Omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness are frequently discussed topics in food studies. Scholars have engaged with these concepts in consumerism and foodways. However, there is an existing research gap in the perspectives of restaurants on how they interpret these concepts and negotiate them in their daily operations. Using Shanghai as a case study, I examine how restaurant operators in Shanghai understand gastronomic omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness and how they employ them in operations to align with consumers’ desires. Do they admit the existence and importance of these concepts, and how do they interpret them? Do they take action on these ideas based on their understanding? If so, how do they employ omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness in restaurant operations? Do they construct their restaurants’ culinary identities, and how? I used semi-structured interviews with restaurant operators in Shanghai to investigate how they interpret omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness and employ these concepts in operations. The findings reveal that authenticity and exoticness are socially constructed culinary identities, and uniqueness and distinction are the true causes supporting the credibility and popularity of a restaurant. In addition, the study points out another form of omnivorousness in Shanghai, which has not been shown in previous studies. Finally, this research also shows that some factors in operations are not concerned by restaurant operators to build culinary identities, including ingredients, staff, service, and advertising.

This project is an investigation into issues surrounding the placing of a building into the context of a sloped site. The study manifests itself through the design of a farmer's market, restaurant and retail space on a site defined by a change on volumetric disposition, movement pattern and structural system. / Master of Architecture

There is an increased emphasis in management literature on the use of strategic management as the primary means of adapting organizations to their changing environments. For firms in the maturing hospitality industry to survive and succeed, they will have to depend upon their ability to strategically align themselves with the turbulent environment, and select appropriate strategies to create defendable competitive positions. Success in strategy implementation depends partly on whether a firm's strategy is congruent and complementary with its structure, and this match is expected to have a positive impact on financial performance. With that in mind, a study was carried out in 1987. The objectives of the study were: 1) to examine restaurant firms based on the context of Porter's strategic typologies at the business unit level to see if they espouse one of his three generic strategies: overall cost leadership, differentiation, and focus; 2) to examine the relationship between structural attributes and generic strategy in restaurant firms, these attributes were specialization, formalization, and centralization; 3) to examine the relationship between strategy, structure, and financial performance of restaurant firms. Three performance measures were used: return on assets, return on sales, and growth in unit sales. Following a pilot-test phase, the top management team in 296 American multi-unit restaurant firms were surveyed, using a structured questionnaire. Ninety-one firms participated in the survey, giving a 30.7% response rate. The sample was well represented by all major segments in the restaurant industry. Based on the purposes and research questions, three sets of hypotheses were derived to determine the relationship of strategy and structure in restaurant firms, the relationship of strategy and performance, and the differences in structure among the high performers and low performers in each of the strategy groups. T-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical analyses were conducted to examine these relationships. The level of significance, alpha value, was set at 0.05. Results indicated that strategy was not related to structure in restaurant firms, and that it only affected one of the performance measures, return on sales. It was found that certain performance measures were related to structure for companies espoused in low cost and focus strategy, but not to differentiation strategy. These findings were inconclusive in validating Porter's model. Some of the probable reasons are: 1) Porter's generic strategies may not be applicable for the service industry due to the existence of the fundamental differences in manufacturing and service, 2) the unique characteristics of the restaurant business and the relatively short life cycle of an innovative product or service. / Ph. D.

Dining out is one of the most popular leisure activities in developed countries. A review of the studies on consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction (CS/D) in restaurant dining indicates that the majority of restaurant management literature deals with the product/service dimension of restaurant dining and that the leisure dimension of restaurant dining has not been explored. This study was approached with a desire to combine the knowledge from leisure, tourism, marketing, and service management in order to add to the body of knowledge in restaurant management. An analysis of an empirical test of the satisfaction disconfirmation model in an upscale restaurant was conducted. The emphasis was on the impact of perceived product/service and leisure disconfirmations on CS/D with upscale restaurant dining. Initially, thirteen product/service attributes were identified through in-depth literature review and consequently nine leisure attributes were adapted from Beard and Ragheb's leisure motivation scale (1983). A self-administered questionnaire was given to 443 customers in an upscale restaurant and 217 questionnaires were returned by mail. It was found that respondents had significantly higher perceived product/service disconfirmation than perceived leisure disconfirmation. Five factors were identified by factor analysis of the 22 attributes. The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that all the 13 product/service attributes which separated into three factors--food and beverage (F&B), price/quantity, and physical/service--had significant impacts on consumer satisfaction. The nine leisure attributes were identified as two factors--factor leisure one and factor leisure two. Factor leisure one was found to have no significant impact on CS/D. Factor leisure two which includes discover new things, avoid the hustle & bustle of daily activities, and interact with others, was found to relate significantly to consumer satisfaction. Among the four significant factors, F&B had the highest effect on consumer satisfaction with upscale restaurant dining followed by price/quantity. Compared with the physical/service factor, factor leisure two had a slightly higher effect on consumer satisfaction for upscale restaurant dining. / Ph. D.

