THE SERVICE QUALITY OF FAST FOOD SERVICE IN DAVAO CITY AS

PREFERRED BY THE STUDENTS OF SAMSON POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

OF DAVAO

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION

Foodservice is largely based on reputations and word of mouth.

Customers keep coming back to some of their favorite fast food restaurant not

just because of their delicious food offered but also their service and how they

entertained their customers and how they handled them in any situations. As if

they prefer good service than delicious foods. But sometimes customers usually

get mad and impatient because of the poor service and when their expectations

do not match what the restaurants provide.

Food is not only for its nutritional value, but also for its social significance

such as prestige, sacrifices and expression of friendship (Vlisides et al, 2000).

Restaurants are the only major food industries which serving customers with

prepared food, drinks and desserts. In order to have a unique service in the

restaurant, they don’t just provide tasty and nutritious dishes, they also provide

services such as music, games and other forms of entertainment. The other

forms of bait to attract customers are the mode of service and operations,

cleanliness, advertisements, location and accessibility and creativity in using

indigenous materials for construction. Other customers keep coming back to the

restaurant with so many reasons, such as to meet new friends, to have variety of

foods and save money and time for other things, among others.
Despite there were several studies conducted that revealed customer

preferences in food service but our study will investigate other compounding

variables that were not examined before.

LITERATURE REVIEW

(Clemes, et al 2008; Yusoff et al 2010) says that effective service quality is

a critical success factor for fast food restaurants. Improving the service quality to

satisfied customers is one of the most important strategies that they can use to

position themselves more effectively in a competitive marketplace (Cronin &

Taylor, 1992) and there is no difference between retailers to fast food managers

in terms of improving and measuring service quality (Sumaedi & Yarmen, 2015).

To understand for today’s growing markets due to rapid urbanization and

rising numbers of tourists, the Foodservice Industry Management must place a

high priority though it may be providing a huge impact on the global economy but

it is affected by the customer’s ever changing preferences. In order to engage

many customers in this highly competitive Industry and make their foodservice

establishment a successful one, they must gain and sustain strategic advantages

(Firdaus Abdullah, Abg Zainoren Abg Abdurahman, and Jamil Hamali, 2013).

They confirmed the five dimensions of customer preferences which is the

importance of Halal (permissible in Islam), Price, Quality of Service, Branding

and Tangibles. And knowing these dimensions can make them find a better

allocation of resources for effective service delivery.

 According to Caroline Opolski Medeiros, Elisabete Salay (2012), of

Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Campinas, Campinas, São

Paulo, Brazil, the price, atmosphere, food quality and location were the attributes

most investigated by the researchers and food quality and taste were perceived

as essential by consumers for all types of restaurants. When it comes to fast food

restaurant, the price and speed of service is the most important factors. On the

other hand, the most relevant factors on selecting types of restaurant were the

food quality and service, followed by attributes related to service. For the student

population, lower-income populations and individuals who eat out frequently, it

shows that the price were more important. And with respect to gender, women

mostly prefer the safety of foods to their family than men.

In a full service restaurant, the product quality is as important as the

service industry. The more you are reliable in terms of your product quality, the

more customers will be satisfied your product. This quality is part of the

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) where customers depend upon

reliability of your core product. In addition, there will be different organization that

they discovered the most critical measurement that can make a very good

organization and it’s generally program excellent, perceptible, trustworthiness,

responsiveness and assurance (Azadavar et al., 2011).

Its compulsory for corporation to maintain their excellence in quality

because people today are much more attentive to quality excellence compared to

price (Satya, 2011) and soon, the customer will buy better brand in terms of

quality rather than thinking about the price issue (Rajput et al., 2012).
 Many companies today are seriously adopting Customer Relationship

Management to take their competitive advantages. They feel pressured from

quickly adjusting the changes in a marketplace with re-goods to customer,

technology and market function. Lately, the customers are not just becoming

more value conscious, but less loyal and less service oriented and less tolerant

at the same time. The effect of these changes to the companies is that they must

become customer centric and shifting their market functions from product based

to customer based. (Kumar, 2012)

By adopting the CRM system to the companies, they have the advantages

to be able to collect and evaluate specific knowledge about their customers in a

systematic way to improve customer service and customer loyalty. But then, if

they ignore the importance of this, they will not just loss their customers but also

the profit of their company. (Nguyen, Sherif & Newby, 2007, p. 102) To survive in

this highly competitive Industry and can easily lock in customers, the

management must understand the needs of their customers and competing with

exceeded expectations, something which CRM systems can help organize since

many companies offered very similar product and service to each other and can

quickly compared (H. Kale, 2004).

