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Chapter 1 The Problem Introduction The restaurant industry is one of the key contributors for the service sector in many Asian countries. It is relatively competitive in nature with stiff competition within the industry due to an increasing number of new entrants offering differentiated food products and services. On the other hand, the customers are becoming more demanding (Stevens et al., 1995; Kueh & Voon, 2007) and their needs are rather diverse. The role of food quality is also recognized as one of the key determinant for customer satisfaction and loyalty. Good restaurant services and quality of food and beverages can be instrumental in satisfying and retaining the customers who most probably enjoy eating delicious food. (Tam, 2004). Situated within Southeast Asia, the Philippines is home to numerous exciting, interesting, and world-class restaurants. Operating under the principle of total customer satisfaction, these dining establishments are guaranteed to please all kinds of people from the different parts of the world through their distinctively delicious food offerings, first-class amenities, and highly efficient services. In Davao City, meeting the needs of the customer remains the primary objective of the firm in order to stay in the business. Some business executives ensure that meeting the customer satisfaction is not on its minimum, but even ensure to make them delighted.

Many researchers have looked into the importance of customer satisfaction. (Kotler,2000) defined satisfaction as a persons feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a products perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to his or her expectations. (Hoyer and MacInnis,2001) said that satisfaction can be associated with feelings of acceptance, happiness, relief, excitement, and delight. There are many factors that affect customer satisfaction. According to Hokanson,1995 these factors include friendly employees, courteous employees, knowledgeable employees, helpful employees, accuracy of billing, billing timeliness, competitive pricing, nservice quality, good value, billing clarity and quick service. In order to achieve customer satisfaction, organisations must be able to satisfy their customers needs and wants (La Barbera and Mazursky, 1983). Customers needs state the felt deprivation of a customer (Kotler, 2000). Whereas customers wants, according to Kotler (2000) refer to the form taken by human needs as they are shaped by culture and individual personality. With the uprising issues in hotel and restaurant management as it mentioned above, the researchers would like to find out if there is a correlation between restaurant services and customer satisfactions in various restaurants specifically those situated in Davao City. They opt to determine if changes in customer service, either in positive or negative way, may greatly affects the level of customer satisfaction.

Statement of the Problem This study specifically investigated the relationship between restaurant services and customer satisfaction among the selected buffet establishment in Davao City. Specifically, this was seek to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of: 1.1 Age 1.2 Gender
2. What is the level of restaurant services in terms of:

2.1 Sanitation and Cleanliness 2.2 Quality of Foods 2.3 Customer handling skills 3. Level of Customer Satisfaction: 3. Is there any significant relationship between buffet restaurant services and customer satisfaction? 4. Does buffet restaurant services significantly influence customer satisfaction ? Hypothesis: HO1. There is no significant relationship between restaurant services and customer satisfaction. HO2. Restaurant services does not significantly influence customer satisfaction

Conceptual Framework Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Profile of the Respondents Age Gender

Restaurant Services Quality of food Sanitation/Cleanliness Customer Handling skills

Figure 1: The Conceptual Framework of this Study

The figure above shows the relationship between independent variable which pertains to profile of the respondents and dependent variable that refers to restaurant services. Independent variables indicators are age and gender. After being aware with this certain extent, it was correlated with the dependent variable which is sanitation/cleanliness, customer handling skills and quality of foods. These indicators are the effort created by restaurants management to

ensure the quality service they are trying to provide at enormous number of consumers. These were use in order for the proponents to determine the extent of customer care among their targeted restaurants

Theoretical Framework The phenomenon of interest for Yield Shift Satisfaction Theory (Robert O. Briggs,2000) is the satisfaction response, define as a valence affective arousal with respect to some object that has reference to some state or outcome desired by an individual. The satisfaction response is a single construct that encompasses both positive feelings, commonly called satisfaction, and negative feelings, commonly called dissatisfaction. Under this definition, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not two ends of a continuum with a neutral point in the middle. Rather, the continuum is from not-aroused to aroused. The valence characterizes the arousal as positive or negative, but does not define its magnitude. We use this conceptualization because an individual may experience a switch of valence from negative to positive or vice versa without passing through a neutral state of non-arousal. (Holbrook & Corfman, 1985; Olshavsky,1985) Also supports that on customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction has focused on the customer's assessment of a specific transaction involving a product or service. In contrast, research on restaurant services has examined the customer's assessment of the overall excellence or superiority of a service (Zeithaml, 1988). However, customers satisfaction and customer attitudes about services are intrinsically related. In a dynamic framework, the customer's satisfaction with a specific service encounter depends on pre-existing or contemporaneous attitudes about service quality (Anderson & Sullivan, 1992;

Cronin & Taylor, 1992) and the customer's post-usage attitudes depend on satisfaction (Bitner, 1990; Bolton & Drew, 1992).

