# Introduction vans 2006. The Indian Food Market Monitoring Report 2002/03 showed an increasing trend for dining out as a result of higher incomes, an increase in the Dining out is an important part of the lifestyles Indian number of working women, changes in consumptions patterns, and changes in household size and composition (Nimmo-Bell Company Ltd, 2002 India are also facing the pressures of time, particularly in those households with women in the workforce (Nimmo-Bell Company Ltd, 2002). van Ameyde and Brodie Author : (DIT, Dehradun). E-mail : nehachoksi@sify.com (1984) reported that India who dined out more frequently at restaurants were in the younger age group, had smaller or childlessfamilies, and were in the professional, managerial and clerical worker families group. Takeaways were popular among young people and families with young children (vanAmeyde & Brodie, 1984). Individuals also dine out for different reasons (Lundberg & Walker, 1993). The findings from a study of Auckland consumers on restaurant selection suggested that the majority of Indian dined out for social and special occasions. The dining out habits of several segments was studied, and the group that dined out most frequently was people in the high income, middle aged group (Rammaniya, 1998). The research is based on primary and secondary data collection methods and the research type is descriptive. A structured questionnaire will be designed to gather information for primary data and, for secondary data-internet, books and websites previous dissertations/researchpapers/marketingjournals/magazi nes/text etc will be used. A five point multi item likert scale (1-strongly agree and 5-strongly disagree.) will be used for the study. The research will be conducted in Dehradun. It will involve gathering of information from the customers who visit at restaurant. Convenience sampling method will be used to get the responses from target population. Sample size of 89 (working and non working) respondents in the age group 18 to 25 year and more than 40 year above will be taken for the survey. To do the research following statistical tools will be used: revenues hotel and restaurant industry in yr.2006-2007 increase of nearly 22 %...The eating habits of people are changing; the style of cooking and the ingredients used increased the popularity of Indian food all throughout....... Indian food had experienced a tremendous change, people started following cooking style and adopted eating habit according to their religion. At present Indian food is recognized all over the country...service quality is an attitude or global judgment about the superiority of a service, industries expectation .service quality determine an organization success or failure, the satisfaction is a function of consumer, encounter. The level of satisfaction may be influence by various attitudes from internal, external factor. The demand for food away from home is dramatically increasing. According to the2003/04 Indian Household Economic Survey, the average weekly household expenditure on meals away from home increased from $13.80 in 2000/01 to $19.20 in 2003/04 (Ministry of Health, 2006). The growth of demand for food has prompted an expansion of the Indian foodservice industry. The national foodservice industry annual sales rose from $3,176 million in 2002 to $4,800 million in 2007-a nominal Growth of 51 percent. There was also an analogous trend from 2002 to 2006 in the increase of the number of food service outlets and employees from 8,368 to 10,681 and 59,700 to 78,540 respectively (Restaurant Association of India, 2007). The expansion of the number of foodservice outlets has lead to an intensely competitive foodservice industry in India (Restaurant Association of India, 2006). This study aims to contribute to the limited research in this area and provide insight into the consumer decisionmaking process specifically for the India foodservice industry. must achieve a quality service the exceed customer, experience and reaction to provide behavior during the service percentage analysis, Rank analysis, Chi-square analysis, ANOVA-test T-test c) Hypothesis H1-H A : There is association between Items preferred in Restaurant across Gender H2-H A : There is association between Items preferred in Restaurant across Age H3-H A : There is association between Items preferred in Restaurant across Education H4-H A : There is no association between Items preferred in Restaurant across Income H5-H A : There is no association between Customer satisfactions across the Gender H6--H A : There is no association between Customer satisfactions across the Age H7-H A : There is no association between Customer satisfactions across the Education H8-H A : There is no association between # Customer satisfactions across the Income d) Research Contribution This research aims to provide a better understanding of the consumer decision-making process for restaurants in India. Understanding restaurant choice behavior can assist restaurant marketers and practitioners when they develop marketing strategies and enable them to select the most salient attributes to attract and retain customers. Furthermore, a theoretical model of restaurant selection behavior in India developed in this study will help to provide a useful framework for future research regarding consumer behavior in the restaurant industry. This contribution is particularly important due to the limited empirical studies on consumers' restaurant selection behavior India. # II. # Review of Literature This part reviews the relevant literature about consumers and services, the