The Statement of the Problem: This research proposes to identify and evaluate the existing management practices and management performance of two categories of restaurants by comparing the Chinese specialty restaurant to the American specialty restaurant in the Miami, Florida area.

The main research objective of this study was to determine whether Wi-Fi affects customer's loyalty and how its impact differs depending on the type of restaurants: coffee shops, fast food restaurants, and casual dining restaurants. For the study I designed a primary field survey to collect data and performed multiple linear regression analysis to test the study hypotheses. Findings show that Wi-Fi service factors turned out to be significant for all types of restaurants for both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. Wi-Fi service factors were more important for coffee shop loyalty than fast-food restaurants or casual dining restaurants. However, not all of the Wi-Fi usage factors were significant consistently. Furthermore, Wi-Fi service factors were much more important for coffee shop loyalty than fast food restaurants or casual dining restaurants. Findings are expected to assist hospitality marketers to utilize Wi-Fi service as a point of service towards their customers.

Abstract and faculty adviser information are not available for this thesis.

Immigrants employed in hospitality organizations experience various psychological challenges as they adapt to the cultures of their organizations and the society at large. This dissertation aims to investigate how acculturation and workplace inclusion of immigrant restaurant workers affect their levels of job satisfactions, subjective well-being, work engagement, organizational attachment, and turnover intention. This study followed a cross-sectional research design to explore immigrant restaurant employees' attitudes towards their acculturation process and perceptions of their work experiences in the United States. This study was developed by using scales from the existing literature and a back-to-back translation method by native speakers of Spanish and Haitian Creole languages. The participants of this study were 279 immigrants, who are restaurants employees in the United States. Data were simultaneously collected in three different ways. The questionnaire adopted for this study was distributed at multiple restaurants, including stand-alone and hotel foodservice outlets, in the Southeastern region of the USA. Also, a link to the survey questionnaire was forwarded to other participants via email and social media to individuals who qualify as immigrant restaurant workers. In addition, the data collection the process involved using Amazon Turk, until the required sample size for this study was met. Both SPSS version 24 and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) were utilized to analyze the collected data for this study. This study's results indicate that acculturation and workplace inclusion positively influence subjective well-being and job satisfaction amongst immigrant restaurant workers. Meanwhile, work engagement, organizational, and turnover intention are directly influenced by job satisfaction. The findings of this study advance the knowledge of acculturation and workplace inclusion in both the hospitality discipline and the mainstream human resources literature. While there are very few studies on acculturation and workplace inclusion in the hospitality and tourism literature, no prior research was conducted on immigrants working in the food and beverage sector. Also, no previous studies investigated both the effect of acculturation and workplace inclusion on immigrant employees in a simultaneous manner. Hence this study adds to both the hospitality and organizational behavior body of knowledge. It also provides new insights on how to improve these employees' subjective well-being, job satisfaction, work engagement, organizational attachment, and reduce the chances of quitting their hospitality jobs.