Scope and Limitation The locale of the study comprises the selected buffet restaurant services in Davao City. The study was undertaken for two (2) semesters of SY 2012-2013. Further, the study was only limited to the level of Customer Satisfaction in terms of buffet service restaurant. The customers who were dined at chosen buffet service restaurant were the participants of the study. In this restaurant, about 60 customers was involved. Thus, a total of 60 respondents were covered in this study.

Significance of the Study This study provides brief description on the various significances of the study in the relationship between buffet restaurant services and customer satisfaction in Davao City. The students. The proposed study serves the students as their reference or guide in creating this kind of research study. The Managers. The proposed study will give an awareness on what level of satisfaction of the customer is and what will make them satisfy. The Customers. The proposed study will help them to be informed about the food establishment that they dined in to.

The Faculty. The proposed study findings will provide additional inputs to teachers that will be used to increase students learning particularly on any Hotel and Restaurant Industry. The future researcher. The proposed study will benefits and help the future researcher as their guide. The study can also open in development of this study.

Definition of Terms This portion simplifies understanding of the study by defining the terms of variables according to their contextual use. The following are the important words that have been used in the study so that they can easily understand by the readers. Age. It is the length of time that one has existed; duration of life. (thefreedictionary.com) Cleanliness. It is both the abstract state of being clean and free from dirt, and the process of achieving and maintaining that state. (SuellenHoy,ChsingDirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness(Oxford University Press,1995 )Cleanliness. In this study, it refers to the overall cleanliness of the restaurant. Customer Handling Skills. For a business to remain open and operate efficiently, you need to keep customers happy and satisfied. In this study service providers employ all sorts of strategies to avoid customer turnover. Gender. a grammatical category in inflected languages governing the agreement between nouns and pronouns and adjectives; in some languages it is quite arbitrary but in Indo-European languages it is usually based on sex or animateness.(Multilingual Translator HarperCollins Publishers 2009 ) Quality of food. It is the quality characteristics of food that is acceptable to consumers. This includes external factors as appearance (size, shape, colour, gloss, and consistency), texture,

and flavour; factors such as federal grade standard and internal (chemical, physical, microbial). (Elsevier B.V. ) Restaurant Services. It refers to the restaurant that offers services with a wide selection of foods and beverages, and table services. Sanitation. It refers to the study and use of practical measures for the preservation of public health(Collins Discovery Encyclopedia 1st edition HarperCollins Publishers 2005). Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This study describes the processes involved in identifying and developing a topic for research investigation. Defining quality customer satisfaction and its components is a form that is actionable in the workplace is an important endeavor that an organization should not take lightly. Conceptual Literature Restaurant Services field must be highly motivated and knowledgeable in order to complete and survive. (Wang,Lo,and Yang,2004) attempt to conceptualize factors of restaurant services as antecedents to customers satisfaction, rather than as dimensions or components of the construct. Anton (1996) gave a more current approach. He defined customer satisfaction as a state of mind in which the customers needs, wants, and expectations throughout the product of service life haven been met or exceeded, resulting in future repurchase and loyalty. Some researchers support the idea that satisfaction can be measured from a perspective of performance evaluations, making the inclusion of the disconfirmation process needless. Furthermore,

satisfaction is not only consists of cognitive element but have to include emotional element in determining customer satisfaction.

Customer Satisfaction In this study, to understand satisfaction, the researcher needs to have a clear understanding of what is meant by customer satisfaction. Most researchers agree that satisfaction is an attitude or evaluation that is formed by the customer comparing their pre-purchase expectations of what they would receive from the product to their subjective perceptions of the performance they actually did receive (Oliver, 1980). As Kotler (2000, p.36) defined that satisfaction is a persons feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a products perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to his or her expectation. Additionally, Yi (1990) also stated that customer satisfaction is a collective outcome of perception, evaluation and psychological reactions to the consumption experience with a product/service.

Sanitation / Cleanliness Proper sanitation and hygiene procedures are probably the most important safety and health concerns in a food service environment. Countless numbers of people have become ill from eating contaminated food. Most of these cases could have been prevented if proper food handling procedures were followed. Each employee needs to take responsibility and action when

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it comes to maintaining a clean and sanitary food service or preparation area. Restaurants have a natural challenge that just comes with the territory: cleanliness and food safety. It seems not a day goes by without another horror story in the news about contaminated food products. Restaurants get routinely shut down by the Health Department. Even if things don't get that bad for your business, all it takes is for a delivery person to see a puddle of muck on the floor in your kitchen for a bad word-of-mouth campaign to start circulating about your establishment.

