at Businessman Service holder Retired Housew ife home quite frequently. Sometimes bringing food to home from their favorite restaurants has been found to be higher in 51-55 years age group. Respondents of this research have inclination toward bringing food home from restaurants. So, the people of different regularity of dining out have shown different level of tendency to bring food at home to have it there. Significant section of the respondents has disclosed that they do it occasionally.
Airline Pilot Teacher Doctor Banker

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CHAPTER 5: LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSION

5.1 Limitations and Difficulties A short period of time of two months, a small sample size and the chosen method produced some limitations to the ultimate usefulness of results. So, limitations of this research are

Unavailability of some people who could be respondents Unwillingness to answer by few selected respondents Sample size of this research is not sufficient for a proper research

Inadequate time

5.2 Probable Errors Some of the respondents have not answered. As a result, there were a few non-response errors. There might be random sampling error and administrative errors. There can be response biases in this research. 5.3 Scope of further Study Only the preferred aspects of restaurants have been given emphasis on this research work. But why the respondents preferred

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those, what forces or factors were behind their will and liking, are not the concerns of this research. There is scope for further study in this regard. 5. 4 Conclusion The outcome of the research shows that significant parts of senior citizen are habituated in dining into restaurant. Although a number of different types of cuisine are present, the mainstream prefers Chinese food. Since a good number of the grey community prefers to go to restaurants frequently, formation and improvement of different services should be the concern of restaurant business and those should be enhanced to attract customers.

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