The widespread marketing of food and beverage products high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) es is a significant driver of obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This PhD dissertation examined the factors related to Member States' capacity and actions to fully implement the 2010 World Health Assembly's Resolution WHA63.14 to restrict the marketing of HFSS food and non-alcoholic beverage products to children up to 18 years by 2025. The first study describes the capacity-building needs of Ministries of Health (MoH) to implement the Resolution WHA63.14. The research used a 28-item web-based survey administered to representatives of MoH from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) region (n= 35). A government capacity-building and integrated marketing communications (IMC) frameworks guided this research. The second study examined the government policies to restrict the marketing of HFSS food and beverage products in a purposive sample of countries in the PAHO region (n=14). The WHO policy and IMC frameworks were used to develop a responsible policy index (RESPI). A web-based platform was developed that uses data visualization tools to depict the results. The third study explored the dimensions of power in the Mexican social networks of stakeholders that influenced the policy-making process that enabled the government to enact front-of-pack (FOP) warning labels on HFSS food and beverage products marketed to children and adults in 2020. The study followed a case study approach, using semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, and guided by the Gaventa's power cube framework. Social Network Analyses were conducted using the UCINET software (version 6) that measured centrality, factions and quadratic assignment procedures (QAP). These PhD studies applied several theoretically grounded conceptual frameworks related to nutrition governance that allowed me to draw conclusions from empirical and published evidence to develop and implement comprehensive policies to restrict the marketing of HFSS food and beverage products to children. Results may inform government agencies, civil society organizations, academic researchers, private foundations and industry actors about the areas needed for policy improvement and promising or best practices that should be adopted to implement Resolution WHA63.14 to reduce children's future risks of obesity and diet-related NCDs by 2025. / Ph.D. / The widespread marketing of food and beverage products high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) by transnational food and beverage manufacturers, chain restaurants and retailers, entertainment companies and digital technology companies is a significant driver of poor diet quality, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among populations globally. In May 2010, 193 Member States endorsed the World Health Assembly’s Resolution WHA63.14 to restrict the marketing of HFSS food and non-alcoholic beverage products to children up to 18 years to promote healthy diets and reduce their future risk of obesity and NCDs. This PhD dissertation examined the factors related to Member States’ capacity and actions to fully implement the 2010 Resolution WHA63.14 by 2025. The first study describes the capacity-building needs of Ministries of Health (MoH) to restrict the marketing of HFSS food and beverage products to children. Priority actions recommended include governments adopting mechanisms to identify, declare and manage conflicts of interest related to food marketing; better utilization of existing Constitutional requirements of governments to protect children’s health and human rights; and developing comprehensive policies to restrict unhealthy HFSS marketing through digital media. The second study examined the government policies to restrict the marketing of HFSS food and beverage products across 14 countries from the PAHO region. Brazil, Canada, Chile, and Uruguay had the strongest statutory policies that restricted HFSS food and beverage product marketing at point of sale, use of cartoon licensed media characters and celebrities, and marketing in schools and through broadcast media. The third study explored the dimensions of power in the Mexican social networks of stakeholders that influenced the policy-making process that enabled the government to enact front-of-pack (FOP) warning labels on HFSS food and beverage products marketed to children and adults between 2019 and 2020. FOP labeling is a marketing used that have shown impact on children’s choice of food and beverage products. Results revealed that advocacy, collective engagement and building strategic coalitions were forms of power that shifted from a profit-interest-based to an evidence-based policy-making process in Mexico. These PhD studies applied several theoretically grounded conceptual frameworks related to nutrition governance that allowed me to draw conclusions from empirical and published evidence to develop and implement comprehensive policies to restrict the marketing of HFSS food and beverage products to children. The collective results may inform government agencies, civil society organizations, academic researchers, private foundations and industry actors about the areas needed for policy improvement and promising or best practices that should be adopted to implement Resolution WHA63.14 an create healthy food environments to reduce children’s future risks of obesity and diet-related NCDs by 2025.

Researchers have examined the influence of entertainment companies' licensed media characters on children's diet and health. Conversely, limited empirical research exists on how food, beverage and restaurant companies use brand mascots to influence the dietary preferences and choices of children and their parents. This M.S. thesis is comprised of two studies that address this knowledge gap. The first study conducted a nutrient-profile analysis of 20 food, beverage, and restaurant products that use brand mascot marketing to children, whose companies are members of the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), an industry self-regulatory program. Products were evaluated using seven nutrient-profile models or nutrition guidelines. Results showed that all twenty products that used brand mascots failed to meet one or more of the guidelines, especially for candy/sweets, children's meals, and snack foods. The second pilot study used Q methodology to explore the views of five child-parent dyads concerning the influence of brand mascots on their diet-related cognitive outcomes. Each child and one parent independently completed a demographic survey, a brand mascot and product association survey, and a card-sort with 48 brand mascot images to determine 'most-liked' versus 'most-disliked' mascots. Factor analysis identified three unique viewpoints that were shared by participants including: 1) Breakfast Cereal Animal Lovers; lover of mascots with eyes/hands of approval; and 3) human, hat-wearing mascot lovers. Participants associated 66 percent of products with the correct brand mascots. These results may inform policy-relevant recommendations to strengthen industry self-regulatory programs to create a more healthful childhood marketing atmosphere. / Master of Science