According to Namkung and Jang, 2007; Peri, 2006; Sulek and

Hensley, 2004, food quality has emerged as the most important determinant of

customer satisfaction. Namkung and Jang (2007) reported in Lim (2010) that

Presentation; health options; tastes; freshness; variety; and temperature is also

the relative factors that constitute food quality. Lim (2007) added that a pleasing
atmosphere can contribute to even a greater level of overall satisfaction of the

customer and this can have a huge impact on the emotional responses and

behavior of customers. And if the price is perceived to be fair, customers would

like to keep coming back again and again in the restaurant.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study primarily aims to determine the Quality of Fast food

Restaurants in Davao city. Specifically, it will answer the following questions.

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of;

1a. Age
1b. Gender
1c. Course
2. What is the Quality of Fast food Restaurants in Davao city in terms of;
2a. Quality of service
2b. Quality of food served
2c. Accessibility
2d. Affordability
2e. Ambiance
3. Is there a significant difference on the Quality of Fast food Restaurants in

Davao city as analyzed according to this profile?

Hypothesis:

The null hypothesis will be tested at 0.05 level of significance.

HO1 there is no significance difference on the Customer Preference on

Foodservice Industry among the fast food restaurant in Davao City in terms of

Quality of Service, Quality of Food served, the Location and Ambiance when

they are grouped according to their profile.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

According to confirmation and disconfirmation theory customers’

expectations about services and service perception experience has plying vital

role in customer satisfaction. Early satisfaction research defined satisfaction as a

post-choice evaluative judgment concerning a specific purchase decision and

satisfaction as an outcome of disconfirmation (Parasuraman et al, 1985; 1988).

The expectation disconfirmation theory suggested that satisfaction is determined

by the intensity and positive or negative direction of the gap between

expectations and perceived performance. Customers‟ expectations are beliefs

about service delivery that function as standard or reference point against which

performance is judged. Customers compare their perceptions of performance

with their expectations and reference point when evaluating service quality

(Zeithaml and Bitner 2003). Parasuraman et al. (1988) defined expectation as

„desires of wants of customers‟ the expectations component was designed to

measure customers’ normative expectations and it is similar to the ideal

slandered in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Expectations serve as

standards with which subsequent experiences are compared; it is result of

previous experience about service also.

There are five types of expectations: Ideal expectations (desired by

customer according to their need and hopes), Normative „should‟ expectations

(is normal expectations it should be fulfill by service provider), Experience based

expectations (this expectation is based on former experience and knowledge

about particular service), Acceptable expectations (It is expectation that can be

fulfilled by service providers naturally and adequate level) and Minimum tolerable

expectations (it is minimum level of expectations, there is very low level of zone

tolerance in expectation and perception). Customers perception is one another

element which plying significant role in the determination of customers’

satisfaction. Satisfaction will influence by perception of service quality, price, and

other personal expectations regards to service. It is a judgment that, a product or

service feature, or the product or service itself, provides a pleasurable level of

consumption related fulfillment (Oliver, 1994). Moreover, disconfirmation of

expectations may have an asymmetrical effect, such that negative

disconfirmation is more impactful than positive disconfirmation. However,

customer satisfaction is based not only on the judgment of customers towards

the reliability of the delivered service, but also on customers‟ experiences with

the service delivery process. In other words, customers who appreciate the core

and relational dimensions of service quality provided by a service provider are

likely to be satisfied with the services offered by that service provider (Jamal and

Naser, 2002).

A customer satisfaction is strongly linked to impressions of performance,

satisfaction and switching barriers are assumed to be the most important

antecedents of repurchase behaviour, or the intension to repurchase a good or

service (Sharma, 2008). Smith and Houston (1982) mentioned that satisfaction

with services is related to confirmation or disconfirmation of expectations and

satisfaction is related to the size and direction of the disconfirmation experience

where disconfirmation is related to the person's initial expectation. However, the

satisfaction of consumers depends not only on how the service provider

performs, but also on how the consumer per- forms. By contributing information

and physical and mental effort, consumers contribute directly to their own

satisfaction (Bateson, 2002).

