Foodservice outlets have the potential to enhance the experience of visitors to a wide range of visitor attractions. As such introducing authentic foodservice outlets could potentially play significant role in the development of cultural-heritage and natural attractions in Ghana. Consuming local traditional foods leave nostalgic, memorable feelings, which create 'golden locations' and in turn encourage repeat visits and increase visitor traffic at these locations. The foodservice sector has however, been supported in Ghana generally and has been largely ignored at visitor attractions. In situations where foodservice outlets are limited, visitors can potentially find themselves unable to purchase any refreshments at the attractions. This detracts from their experience and discourages repeat visits. The main aim of this thesis is critically to evaluate the integration of foodservice at Ghanaian visitor attractions and to identify a suitable approach for developing authentic foodservice outlets at the sites. This thesis derived data from both secondary and primary research. With the lack of available data and records on Ghanaian visitor attractions and foodservice operations, the primary data collection exercise used a mixed-method approach in a two-Phase study over a one-year period. An exploratory survey of visitor attractions and foodservice operations in the research area, which also involved focus groups (n=56) and individual (n=6) interviews, within the academia and with stakeholders of tourism and foodservice sectors. Based on the findings of the Phasel study, the Phase2 study, involved a visitor survey (n=528) at six selected visitor attractions. A follow-up interview was conducted with attractions and foodservice personnel (n=24) at the attractions where the survey was conducted. The findings of the research have confirmed that the Ghanaian tourism industry has overlooked foodservice sector in the development of tourism and particularly at visitor attractions. It also established the importance of foodservice as part of the overall experiences at visitor attractions. It proposes independent! multi-owned/ franchises as the best alternative approaches for developing and integrating authentic foodservice outlets with Ghanaian visitor attractions. Therefore, the study proposes introducing formally trained staff to the informal traditional foodservice outlets to develop authentic foodservice outlets at visitor attractions as a positive way to support the tourism industry in Ghana. It also suggests that the proposals made to address the current situation in Ghana may be applicable to other countries in Africa seeking to develop sectors of their economies and be of interest to the relevant and the international bodies such as UNWTO, UNDP, and UNEP who seek to promote the development of sustainable tourism practices.