Food Quality/ Quality of food Product quality has become a main topic of discussion in Europe and the United States. This is so because quality serves as an important criterion for consumers when purchasing food products and it builds customer value and satisfaction (Steenkamp, 1989). As a consequence of customer value and satisfaction, quality contributes to market share and return on investment. Therefore, companies are making adjustments in product designs, manufacturing processes, and marketing strategies to improve product quality. Thus, in the long run the most important single factor affecting a business units performance is the quality of its products and services, relative to those of competitors (Buzzel& Gale, 1987).Quality has been defined in many different ways and every single definition contributes to better understanding of the concept, though researchers has not come up yet with a universal concept definition. Quality has been variously defined as value (Abbott, 1955), conformance to specifications (Levitt, 1972), conformance to requirements (Crosby, 1979), fitness for use (Juran, 1988), loss avoidance (Ross, 1989) and meeting and/or exceeding customers expectations (Grnroos, 1983). The fact that there are so many definitions of quality roots in the diversity of perspectives from which quality has been analyzed

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(Steenkamp, 1990). Quality is a jewel with many facets, and it is important when using the term, to define, explicitly, or implicitly, with which facet one is concerned (Cowan, 1964, p.7). Based on prior literature, Reeves and Bednar (1994) provide a framework for explaining the concept of quality consisting of four different aspects, which will be just shortly outlined here: quality as excellence, quality as value, quality as conformance to specifications and quality as meeting and/or exceeding customers expectations

Customer Handling Skills Customers are the life blood of any business. Without them, the business would fail. For a business to remain open and operate efficiently, you need to keep customers happy and satisfied. Service providers employ all sorts of strategies to avoid customer turnover. Smart organizations know that it is not enough to have the lowest price or the best technology there always seems to be a competitor who can do it better or cheaper. There are no guarantees, but one of the best customer retention strategies is to provide superior customer service. And that means listening to your customer. A complaint is any measure of dissatisfaction with your product or service, even if its unfair, untrue, or painful to hear! Complaints are useful data for making process improvements in your organization, you will go a long way towards making changes that will differentiate you and make your work life easier, more fun, and more responsive to customer needs (Brown et al.,1999).

Related Studies

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According to Nathuwera (2007), there is a significant relationship between restaurant services and customer satisfaction, the price, quickness of service, and atmosphere of a restaurant affect restaurant customer satisfaction. In addition, a person usually assesses the quality of both the food and service. According to Lupfer (2000),price is a major deciding factor on customer satisfaction. If the food is mediocre but expensive, customer dissatisfaction rises. Yuksel and Yuksels (2002) study about customer satisfaction with a restaurant services found that customer satisfaction is an important topic for the researchers. It is because a high level of customer satisfaction will leads to an increase in repeat customers. Being able to judge customers satisfaction levels and to apply that knowledge are critical starting points for ascertaining and maintaining long-term customers retention and competitiveness. Moreover, Yuksel and Yuksel (2002) mentioned that the majority of satisfaction theories state that satisfaction is a relative concept, always judged in relation to a standard. The selection of an appropriate standard of comparison for use in a research, however, represents a dilemma for there searchers. This is partly because there is not sufficient research evidence available to respond precisely to what comparison standard customers use in different situations. Different forms of service standards have been proposed in the marketing and consumer behavior literature; with the exception of predictive expectations, other standards have received little empirical research in the hospitality industry. There is also limited understanding of whether the use of different comparison standards, yields different results in terms of satisfaction as it applies to the university foodservice system. According to Oh and Jeong (2000), even though the notable progress in customer satisfaction research has been made and there is a significant demand for research from the industry, customer satisfaction has remained seriously under-researched in the hospitality industry. Furthermore, studies applying customer satisfaction models are rarely found

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in the foodservice industry. Thus, in this developing stage of hospitality customer satisfaction research, more tests and applications of the customer satisfaction models seems appropriate. In general, customers are concerned about the overall convenience of a restaurant. They are often happiest with businesses that can provide quick service. In addition, while such restaurants appeal to many people, they usually have lower satisfaction rates than full-service restaurants because of factors other than convenience. (Rahman,2006)

Synthesis Based on our understanding. The level of buffet restaurant services in Davao City differ from the performance of the establishment. The establishment should always consider what consumers will after for and their reasons for dining. Customer Satisfaction is a key ingredient to the success of any business. It is the most important factor that creates repeated customers. We could actually say that customer satisfaction is based from different factors that contribute to it. Some factors that would include is the quality of service rendered by the employees of a certain restaurant establishment. Some people know it but do not realize its importance. If a customers are satisfied with a restaurant services, chances are this customers will visit that restaurant and dine most of the time. Being polite and good to the customers is a plus factor to a business to be known for a good services offered by the employees. Aside from this, the quality of foods is considered the most efficient thing that one must look upon to, because by this one people would tend to go back and inform others that the food which offered

