A dining table without food: the floral experience at ethnic fine dining restaurants

Abstract

Purpose A high-end ethnic restaurant is a tourism experience that can increase the attractiveness and brand recognition of a tourism destination. The restaurant environment is a key element that affects consumer visits. The purpose of this paper is to adopt Schmitt’s experience module to analyse tourist preferences and experiences with respect to floral styles in ethnic fine dining restaurants. The results of this study are intended to serve as a reference for operators of fine dining establishments in designing flower arrangements. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a quantitative research method. A sample was developed using tablet computers to simulate flower arrangements in restaurants. The research tools included a floral style preference scale and a tourist floral experience scale. Findings Based on the results, the test subjects preferred European floral design styles in restaurants. Restaurant environments with floral arrangements were best at relaxing the test subjects. A restaurant’s floral style was positively correlated with various aspects of the tourist experience. Gender, age, Chinese flower styles, Japanese flower styles, European flower styles and other variables enabled forecasting the degree of the tourist experience. Originality/value When a consumer exhibits higher preference for a restaurant’s floral style, the level of the tourist experience increases. This study investigates the aesthetic experience of restaurants and restaurant atmosphere as a marketing tool. Sensory stimulation within the restaurant atmosphere can be based on the five senses such that tourists may, through the design of the restaurant environment, have specific emotional reactions that improve their tourist experience and reinforce the restaurant’s brand image.

Exploring Effective Sensory Experience in the Environmental Design of Sustainable Cafés

“…Further, when designing cafés, operators must consider the importance of ambience as experienced with all 5 senses; in the past, only visual ambience has been the focus of design [41,42], and the fact that humans receive information through 5 senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste) and assess this information with the brain to generate overall perception has not been considered [6,9,43]. The establishment of indicators of green café ambience design requires multi-party support and cooperation from academia, government, industry, and consumers, whose mutual assistance and joint efforts enable design implementation.…”

“…Chen et al [6] show that proper ambience creation and sensory experience have positive impacts on consumer emotions. The design of a restaurant's environment and ambience can enable consumers to generate more consumption desires and specific attitudes and behavioural responses [29]; thus, restaurant managers should improve service quality and adopt marketing strategies that meet the needs of the restaurant to improve consumer satisfaction [30].…”

“…When consumers choose a restaurant, environmental factors affect their choice [1,3,6]. Influenced by the awareness of green sustainability, consumers have realized that green spaces function as ecological environments, and the introduction of a green theme can attract customers and thus create economic value [7].…”

Pengaruh Experiential Marketing terhadap Niat Mengunjungi Kembali di Rumah Makan dengan Kepuasan Konsumen sebagai Variabel Mediasi

“…Menerapkan experiential marketing, pelaku usaha dapat menciptakan hubungan yang baik dan berlangsung lama dengan konsumen. Penjelasan tersebut sesuai dengan Araci et al (2017) dan Chen et al (2019) bahwa pemasaran berdasarkan pengalaman terdapat efek yang positif pada kepuasan pelanggan. Terblanche (2018) dan Ihtiyar et al(2018) menyatakan kepuasan dapat menimbulkan niat untuk mengunjungi kembali.…”

“…Hal ini didukung Chao (2015) bahwa experiential marketing berpengaruh terhadap kepuasan pelanggan, begitu pula dengan penelitian dari Yeh et al(2019) mendapat hasil bahwa terdapat pengaruh signifikan antara experiential marketing dan kepuasan konsumen. Chen et al (2019) menunjukkan hasil pengaruh signifikan antara experiential marketing dan kepuasan konsumen.…”