The subject of this Ph.D. thesis is Customer Satisfaction in Malaysian Malay Restaurants Dining Experience. The research was conducted in three Malay family restaurants in Malaysia by using an inductive Case Study research approach. The aim of the research was to propose a conceptual framework for customer satisfaction dining experience. It focused on dining experience satisfaction consumption related to factors in, and the management of, customer satisfaction. The implications of the findings provide a theoretical and methodological contribution to the knowledge in both, Malaysia and the rest of the world. Adopting the Case Study research approach gave an opportunity to collect data that stems from three Malay family restaurants in Malaysia using a wide variety of data collection methods. The findings presented in this thesis were based on an in-depth interview with 108 restaurant customers who dined at the restaurants and 18 restaurant staff, particularly front of house and kitchen staff, besides the owner and manager of each restaurant. Daily participant observation for each restaurant took 5 to 9 hours a day for between 27 and 30 days. The findings were also based on a number of supplementary data from documentary evidence such as staff working timetables, menu cards/ books, staff attendance punch cards, stock check lists, reservation records and restaurant organisational charts. The contributions of this study comprise of six major themes: Firstly, dining experience is a continuous process which starts with the customers’ first engagement with the restaurant at the reservation stage and continues until they leave the restaurant at the departure stage. Therefore, to ensure customers’ loyalty, restaurateurs needed to ensure all tangible and intangible factors that influenced satisfaction at each stage of the dining process (pre-meal experience; antecedent experience; reservation experience and arrival experience; the actual meal experience: seating experience and food experience; and post-meal experience: payment experience and departure experience) were integrated together (they did not work as separate entities and should not be treated individually) to provide valuable, meaningful, memorable and holistic satisfaction to every customer who dined at the restaurant. Secondly, factors influencing customer satisfaction at the pre-meal experience were the availability of a reservation service, both formal and informal, and customers’ phone calls for reservations being answered quickly by restaurants’ polite and professional staff. Meanwhile, at the dining arrival stage, factors influencing customers’ satisfaction were being assisted by a free parking attendant, having a parking area close to the premises, punctuality of restaurant business hours and offering a 24-hour restaurant operation to the public. The meal experience stage was found to be a major stage among seven stages of the dining experience process, with menu variety, and food presentation and display as the core of restaurant service. iv Factors influencing dining satisfaction during the actual meal experience were related to a unique cultural preference concept for Malay restaurants such as private dining space, food quality attribute of authenticity, eating style, restaurant decoration, waiting activities, prayer room, and traditional live band. Satisfaction influence factors for post-meal experience were self service payment, being bid farewell and being escorted to the exit door. Thirdly, this study because it adopted a qualitative research approach, managed to venture the role of Maslow’s Theory in customer satisfaction through the hierarchy of satisfaction of dining experience. The lowest level satisfaction was achieved when the basic needs of the customers’ dining at the restaurant was fulfilled or what restaurants provided to the customers was adequate or equal with customers’ expectation. A moderate level of satisfaction was achieved when customers could control their own dining activities. A high level of satisfaction resulted when the restaurants offered something above ordinary or which exceeded customers’ expectation. The highest level of satisfaction was achieved when the restaurants provided something that was outstanding and which surpassed the ordinary needs of the customers. Fourthly, the major way of managing factors influencing customer satisfaction dining experience was based on a systematic restaurant operation system. However, the key element that was responsible for the management of a systematic restaurant operation system depended on human resource management (the restaurant manager, front of house staff and kitchen staff), staff training and development, and restaurant rules. Fifthly, the analyses of customer satisfaction in a new socio-cultural context: Malaysian Malay restaurants provided an opportunity for a cross-comparison of ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ research findings and the identification of what was the same and what was different depending on the cultural context. Sixthly, the development of a conceptual framework had three major concepts: the input for the dining experience satisfaction (which consisted of factors influencing dining satisfaction and ways of managing it); the consumption of dining experience satisfaction at three phases: pre-meal, the actual meal and post-meal experience and the cognitive evaluation process of dining experience that led to satisfaction. And, lastly, the outcomes of dining experience satisfaction (in a form of pleasurable feelings and behavioural changes) which aided the understanding of customer satisfaction with the dining experience and ways managing it. This research suggested future research should consider additional factors to explain the overall satisfaction with the dining experience at Malaysian Malay restaurants (and /including) cross- type of restaurants and demographic profiles of customers; expand this research throughout the country to improve the transferability of the findings to other types of restaurant to assist restaurant managers in better matching the needs of each customer segment; extend the research to different ethnic restaurants that have different characteristics and attributes; undertake a comparative study of factors influencing customer satisfaction in Malay restaurants between two different groups of customers, such as Eastern versus Western; conduct a longitudinal study to compare changes in factors that influence customers’ satisfaction with dining experience at different times; and investigate whether the meal experience stage still plays the most important role in different types of restaurants.

It has been recognised that hospital food service could be improved, with malnutrition a particular concern. The problem of patients obtaining adequate nutrition in hospital is complex with many constraints at ward level. The hypothesis of this study is that patients able to see and smell the food on offer and with potential for greater server empathy, will achieve better nutritional status and increased meal satisfaction. Data were collected from two wards, Women's Health and Orthopaedic, (n=62) over two, three-day consecutive periods. Firstly, for a pre-ordered, plated meal service and secondly, nine months later, for a trolley service offering choice at the point of consumption. Food was weighed before and after the meal. Questionnaires were administered and interviews conducted with patients (n= 614) to evaluate patient acceptability of both catering systems and other pertinent data. The research methodology also involved collecting observational data during mealtimes. Focus groups were conducted with ward staff, and patients together with their visitors while open ended interviews were conducted with the catering manager, facilities manager, chief dietitian, orthopaedic ward dietitian and chief pharmacist. This was to enhance and validate information already gathered. Results show that nutritional intake was not dependent on the catering system and that possibly in hospital; unlike other `eating out' situations there are barriers to `complete nutrition'1. A theoretical model of patient experience and satisfaction with hospital food service is presented, reflecting data gathered during the case study. Texture and temperature of food were shown to be critical factors impinging on patient satisfaction and the trolley system of delivery is the preferred style of service. Service predisposition demonstrates little significance with patient satisfaction towards the overall meal experience. This research indicates that nutritionally, the method of meal delivery is immaterial but patients do prefer choice at the point of consumption. 1 A term used to define the provision of a healthy nutritionally balanced diet which meets and satisfies both physiological and psychological requirements.