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
PROFILE of the Quality of Fast food
Respondents: restaurants in Davao city
Preferred by the Students of
1. Age Samson Polytechnic College
of Davao:
1. Quality of Service
2. Gender 2. Quality of Food Served
3. Accessibility
4. Affordability
3. Course 5. Ambiance

Figure1. The Variables of the Study

Figure1. The Variables of the Study

The figure above illustrates the design on how to conduct this study. The

independent variables show the profile of the respondents in terms of age,

gender and year level. Quality of Fast food restaurants in Davao city Preferred by

the Students of Samson Polytechnic College of Davao contains five indexes,

namely: quality of service and food served accessibility, affordability, and

ambiance as the dependent variables. This study will measure to compare the

preferences of the college students of SPCD on food and service industry among

the fast food restaurant in Davao City.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The findings of this study will benefit the following;

Restaurant operators – this study will give a wider frame of reference for the food

establishment owners for policy making, effective strategic planning and

management system.

Food and service staff – this will strengthen their competency towards their work

to maintain customer satisfaction.

HRM students – this study will help them to enhance their knowledge on the

foodservice industry.

HRM Instructors – this study will help them to have more knowledge in terms of

finding the best foodservice and to share their knowledge to their students in the

future.

Future researchers – this will help them as their references to have an idea on

their research regarding customer preferences on foodservice industry.

SCOPE and LIMITATION of the STUDY

This study primarily aims to determine the customer preferences on food

and service industry to be responded by the students of SPCD located at

Uyanguren St., Davao City. The actual gathering of data will be on November,

2018.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

The following variables of the study are defined operationally to comprehensively

understand the study.

Accessibility – the quality of being able to be reached; accessible.

Affordability – a state of being cheap enough for people to be able to buy; the

extent to which something is affordable.

Age – the period of time someone has been alive or something has existed.

Ambiance – the character and atmosphere of a place according to convenience

and comfortability of the guests.

Customer preference – defined as the subjective tastes, as measured by utility,

of various bundles of goods; is what the type of product an individual customer

likes or dislikes.

Food Service industry – business of food; it encompasses all of the activities,

services and business functions involved in preparing and serving food to people

eating away from home.

Gender – a socially constructed definition of women and men.

Quality of Food served – it is the quality characteristics of food that is acceptable

to consumers including external factors as appearance, texture and flavor.

Quality of Services – defined as the extent to which the service fulfills the needs

or expectations of the customers or conceptualized it as the overall impression of

customers as regards the weakness or excellence of the service.

CHAPTER 2

METHODS

This chapter describes the Research Design, Respondents, Sampling

technique, Instruments used for data gathering, Procedure of the study and

statistical tools.

RESEARCH DESIGN
 The study will use the descriptive survey method in order to determine the

customer preference on foodservice industry among the fast food restaurant here

in Davao city. According to Dr. Y.P. Aggarwal (2008) descriptive research is

devoted to the gathering of information about prevailing conditions or situations

for the purpose of description and interpretation. This type of research method is

not simply amassing and tabulating facts but includes proper analyses,

interpretation, comparisons, identification of trends and relationships.

RESPONDENTS

Cluster Random Sampling will be employed in this study for the following

criteria; that the respondents should be the students of Samson Polytechnic

College of Davao who always visits any fast food establishment here in Davao

city for their bonding or outing.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

In the absence of standardized instrument, the researchers constructed a

validated survey questionnaire. The questionnaire use all guided response type

which was believed to be vital to answer the problem under investigation.

The questionnaire as designed by the proponents includes journal article,

questions from textbooks, unpublished or published thesis. This consists of two

parts. The first part aims to gather data about the profile of the respondents in

terms of age, gender and year level. The second part will be the response

gathering pertaining to the customer preference on food service industry among

the fast food restaurant in Davao city in terms of Quality of service, Quality of

food served, Accessibility, Affordability and the Ambiance. The said instruments

were subjected to validity by experts in the line of the field of the study.

RESEARCH PROCEDURE

The researchers will first seek permission to the Dean of College for

allowing us to conduct our study. Once approved, the researchers will personally

administer the survey questionnaire to the students upon the approval of the

classroom instructor and seeing to it that the actual administration will not hinder

class session. After the retrieval of the questionnaire, the data will be compiled,

sort out, and to be encoded to the Excel Microsoft Word. Quantitative data

processing may be determined to arrive at scientific analysis and interpretation of

results.

DATA ANALYSIS

For valid and reliable analysis and presentation of data, the following

instruments statistics tool will be used:

Frequency of Percentage Distribution will be applied to determine the profile

of respondents.
Mean and Standard Deviation was used to determine the Costumer Preference

on Foodservice Industry.