consumer decisionmaking Process model and previous studies in consumers' restaurant selection Behavior. Furthermore, the interrelationships between customer satisfaction, food Quality, service quality and behavioral intentions are discussed. Lastly, the restaurant Choice factors, dining occasion, and demographic characteristics are reviewed. Previous studies on consumer behavior in the restaurant context have identified a number of factors that consumers consider important in their restaurant selection. Following are examples of these studies: Lewis (1981) investigated the influence of the benefit features of advertising on consumers' decision to go to a restaurant. Three types of restaurants: family/popular, Atmosphere, and gourmet were analyzed. Food quality was found as the most important feature determining patronage in tensions to any type of restaurant. However, the range of importance of the other features differed by the type of restaurant Auty (1992) identified the choice factors in the restaurant decision process based on four occasions: a celebration, social occasion, convenience/quick meal, and business Meal. Food type, food quality and value for money were found as the most important Choice variables for consumers when choosing a restaurant. The order of these choices Criteria varied according to dining occasions. The author further suggested that if the consumers perceived that restaurants provide comparable food type, food quality and price, they would take image and atmosphere of the restaurants into account when making a final decision, Family/popular and convenience/ fast-food restaurants. The Kevel's (1997) results Showed that the relative importance of the restaurant choice factors differed considerably by restaurant type, dining occasion, age, and occupation. The studies of consumer behavior in ethnic restaurants are relatively limited. Previous ethnic restaurant studies have focused on consumers' perceptions and attitudes or on a particular cuisine (e.g., Josiam & Monteiro, 2004 ;) Among these studies, the unique characteristics of ethnic cuisine are commonly discussed. However, ethnic restaurateurs cannot compete simply on the uniqueness of the cuisine. The results of past studies have emphasized that, in order to succeed, restaurant operators need to pay attention to the attributes that have the highest regard in relation to consumers' selection behavior. Service providers need to understand how consumers choose and evaluate their Offerings (Zeithaml, 1981). Consumers cannot choose and evaluate services in the same manner they do to physical goods as services have distinctive characteristics and Are high in experience quality. Therefore, consumers find it more difficult to evaluate services when compared to physical goods. Several studies (e.g., Kotler et al., 1998;Zeithaml, 1981;2003) suggest that the main characteristics that make services different from physical goods are: intangibility, variability, inseparability, perishability, and lack of ownership. The intangible quality of services is that services constitute performances and they often cannot be seen, felt, tasted, or touched like physical goods (Zeithaml, 1981)., when making restaurant choice decisions, Consumers used both tangible and intangible factors. The intangible factors are primarily: food quality, service quality, and value for money the intangible characteristic of services makes these factors difficult to evaluate prior to the actual purchase. Accordingly, restaurant patrons often rely on Tangible clues such as restaurant facilities, décor, and atmosphere to guide them in forming expectations about the restaurants (Bitner, 1990;Wall & Berry, 2007). Services cannot be stored. In contrast to physical goods that can be stored and sold at a later time, services cease to exist if they are not sold when they become available (Hoffman & Bateson, 2001). For instance, a customer who does not show up for a reserved table in the restaurant will cause the restaurateur to turn down the chance to serve other diners if the restaurant is full (Kotler et al., 1998). Service providers often find it difficult to balance the supply and demand of services, given the unpredictable nature of consumer demand for services (Hoffman & Bateson, 2001). Services are an experience. Consumers pay to get access to and experience a service but do not get a tangible ownership of that service (Clemes, Mollenkopf, & Burn, 2000). Accordingly, consumers may feel a lack of control in the purchase of services (Cowell, 1989). Food quality is rated as the most important attribute influencing restaurant decisions in many studies on consumers' restaurant selection behavior (e.g., Auty, 1992;Lewis, 1981;Soriano, 2002;Sulek & Hensley, 2004). The elements that constitute food quality proposed in this study are unique tastes and ingredients, menu variety, Appearance and presentation, healthy food options, and familiar food. # III. # Analysis and Discussions In the data analysis there is classification and Frequency of different demographic profile like as "Gender, Age, Education, Income statement. Chi-square test, T-test, ANOVAs help to understand the relation between different demographic factors, customer preference and satisfaction. from the cross tabulation of different factors I make the relation then apply the chisquare test on the basis of the test result we come to know the Association or No association among different factors. Inference : The Table 14 gives the distribution of the respondent according to the ranking of the factor for preference towards a particular restaurant?.The food quality was ranked 1 st ,2 nd for rates,3 rd for good taste,4 th for location,5 th for cleanliness,6 th for variety in the menu,7 th for efficiency, and 8 th ranked given by the respondent for ambience . # c) T-Test For Analyzing The Customer Satisfaction Across The Gender Hypothesis 5 : H O : There is association between Customer satisfactions across the Gender H A : There is no association between Customer satisfactions across the Gender 1![The main objectives of this research are: 2. To identify the factors that influences the decisions of consumers Preference towards restaurant. 