Food intake in humans is guided by a variety of factors, which include physiological, cultural, economic and environmental influences. The sensory attributes of food itself play a prominent role in dietary behaviour, and the roles of visual, auditory, gustatory and tactile stimuli have been extensively researched. Other than in the context of flavour, however, olfaction has received comparatively little attention in the field of food acceptability. The investigation was designed to test the hypothesis that olfactory cues, in isolation of other sensory cues, play a functional role in food choice and acceptability. Empirical studies were conducted to investigate: the effects of exposure to food odours on hunger perception; the effects of exposure to food odours with both high and low hedonic ratings on food choice, consumption and acceptability; and the application of odour exposure in a restaurant environment. Results from these studies indicated that exposure to the food odours led to a conscious perception of a shift in hunger, the direction and magnitude of which was dependent on the hedonic response to the odour. Exposure to a food odour with a high hedonic rating prior to a meal significantly increased consumption and acceptability (p<0.05), and exposure to a food odour with a low hedonic rating had no significant effect (p>0.05). When applied to a restaurant environment, exposure to a food odour with a high hedonic rating significantly influenced food choice and acceptability (p<0.05). Subject and stimulus variables, contributing to the role of olfactory cues, were identified from the results, facilitating the development of a conceptual olfactory cueing model. The model demonstrates how a series of independent variables, relating to odour exposure, may lead to either an enhancement of dietary patterns or suppression of food intake. The application and implications of the model are discussed. As such this research establishes direct links between stimulus and response in an ecologically valid environment.

This study brings together two bodies of literature, one concerned with the character of services and the other concerned with the nature of quality, in order to explore the nature and possible forms of measurement of service quality. It uses the conference hotel service product as a vehicle for examining judgements about overall service quality. A systematic approach, through a multi-staged methodology, is evolved by first identifying what the product consists of; secondly by establishing what the evaluative attributes are; thirdly by assessing levels of perceived performance on the evaluative attributes and, crucially, the assessment of the overall performance of the product. By using statistical techniques, the evaluative attributes of perceived net quality are examined. This is achieved by analysing which attributes fulfil minimum requirements and which attributes can increase a positive perception of net quality. In addition, the impact of the attributes on net quality is established. The study shows that the specific product consists of a multi-dimensional combination of attributes in varying degrees. The crucial attribute is shown to be dependability of management and staff. In addition, the study reveals that net quality is not only a reflection of incidents of satistaction with the physical - commodities and performed activities. It also needs to take into consideration human interaction as a component in itself. In a wider context the study gives an indication of how the perceived net quality of a product , with a high degree of an activity component, can be examined.

A nation wide survey of the vending industry indicated that the shelf-life of chilled menu items served from vending machines rarely exceeded 24 hours. This necessitated food production and distribution to vending sites on a daily basis. The short life coupled with unpredictable consumer demand may result in high food wastage rates. Vacuum and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) are known to improve stored raw food quality. In order to optimize the quality and shelf-life of vended foods, the effects of these techniques and length of storage time on menu items were studied. Chicken drumsticks and chicken a la king were either individually cling wrapped, vacuum packed or packed under modified atmosphere (70% CO , 30N 0) and stored for up to 21 days in a chilled foot vending machine. The growth of naturally occurring micro-organisms was delayed in vacuum packed samples, compared with cling wrapped samples. However, direct inoculation studies indicated that this effect was dependent on the nature of the initial microflora. The public health risk of serving cooked food from vending machines was assessed by means of a survey of the operating temperatures of chilled food vending machines and a review of the growth characteristics of the major food poisoning micro-organisms. Th8 surveyed machines were able to maintain temperatures below 5 C, although this temperature was not universally found. The sensory quality of the chicken samples was examined by two trained taste panels and also a consumer panel. Stepwise discriminant analysis of the trained panel scores indicated that packaging and length of storage had a distinctive and unique effect on the sensory quality of both products. The mean consumer scores were used to construct significant (p<0.05) regression models, which showed that on average consumers preferred the fresh unpackaged sample and least preferred the cling wrapped samples. However, when the consumer scores of individuals were examined by means of Prefmap analysis, subgroups were found to exist within the population that held polar viewpoints in opinion. The results show that MAP and vacuum packaging may be used in place of cling wrapping to extend the shelf-life of certain vended menu items, but of more immediate importance to the vending industry is the implementation of proper temperature control to ensure a hazard free syste