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived environmental uncertainty, business strategy, and financial performance in the lodging Industry. Using a contingency framework, this study investigated the match between strategy content and environmental uncertainty which, from previous research, appear to distinguish between high and low performing organizations (Miles 8 Snow, 1978; Bourgeois, 1978; Schaffer, 1986). The key question that forms the basis of this research is whether the empirical evidence supports previous theory relating to the environment, strategy, and performance relationship. The findings of this study indicate that a "match" between the state of the environment facing an organization and its business strategy is required for high performance. Hotels employing a defender strategy In a stable environment tend to perform better than hotels that employing other strategies. Similarly, hotels employing an analyzer strategy in a volatile environment tend to perform better than hotels that employing other strategies. Furthermore, irrespective of the environment faced, smaller hotels do better than larger hotels in terms of profit, while larger properties tend to fare better in terms of revenue. From an Industry application perspective, this study provides the strategy planner in the lodging industry with empirical information relating to: 1. A means to assess the state of the business environment perceived by individual unit general managers, 2. A repertoire of business strategies that emphasize different competitive postures, and 3. A "decision rule" to apply in appropriately matching their strategy to an environmental state for maximal performance outcome reflected in revenues and earnings. The results obtained provide an invaluable planning and analysis tool for all levels of management involved in charting a firm’s future. / Ph. D.

Thesis advisor: Joseph Quinn / This thesis explores the debate surrounding the impact of minimum wage increases on employment, dissecting the conflicting results and methodological divergences in the existing economic literature. It engages in a detailed meta-analysis of seminal studies, with a particular focus on how differing research methodologies and definitions of employment have contributed to the lack of consensus among economists. The analysis reveals that while some studies, like those by Card and Krueger (1994), find no negative effects on employment, others, such as Neumark and Shirley (2022), report significant adverse impacts, particularly on low-skilled and younger workers. This thesis examines the prevalent methodological approaches and highlights the role of controlling for spatial heterogeneity and the careful selection of control groups in assessing the true effects of minimum wage policies. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Morrissey School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics. / Discipline: Departmental Honors.

This study examines whether front-of-house workers' experiences of emotional labor affected their turnover intentions while working a food service job during COVID. To investigate, I asked a sample of 14 tipped workers and two general managers about their experiences working in restaurants during the lockdown and reopening phases of COVID. I learned about participants' experiences working and their reasons for staying and quitting their job during the reopening phases. From interviews, I collected data on workers' perceptions of health mandates, their customer interactions, and their own assessments of COVID-related risks. I analyzed interview data to assess how organizational changes during COVID affected workers' performances of emotional labor and whether their reasons for leaving related to emotional labor being altered. Findings show that workers had to manage customers' heightened emotions while handling their own. From decreased income, increased negative emotions, and mask interference, workers' experiences of emotional labor were significantly changed. Importantly, organizational changes made many workers uncomfortable in their workplace and in following organizational demands, both related and unrelated to emotional labor. These experiences led seven participants to ultimately quit and six to desire to quit without doing so. I conclude that emotional labor was intensified for workers' whose wage predominantly rested on their capitalization of interactions with customers. Evidence reveals how organizational changes led to increased feelings of stress, emotional burnout, and exhaustion. However, the widespread occurrence of these feelings and intensified emotional labor make it unclear whether increased and intensified emotional labor directly created or heavily influenced desires to quit. / Master of Science / My project aims to ask restaurant workers about their experiences working through COVID. Many people called workers "lazy" or complained about them quitting to use government assistance. However, I believe that workers quit for reasons unrelated to individual laziness or reliance on assistance. To investigate, I asked front of house restaurant workers about their experiences interacting with customers and their job conditions. I also asked them what it was like for them, as restaurant workers, to enforce mandates while trying to keep a customer happy for a tip. I interviewed 16 people that worked in a restaurant between November 2020-2021. I chose this period because during this year millions of workers were quitting their jobs. After interviewing workers, I analyzed what they said to see whether interactions with customers and their efforts to maintain tips pushed them to desire quitting. I found that workers' experiences in restaurants were changed greatly by COVID. Specifically, their incomes decreased, interactions were seriously impacted by the mask, and work became more emotionally exhausting. Many of the workers I interviewed wanted to quit while working with a mask on their face. It was clear that working during COVID was the only option for many of the workers I interviewed, and it often cost them their mental health and well-being to stay financially stable.