T test and ANOVA this statistical formula will be used to determine the

significant difference of Customer Preferences on Foodservice Industry among

the fast food restaurant in Davao city in terms of Quality of service, Quality of

food served, affordability, accessibility and ambiance when analyze according to

the profile of the respondents.

QUESTIONNAIRE

PART 1

Profile of the Respondents

Direction: Kindly check the appropriate boxes on the following inquiry.

A. Age
 16 years and below

Above 16 years old – 20 years old

Above 20 years old – 25 years old

Above 25 years old

B. Gender

Male

Female

C. Year Level

BSBA

BSHM

BSTM

BSIT

BTVTeD/BTTE

Samson Polytechnic College of Davao

Address: R. Magsaysay St., Cor Narra & Chavez St., Davao City; Telephone No: 227-232
Email: [email protected]

THE SERVICE QUALITY OF FAST FOOD SERVICE IN DAVAO CITY AS

PREFERRED BY THE STUDENTS OF SAMSON POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE
OF DAVAO
 Questionnaire

Dear Respondent,

Greetings!
We, the Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management Junior
Students of Samson Polytechnic College of Davao who currently enrolled in
Research 1 subject. As a requirement for the course we are compulsory required
to gather data using a questionnaire which will be utilized our research entitled,
“THE SERVICE QUALITY OF FAST FOOD SERVICE IN DAVAO CITY AS
PREFERRED BY THE STUDENTS OF SAMSON POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE OF
DAVAO”. Kindly answer the question below with all honestly, for the purpose of
aiming reliable information. Your cooperation is highly appreciated. Rest assured
that your responses will kept confidential.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely yours,

THE RESEARCHERS,

Ferigura, Geraldine Grace E.

Abrantes, Rolando Jr A.
Ramo, Merry Joy M.
Ignacio, George Mathew D.

PART 2

THE SERVICE QUALITY OF FAST FOOD SERVICE IN DAVAO CITY AS

PREFERRED BY THE STUDENTS OF SAMSON POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE
OF DAVAO

Direction: Kindly check the scale that best describes your responses to the following
item statements. Equivalent of responses are provided for your guidelines.
It will be evaluated using the criteria below.

Rating Scale Descriptive Equivalent

4 Highly Preferred
3 Moderately Preferred
2 Slightly Preferred
1 Not Preferred

A. Quality of Service
B. Quality of Food Served 4 3 2 1
C. Accessibility
1. Serving the food on time 4 3 2 1
4 3 2 1
1.
2. Tastefood
perception which includes juiciness of chicken,
1. The
The locationordered
of theare correctly
fast followed
food establishment and is
complete
along the
3. blend of ingredients
Responsiveness and freshness of vegetables
to inquiries
highway
2.
4. The menu has a good
willingness to help variety of items and to provide
the customers
2. The location is accessible
3. The quality
prompt of food is excellent
service
3.
4. The location is isolated but pollution free
5. The food isresolution
Complaint tasty and flavorful
4. The place is accessible
5. The food being served are to all kinds
good forof transportation
one’s health
5. Free from any kind of accident

D. Affordability
4 3 2 1
1. Prices are competitive
E. Ambiance
2. The food you ordered was worth the price 4 3 2 1
3. The
1. The atmosphere
value for priceof paid wasisexcellent
a place refreshing
4.
2. The
The food pricinginaffordable
decoration a place istoappealing
all kinds to
of the
customer
eye
5.
3. Free from nuisance and public disturbance it’s priced
The food offered are more affordable when
4. as
Theone complete
feeling meal
of comfortability while eating
5. The place is conducive for resting and leisure while you
are eating
THE SERVICE QUALITY OF FAST FOOD SERVICE IN DAVAO CITY AS
PREFERRED BY THE STUDENTS OF SAMSON POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE
OF DAVAO
An Undergraduate Thesis Presented to the faculty of the College Department of

Samson Polytechnic college of Davao

Davao City

In Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degrees of Bachelor of Science

in Hotel and Restaurant Management

By:

Ferigura, Geraldine Grace E.

Ignacio, George Mathew D.

Abrantes, Rolando Jr A.

Ramo, Merry Joy M.

August 29, 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page i
Table of Contents ii

CHAPTER
1 THE PROBLEM
Introduction 1
 Literature Review 1
Statement of the Problem 5
Null Hypothesis 6
Theoretical Framework 6
Conceptual Framework 9
Significance of the Study 10
Scope and Limitation 11
Definition of Terms 11

2 METHODOLOGIES
Research Design 12
Respondents 12
Research Instruments 13
Research Procedure 13
Data Analysis 14
Survey Questionnaire 15