There have been a number of studies which have attempted to identify factors affecting successful technology transfer. However, empirical studies of technology transfer, at the level of the user, have been a much neglected area of research despite numerous promptings. Too much attention has been paid to single factor explanations of success, although it is widely accepted that success is a multi-faceted phenomenon. There is also an absence of a suitable definition of success which reflects its multi-dimensional character. This research, therefore, attempts to develop a suitable multi-faceted measure for success and an identification of factors affecting success in the study of the user uptake phase of a technology transfer process; namely the introduction of cook chill technology into catering operations in the UK. A survey of 80 cook chill operations in the UK was undertaken and detailed information was collected from each. A multi-faceted measure of success was developed by using 10 carefully selected success criteria. Each cook chill operation in the sample was allocated a 'score' for each success factor. This process culminated in the formation of a 'success table' of cook chill operations in the sample which enabled the identification of those units which were the most successful and those which were the least successful throughout the technology transfer process. There were numerous differences between the activities of the successful group and those of the unsuccessful group throughout the initiation, implementation and assessment phases of the technology transfer process. The findings of this research, therefore support the notion of success as being multi-faceted. Some of the major factors seen to affect success included: management stability, the extent, quality and efficiency of precook chill development work, communication and involvement with employees and appropriate training, adherence to the technical requirements of the system and a research and development orientation. The overriding finding, however, was the tendency shown by the managers in the successful group to be proactive and those in the unsuccessful group to be reactive.

Changes in intramuscular connective tissue brought about by conditioning were investigated in bovine muscles of different quality. Perimysial and endomysial collagens were solubilized to a small extent during conditioning and residual insoluble collagens in both connective tissue domains were damaged by proteolytic processing. Yields of soluble perimysial material from unconditioned muscles were significantly lower (p = 0.096) than from conditioned muscles. Solubilized perimysial collagen from unconditioned muscles was significantly lower (p = 0.015) than from conditioned muscles with 1±0.8 % of original collagen solubilized for unconditioned muscles and 3.4 ± 3.3 % for conditioned muscles. 87.5 % of the muscles examined showed an increase in percentage solubilized collagen due to conditioning. The main peptide components observed on analysis of insoluble perimysial fractions after CNBr digestion were derived from types I and III collagen. No changes were observed in the major peptide bands due to conditioning. Yields of soluble endomysial fractions representedo, n average,9 4.5 % of total extracted endomysial material for unconditioned muscles compared with 97.5 % for conditioned muscles. Soluble endomysial fractions contained, on average, 0.13 % collagen from unconditioned muscles and 0.22 % collagen from conditioned muscles. The main peptide components observed on analysis of insoluble endomysial fractions after CNBr-digestion were derived from types I and III collagen. Changes observed on the peptide maps, evident as the appearanceo f a number of new bandsf rom conditioned samples,a ppearedt o be muscle specific. % Type III collagen decreased on conditioning, indicating that endomysial type III collagen was preferentially destroyed during - conditioning. In model systems, insoluble perimysium treated with pepsin over 24 h resulted in little damage to the insoluble collagenous residue remaining. Insoluble perimysium treated with cathepsin resulted in changes to the major peptide bands on one-dimensional SDSpolyacrylamide gel electrophoresisw hich were evident after 24 h treatment. Two-dimensional peptide maps obtained from conditioned insoluble perimysium and from insoluble perimysium treated with cathepsin for 24 h were altered relative to the unconditioned insoluble perimysium, indicating proteolytic damage to high molecular weight fractions. The in vitro case was extreme, but was comparable with conditioned insoluble perimysium. In addition, new peptide material in conditioned perimysium and endomysium in the molecular weight range 40 000 to 50 000 was observed, while perimysial samples revealed loss of peptide material, due to conditioning. Percentage solubilized collagen was higher (p < 0.05) from three muscles of varying quality when pre-injected with 0.1 M lactic acid and conditioned from 1 to 14 days than from untreated muscles. Analysis of the high molecular weight collagen peptides from lactic acid treated muscles by two-dimensional SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed increased incidence of degradation in this region compared with untreated controls. Sensory profiling using quality descriptive analysis (QDA) was carried out on three muscles of varying quality, pre-injected with 0.1 M lactic acid and results compared with untreated muscles. The results obtained failed to correlate the observed biochemical changes due to lactic acid treatment with perceived textural changes in these muscles. However, variability of the taste panel scores contributed significantly to the results obtained.