3. To determine the most important factors that affect consumers' choice and satisfaction towards restaurant. 4. To examine the consumption pattern in restaurant 5. Choice factors based on their demographic characteristics and dinning occasion. 6. To study the opinion about the service in restaurant b) Research Methodology](image-2.png "a) Research Objectives 1 .") 31 (a) : Mean value among different measuresStatementS AANDS DMSt. DFood is served hot and fresh612531.340.55The menu has a good variety of item26555211.840.72The quality of food is excellent4239621.640.71The food is testy and according to my test2853621.820.75The order is taken correctly and there were nodiscrepancies while serving the item3840831.730.77Employees are patient when taking order5427441.520.78The menu was easy to read4145211.580.60Employees speak clearly and politely4639131.560.69Employees are friendly and courteous4535541.640.79The service is excellent294310611.950.90My restaurant provides value of money and i payattention to ambience of restaurant2851911.820.70SA(1)= Strongly agree, A (2) =Agree, N (3) = Neutral, D(4) Disagree, SD (5) Strongly disagree, StD = StandarddeviationInterpretation : 34 (g)Levine'sTest forEqualityofVariancest-test for Equality of MeansFSig.tdfSig. (2-tailed)Equalvariancesassumed5.020.021.48870.14Inference : The above H O : is Accepted, (p=.14> .05, t= 1.48).There is association Customer satisfaction acrossthe Genderd) Anova Test For Analyzing The Customer SatisfactionInference : The above H O : is Accepted (p=0.85 p>.05,Across The (Age, Education, Income)f=.065) There is association Customer SatisfactionHypothesis 6across the EducationH O : There is associationbetween CustomerHypothesis 8Satisfactions across the AgeHo : There is association between CustomerH A : There is no association between theSatisfactions across the IncomeCustomer Satisfactions across the AgeH A : There is no association between CustomerTable 3.5 (h) : AgeSatisfaction across the IncomeSum ofMeanTable 3.5. (j) : IncomeSquaresdfSquareFSig.Sum ofMeanBetweenSquares dfSquare FSig.Groups1.1620.582.860.06BetweenWithinGroups5.94180.330.608 0.88Groups17.48860.2Within Groups37.97700.54Total18.6488Total43.9188Inference : The above H O : is Accepted (p=.06 p>.05, f=2.86) There is association Customer SatisfactionInference : The above H O : is Accepted (p=0.88 p>.05, f=.608) There is association Customer Satisfactionacross the Ageacross the IncomeHypothesis 7IV.Result, Findings, Conclusion,H O : There is association between Customer Satisfactions across the EducationLimitationH A : There is no association between Customera) Results and findingsSatisfactions across the EducationOut of all the respondent 73% are male and 27% areTable 3.5 (i) : Educationfemale Out of all the respondents 76.4% are of age 18-30Sum ofMeanyear, 18% are 31-40 year and 5.6 % are more thanSquaresdfSquareFSig.40 yearsBetweenOut of all the respondent 31.5% are comes underGroups Within Groups4.5 2718 700.25 0.380.65 0.85up to Graduate, 59.6% are post Graduate and 9% are doctorateTotal31.588 ©2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) ## Year Out of all the respondent 68.53% comes under less than 30000Rs., 19.1% are 30000-40000 and 12.35 % comes under over 40000 Rs Out of all the respondent 46.1% are comes under once a week, 22.5% are more than once a week, 16.9% once a month, and 14.6 % comes in very rare Out of all respondent 36% are vegetarian, 29.2% Non vegetarian and 34.8% are come under both Out of all the respondent 4.5% are goes for Breakfast, 28.1% Lunch and 67.4% Dinner Out of all the responded 6% Respondent willing to pay 100-200, 23% 300-500, 40% 600-800 and 31% comes in more than 800 There is no association item preferred in restaurant across the gender There is no association item preferred in restaurant across the age There is no association item preferred in restaurant across the education There is association item preferred in restaurant across the income The Table 14 gives the distribution of the respondent according to the ranking of the factor for preference towards a particular restaurant?.The food quality was ranked 1 st ,2 nd for rates,3 rd for good taste,4 th for location,5 th for cleanliness,6 th for variety in the menu,7 th for efficiency, and 8 th ranked given by the respondent for ambience There is association customer satisfaction across the gender There is association customer satisfaction across the age There is association customer satisfaction across the education There is association customer satisfaction across the income ## b) Conclusion It is evident from the study that majority of the consumer have visited different restaurant at different times. So the restaurant owner has to take steps to retain the customer and make them a permanent customer. Majority of respondent came to know about the restaurant through their friends .and restaurant advertise in local media news paper, magazines to attract more customer. 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