Natural light phenomena are a wide array of captivating occurrences. From the gentle diffusion of sunlight through clouds to the dramatic interplay of shadows during sunrise and sunset. Different phenomena of light appear daily, and through light and its meeting with materiality, situations and spaces appear, triggering different feelings and bodily experiences. Material and light are two fundamental parts of interior architecture and our bodily experience in a space. This project investigates how the qualities Shadowplay, Sunshine, Fog and a Cloudy sky, can be put into a spatial context, through light and materiality, to create a similar bodily experience of that in nature. This to remind us of genuine daylight in the absence thereof. The project aims to create an abstract recreation of the visual identity of the four different phenomena, together with a recreation of our experiences of it. This has been conducted in a garage space lacking all natural light to bring more emphasis to the created lightscape. This project and subject as a whole is important to bring more knowledge about the weight that light has in a space. Today light is often planned late in the process, even though it affect spaces significantly. Light together with surfaces and materials affects the space in different ways. Weather or Not takes the setting of a restaurant interior. A space where the visitor expects an interesting experience, not only from food, but also by the full environment surrounding it. The restaurant is set in a car garage at Åsögatan at Södermalm in Stockholm. A big underground space belonging to an apartment block, today filled with cars that slowly are pushed out from the city center. In a few years these big spaces will be left empty not serving their original purpose. In a time when discussions of living standards are on the agenda, I want to highlight these big spaces, with exterior qualities and foremost, its evident darkness. To have them serve another purpose. This project is looking into the possibility of working with light in this completely dark environment to remind us of natural light experiences in nature in the midst of the city. Through collecting keywords and descriptive texts, the project has been able to base the work on several people’s experiences of the different phenomena, giving them their own identities to work with onwards. The project has aimed to create an abstract recreation based on people’s experiences of the four phenomena with some visual resemblance. The design of the space was made in parallel with light installations resembling the phenomena. Within the project several different ways of working with space and objects has been tested. Light brings another dimension to the process. One that sometimes is difficult to translate into the different processes with obstacles of wanted light spread etc. Instead, working in full scale gave new realisations and opened up to new problems both with scale and measurements, but also with placement of one’s eye and body in the space. This was not visibly, felt or fully understood in models, sketches or digital visualisations, as well as in the real-life experience. The body is a tool with different measurements in our senses.

Titel: Hur finansierar företagaren sig i en högriskbransch. En studie om hur krögare finansierar sin verksamhet  Författare: Hannes Herlin, Kevin Jaeger Handledare: Per-Ola Ulvenblad Examinator: Hans Landström  Nivå: Civilekonomuppsats, 30hp   Nyckelord: Pecking order, Trade-off, Bootstrapping, Restaurang, Entreprenörskap.   Problemformulering: Hur finansierar krögare sin verksamhet och hur kan det förstås?   Syfte: Studiens syfte är att beskriva hur krögare finansierar sin verksamhet. Studien skall även analysera vad som påverkar finansieringsvalen. Slutligen ska studien resultera i utveckling av ett begrepp eller påbyggnad av redan existerande teorier gällande finansiering.  Litteraturgenomgång och teoretisk referensram: Litteraturgenomgången och den teoretiska referensramen ger en förståelse för hur tidigare forskning har behandlat hur krögare finansierar verksamheten och vad det beror på.   Metod: Studien är induktiv med deduktiva steg genom en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi varpå empirin har insamlats med semistrukturerade intervjuer. En tematisk analysmetod har tillämpats.   Slutsats: Resultatet visar att krögarna väljer det finansieringssätt som minst inskränker på deras kontroll av bolaget samt dess vision för bolaget. Om en delägare skall göra tillträde väljs hellre en delägare som kan bidra i den dagliga verksamheten via komplimenterande kompetenser än att ta in en ren finansiär. / Title: How does the business owner finance their enterprise in a high-risk industry. A study about how restauranteurs finance their business.  Author: Hannes Herlin, Kevin Jaeger   Supervisor: Per-Ola Ulvenblad Examiner: Hans Landström  Key words: Pecking order, Trade-off, Bootstrapping, Restaurant, Entrepreneurship  Research questions: How do restauranteurs finance their enterprise and how can it be understood?  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe how restauranteurs finance their enterprises. The study shall also analyze what affects the restauranteurs choices of finance. The study will result in the development of a term or a further development of an existing theory.   Literary review and Theoretical framework:  The literary review and the theoretical framework will give an understanding of how the earlier research has treated how restauranteurs have financed their enterprise and what it depends on.   Method: The study is inductive with deductive steps through a qualitative research strategy hence the empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews. A thematic method of analysis has been used. Conclusion: The result shows that restauranteurs choose the type of finance that will impact their control of the company and their vision of it the least. If a partner makes an entrance the restauranteur will choose the partner which will provide more competence in the daily operations than the one who will provide more capital.

Quick-service restaurant owners who fail to apply effective business strategies could risk business closure within the first 5 years of operations. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore effective strategies that independent quick-service restaurant owners used to sustain business longer than the first 5 years. Resource-based theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected via semistructured interviews with 6 owners of independent quick-service restaurants in the southern region of the United States who sustained their businesses longer than the first 5 years, and from the review of business documents pertaining to sustainability. Data were also collected using business artifacts such as job descriptions, menus, websites, social media platforms, and business licenses, and analyzed using methodological triangulation. Member checking was used to help ensure reliability and validity of the interpretations. Six key themes emerged from the data: organization value, customer required excellence, financial perspective, human assets, physical operating materials, and technological prowess. The 6 themes aligned with the 5 types of internal resources established in the conceptual framework. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to support the welfare of the local citizens and owners of quick-service restaurants across the United States by providing strategies necessary to increase business survival rates, improve job sustainability, and encourage job creation.