Consumers now demand higher quality in all aspects of life. This has had a particular effect on the food industry where the need for quality encompasses both food safety and sensory characteristics. The sous vide process was developed to produce food on a large scale but with superior sensory qualities compared to the products of cook-chill and cook-freeze systems. This research aimed to determine whether the sous vide process could produce meals with superior sensory properties as claimed. A literature survey indicated that craft-based assessors (chefs) claimed improved qualities in sous vide products which were not consistently supported by sensory analysts (scientists). Empirical studies were conducted to test whether sous vide and conventionally processed dishes could be distinguished by untrained assessors in a controlled laboratory environment and with assessors in an ecologically valid environment, a restaurant. In the laboratory, the sous vide meals were easily distinguishable from and less acceptable than the conventionally produced dish. In the restaurant, few significant differences were found. Thus the ecologically valid environment of the restaurant where the many extrinsic factors affect consumers' perceptions, effectively masked differences between the sous vide and conventionally prepared meals. To explore the reasons for this, a survey (n188) was conducted to determine the relative importance of the intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting the acceptability of foods when eating out. Results included a factor analysis which clearly showed components of 'customer care' had the greatest influence on the pleasure of eating out, followed by 'drink', and the absence of 'entertainment'. The factor which included 'enjoyment of food' was eleventh in the level of influence. Two scales were also devised to assess consumers' attitudes towards complaining about problems with meals and towards the technology used to produce them. This work has demonstrated that although consumers assume that the intrinsic qualities of food are the most important facator giving them pleasure when eating out, many extrinsic factors will have a much greater influence on affecting their overall pleasure from the experience.

The provision of adequate nutritional care to hospital patients continues to be an international problem, despite numerous initiatives and attempts by interested parties over several decades to make improvements. The focus of this research was to critically evaluate the effects a hospital ward eating environment can have on patients’ foodservice experience and to establish if providing an enhanced dining environment could improve outcomes. A case study approach was employed on two Orthopaedic wards in an Acute Care Hospital which considered the variables that concurred in the contextual environment of the foodservice provision, to provide an in depth appreciation of Orthopaedic patients’ dining experience. The study used a mixed methods, sequential, exploratory, research process, consisting of four phases incorporating; semi structured interviews with patients, patient questionnaires, exploratory interviews with stakeholders and measurement of patients’ food intake and mood. Following the empirical processes this study has engaged in, theoretical contributions have been made which include; (1) A conceptual model for factors affecting patients’ foodservice experience developed from a synthesis of literature and theories with regard to the provision of hospitality, mealtime experiences and nutritional care provision for patients; (2) A questionnaire to measure hospital patients’ overall food experiences has been developed; (3) An explanatory model for factors influencing hospital patients’ foodservice experience has been developed; (4) A comparison of the patients’ mean, daily, nutritional intakes with the recommended levels, provided updated evidence of poor nutrition in the research setting, whilst factors influencing reduced food intakes were established; (5) The provision of an enhanced group dining experience for the patients, established positive outcomes for patients and stakeholders; (6) A theoretical model was developed that establishes a hierarchy of factors influencing Orthopaedic patients’ foodservice experience and food intake. This research study makes a contribution to our understanding of how sociological and environmental factors can enhance patients’ dining experience which may ultimately lead to improved nutritional intake.