Customers' Service Quality Expectations From Quick Service Restaurants

The significance of service quality has gained a huge amount of concern in the service industry. This study provides the results of research carried out to identify the expectations of customers with respect to quality of services delivered by quick service restaurants. Identifying the factors that influence the expectations of customer is of paramount importance to evolve service strategy which determines the future of this business. Investigation of the topic is done taking five components of service quality i.e. tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy which is carried out for evaluating the service quality offered by fast food chains to its customers. An exploratory study is carried out to comprehend the strategies adopted by different fast food brands to match the expectations of customers in Mysore city. Primary data were obtained by administering structured questionnaires on a cross-section of 300 Customers of quick service restaurants who patronized quick service restaurants. A multistage random sampling technique was employed to select five (5) quick service restaurants from the city namely McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza and Cafe Coffee Day (CCD). The data collected from customers are analyzed with the help of SPSS. The study reveals an empirical analysis, which showed that the most expected factor by customers is tangible elements in fast food restaurants like appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and communication materials. Tangible element alone represents the total sum of square of 3.23 in the study. The study therefore, concludes that apart from tangibility other two components namely Service Reliability (Accessibility, Continuity and Performance) and Empathy are the most expected service quality dimensions from quick service restaurants. The results of the research can be useful for fast food companies, as they should often change and upgrade their service quality accordingly to the expectations of customers by adopting suitable marketing techniques.