Den här uppsatsen försöker kartlägga vilka produkt- och varumärkesegenskaper som driverkonsumenternas val av premiumöl på restaurang och redovisar en konsumentstudie gjord irestaurangmiljö. Tidigare forskning menar att det finns en outnyttjad potential förrestauranger som vill utnyttja det snabbt ökande intresset för hantverksöl genom co-brandingmed attraktiva premiumvarumärken. Studien visar att konsumenter av premiumöl pårestaurang värderar både produktegenskaper men också funktionella, sociala och emotionellavarumärkesegenskaper signifikant annorlunda mellan premiumöl och mainstreamöl. Studienvisar också att restaurangens utbud av premiumöl påverkar konsumentens val av restaurangoch att ökade kunskaper om öl kan vara en nyckel till ökad försäljning av hantverksöl. / This paper employs a sample of restaurant customers to explain consumer preferences forpremium beer brands. Previous research has pointed to the underexplored niche marketpotential of craft beer related to Food & Beverage operators and suggest increasing cobrandingwith premium beer brands in order to gain competitive advantage. This studyexplains a significant percentage of variance in premium consumer preferences for premiumbeer to mainstream beer comparing product attribute utitlity to brand equity dimensions(functional, social and emotional dimensions). This study also shows that the beer menu ofthe restaurant is likely to effect premium consumers choice of restaurant and that efforts toincrease consumer knowledge of beer can be the key to increased sales of craft beers. Thispaper is published in Swedish.

The goal of this master's thesis is to develop the concept of a restaurant located in Paris, playing weekly live classical music concert, to test this concept through existing literature, potential customers and develop a full business plan. The first part of the thesis investigates theoretical background and a test of the concepts to potential customers. The first is composed of four main topics: factors influencing customer's loyalty in a restaurant, the influence of the physical environment, the effect of music on the atmosphere's perception and associated purchasing behaviour in a restaurant and finally key success factors in the restaurant industry. The second part will be composed of three sub-parts, the first stating the goal of the survey, the second how the survey was realised and the third will present the results and conclusions. The second major part of the thesis is the development of the concept after it was confirmed in the previous part. It is composed of a business plan, the latter describing the concept, the market, the business model, marketing strategy & plan, management, development plan and risks. Financial data will be provided in annexes.

No description available.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Aleksan Shanoyan / Company XYZ is a global manufacturer of human nutrition & health (HNH) premixes. They operate globally through 14 manufacturing sites. HNH premix North America manages a network of three production facilities plus several warehouses on the east and west coasts of the United States. The purpose of this thesis is to provide insights for informing the asset strategy for the human nutrition and health premix business of Company XYZ focusing on the analysis of competitive forces and market drivers for the herbs and botanicals segment. Specifically the thesis aims to achieve the following three objectives: 1) identify potential supply chain bottlenecks and capacity constraints by mapping out the supply chain and examining the production flow, the installed capacity, and current asset strategy; 2) identify key market drivers and related industry trends by assessing the competitive forces and change forces affecting the industry growth rate; 3) present synthesis of strategic issues and strategy recommendation for asset allocation strategy. The analysis involves examination of the supply chain logistical flows for raw materials used in current production of blends and premixes as well as the supply chain for herbs and botanicals. It also includes the assessment of current production capacity by providing a detailed overview of production facilities, blending equipment, production lines and geographical coverage. The aim is to assess the existing procurement capabilities and to identify potential bottlenecks that may constrain the supply chain flow as the demand for HNH premixes grow. The industry analysis was undertaken to better understand the outlook for the premix industry and the factors driving and impeding the growth in the herbs and botanicals sector. The current premix competitive environment was evaluated for the food & beverage as well as dietary supplement sectors. In addition to calculating the industry’s concentration and Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI), Porter’s Five Forces framework was used to analyze the intensity of competitive forces in the industry and the attractiveness of the HNH premix industry as the demand for premixes in that segment continues its growth trajectory. The qualitative assessment of the industry structure and competitive forces was conducted using data from interviews with experts designed and conducted in the fall of 2016. The results indicate that the current asset footprint, procurement base, and supply chain capabilities of Company XYZ will allow it to position itself as a leading supplier for the growing HNH nutrition segment. In addition, the results indicate that given the high-value low-volume nature of herbs and botanical blends there are no significant strategic advantages to be gained from changes in geographic asset footprint. However, these results do not account for actual production costs and overheads at each location since the analysis did not include a financial assessment. The results from the analysis of socio-economic trends illustrate that moving forward the companies in the dietary supplement sector focused on applications that support brain and cognitive functioning will account for the largest increase in demand for herbs and botanical blends. It was recognized that Company XYZ currently finds itself in a “red ocean” where it competes over market share in a slow-growth and highly competitive industry. Two potential strategies that will help transition a company into a “blue ocean” – a high growth and low-rivalry environment involve: i) taking over customers’ in-house blending activities by offering a better value proposition through Company XYZ’s economies of scale, superior quality standards, and blending capabilities; and ii) enhancing diversification into the herbs and botanicals segment of the HNH premix industry focusing on brain health applications.