Preparing, planning and serving meals require several important steps before you can enjoy a meal. The meal takes place in a room ( room ), where the consumer meets waiters and other consumers ( meeting ), and where dishes and drinks ( products ) are served. Backstage there are several rules, laws and economic and management resources ( management control system ) that are needed to make the meal possible and make the experience an entirety as a meal ( entirety -expressing an atmosphere ). These five factors are the major ones for developing meal service in restaurants, and together form the Five Aspects Meal Model (FAMM). Several studies have shown that the context of a meal is important for the acceptance and consumption of a meal. Accordingly, the context has to include the food product itself, the consumer and the environment. These three factors need to be considered in an integrated manner, because they affect each other. A qualitative study of restaurant consumers found that there are at least eight main categories of importance for the experience of the meal: restaurant atmosphere, core items of consumption, restaurant scene, personal service encounter, staff quality, visitors, restaurant decision process and individual circumstances. These categories can easily be related to the 'Five Aspects Meal Model'. The essence of each factor is dependent upon different forms of knowledge, such as science, practical-productive, aesthetical and ethical.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to identify, portray and analyse the frequent drivers of customer service experiences as described by customers in their own words -the voice of the customer. Design/methodology/approach -A critical incident technique study was conducted, based on 122 interviews, including 195 favourable and unfavourable narratives, about customer experiences. The data were analysed in an inductive manner and the results are presented by means of extracts from the narratives. Findings -The findings describe the dimensions of drivers of customers' favourable and unfavourable experiences and the frequent drivers, the social interaction, the core service and the physical context. Research limitations/implications -Customer experiences are processes and include dynamic interactions and the customer as a co-producer. The study context is limited to the restaurant setting and Swedish customers. Practical implications -For managers the results suggest that great effort needs to be put into understanding the process of customer experiences and the various interactions involved, especially social interactions and the crucial roles of contact employees and customers involved in these interactions. Originality/value -The paper provides a detailed description and analysis of the frequent and less frequent drivers of favourable, and unfavourable customer experiences -the constellation of drivers. The findings are illustrated by extracts from customer narratives and show how experiences occur and that experiences are processes occurring in a social and physical environment when people do things together. Furthermore, the paper introduces customer experience to service dominant logic by describing the dynamics of resource interactions in customer experience formation.

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PurposeThis observational study set out to investigate the effect of sensory description labels on consumer choice of apples in a grocery retail store.Design/methodology/approachAn independent observation study was conducted in a retail grocery store setting. A total of 1,623 consumers were observed over a four‐day period in four different sessions, each using three apple varieties (JONAGOLD, INGRID MARIE, and ELISE). Marketing strategies differed between the sessions as follows: sort name labelling only, sort name and sensory description labelling, sort name and sensory semantic description labelling, and sort name labelling and allowing consumers to taste the apples before choosing.FindingsConsumer product choice was affected by the sensory description labels. When only the sort name was given on the label, the consumers tended to choose INGRID MARIE, which has a strong sort name. With the addition of sensory description labels, the consumer choice shifted to ELISE, which had been chosen with a low frequency when only sort name was given, but was chosen with a high frequency when sensory description labelling was used.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to red apples and one national market.Practical implicationsPractitioners, managers, and marketers may benefit from using proper sensory labelling as a marketing tool for various food products, such as apples, in a grocery retail store.Originality/valueThis study shows the importance and value of sensory description label marketing for food products in grocery retail stores. Little attention has previously been paid to the research area within sensory marketing communication concerning the interplay of sensory perception of food and the formulation of marketing labels, or taste marketing. This paper also addresses the possible interaction between the disciplines of sensory and marketing science.

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