Electronic Meal Experience: A Content Analysis of Online Restaurant Comments

By I. Pantelidis. 2010

370 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This article presents a content analysis of 2,471 customer comments regarding three hundred London restaurants on an online restaurant guide. Favorable comments far outnumbered negative reviews. The study’s chief purpose was to identify the factors that are most salient in a guest’s evaluation of a restaurant. Although food is established as the king of the meal experience, as found in other studies, the starter is cited as a highly memorable item in many consumers’ comments. A preference structure model emerges suggesting that customers consider food, service, ambience, price, menu, and decor (in that order) when reflecting on their experiences. Contrary to expectations, the model remains relatively constant when tested in times of economic plenty and economic crisis. Depending on how management monitors and responds to them, comments on electronic guides and in social media can destroy a restaurant or help secure the business’s longevity. Restaurant managers who respond successfully to comments in electronic forums can turn an unsatisfied customer to a loyal one. The study provides a comparison of comments made during times of favorable economic conditions and times of economic recession.

Subfields: Marketing, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bded995f63138ffafd54b01b4afe5eb82c02bfb9

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Citations in the corpus

Generation Y's dining information seeking and sharing behavior on social networking sites: An exploratory study (2014, background): “Many people now consult more than friends and relatives when seeking a restaurant, by turning to online guides and social media (Pantelidis, 2010).”
Analysis of satisfiers and dissatisfiers in online hotel reviews on social media (2016, background): “Of the diverse social media platforms available, online review websites are recognized as one of the most accessible tools for understanding social media-friendly customers’ experiences more precisely (Gretzel and Yoo, 2008; Pantelidis, 2010).”
Understanding the Impact of Online Reviews on Hotel Performance (2017, background): “…for companies, empirical research has heavily focused on their impact on consumer perceptions and decision-making processes (Liu and Park 2015; Pantelidis 2010; Park and Nicolau 2015; Ryu and Han 2010; Zhang et al. 2010), but less has investigated the impact of consumer reviews on business…”
Effects of Restaurant Satisfaction and Knowledge Sharing Motivation on eWOM Intentions (2017, background): “In particular, in the context of hospitality industry, researchers have documented that customers are motivated to disseminate positive eWOM as a result of pleased dining experience (E. Jeong & Jang, 2011; Pantelidis, 2010).”
Putting the “self” in selfies: how narcissism, envy and self-promotion motivate sharing of travel photos through social media (2020, background): “As many as 78% of travellers reporting that they check online reviews before making travel purchases (Lodging, 2018), and online reviews are an increasingly important part of the post-purchase evaluation process (Leung, Law, Van Hoof, & Buhalis, 2013; Pantelidis, 2010; Stringam & Gerdes, 2010).”
Determinants of Customer Satisfaction in the Hotel Industry: An Application of Online Review Analysis (2013, background): “Pantelidis ( 2010 ) presented a content analysis of 2471 customer comments regarding 300 London (UK) restaurants on an online restaurant guide to identify the factors that are most salient in a guest's evaluation of a restaurant.”
Dimensions of Brand Equity in the Chain Restaurant Industry (2011, background): “Although food remains the undisputed essential factor in customers’ assessment of a restaurant (Pantelidis 2010), we know that people choose restaurants not solely based on food, but also due to their desirability as a site for parties, celebrations, and business meetings (Walker 2007).”
The Influence of Hotel Price on Perceived Service Quality and Value in E-Tourism (2014, methodology): “In the service industry, online reviews are considered as a useful tool for investigating customers’ perceptions (Pantelidis, 2010; Ryu & Han, 2010; Zhang et al., 2010). Compared with questionnaires and interviews, online reviews provide a new and effective way to investigate customers’ perceptions.”
Hospitality and Tourism Online Reviews: Recent Trends and Future Directions (2015, background): “The retrieval and analysis of this valuable information can thus significantly help managers’ self-improvement (Pantelidis, 2010).”