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by that restaurant is of good quality. Being a good leader, manager, or owner must have a good ways of handling people, being considerable and being patient with their workers so that they will listen and obey the task given to them and would realize that they need to work hard. This study will discuss the restaurant services and Customer satisfaction after they will dine in at specific buffet establishment. Customers satisfaction place the big role in achieving customer loyalty. It will determine the level of customer satisfaction in which the quality of product and services and price perception are the main factors of customer satisfaction.

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

This study presents the description of the research method that was used, a description of the respondents, the instruments that was used, the procedures and statistical treatment utilized in analyzing the data that was gathered.

Research Design The research design of the study entailed descriptive comparative type of research. Descriptive research a type of research that provides an accurate portrayal of characteristics of a particular individual, situation, or group. According to Gay (1992), Descriptive research involves collecting data in order to test hypotheses or to answer questions concerning the current status of the subjects of the study. Closed-ended web survey questionnaires were used in this

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study because they were more convenient for the participants to answer and for the researcher to interpret the respondents results.

Respondents The study has respondents directly from the chosen buffet establishment in Davao City. These participants were selected through purposive sampling because their study was solely focus to the restaurants customers only. This sampling method was conducted where the selected customer of a restaurant has an equal opportunity to become part of the sample. As all customers of the restaurant have an equal chance of becoming a research participant, this was said to be the most efficient sampling procedure. In order to conduct this sampling strategy, the researcher get to know first the customer, listed down all the information needed and then asked them to make the sample. (Kahlam,2005) For this purpose, a self-made survey questionnaire in Likert format was given to the respondents to answer. Herein, there are 60customers participated in this study. The respondents was given several minutes to complete the survey questionnaire upon request. After collecting the questionnaires, the responses was tallied, computed, analysed, and recorded.

Procedure The following procedures were done in the data gathering process. Foremost was to secure a permission to conduct the research study at the Office of the Dean of School of Business and Management of Brokenshire College through a written letter requesting permission thereof. Once our group was given the permission, the next step was seeking permission from the selected buffet establishment in Davao City.

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After given permission from the restaurant, that was the time that we also ask permission from the customers presenting them a letter explaining to them the purpose of conducting a study. After accomplishing all the questionnaires, the data was properly arranged, tallied, tabulated, and was subjected to statistical treatment for presentation, analysis and interpretation. Then the results was analyzed and interpreted based on the statement of the problem of the study.

Research Instruments A self-made questionnaire was utilized to gather relevant data as the chosen research problem. The questionnaire was consisting of three (3) questions about restaurant services. Moreover, the questions in this section was guided. In this regard the researcher was employ questionnaire and at the same time was employ observation list. These two tools are very important in the research as it helps the researcher to get the view of both the restaurant strategies being implemented and the satisfaction of the customers. On the first page of the survey questionnaire, it stated the researchers permission to conduct study with their chosen respondents. In addition, the instrument was divided into two items namely item I which pertains to determination of independent variable (restaurant services) and its indicators as well as item II that was said to be the dependent variable (customer satisfaction).

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The question researched administered in order to help the researcher to get some important aspects of data collection including facial expressions which help to capture the emotions of the subject about the topic of researcher.

The scale below used to interpret the total responses of all the respondents for every survey question by computing the weighted mean:

Mean interval

Verbal Description

Interpretation

4.50 5.00 3.50 4.49

Strongly Agree Agree

This means that you are very agreeable to entirely stated on the statement. This means that you are feature occasionally agreeable to the foremost feature of what is stated on the statement

2.50 3.49 1.50 2.49

Moderately Agree Disagree

This means that you are seldom agreeable to the foremost feature of what is stated in the statement. This means that you are somewhat agreeable to the to the foremost feature of what is stated in the statement.

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1.00 1.49

Strongly Disagree

This means that you are toughly not in covenant to the foremost of what is stated in the statement.

Data Analysis To answer the inquiries reflected on a statement of the problem, (1) What is the level of Restaurant Services in terms of; Sanitation and Cleanliness, Quality of Foods, Customer handling skills and (2) Level of Customer Satisfaction? The proponents used various statistical treatments. Mean was used to answer question number 1 and number 2 that was reflected on a statement of the problem. To determine the relationship between restaurant services including its indicators and customer satisfaction, Person r was utilized. Furthermore, Regression analysis used to determine the influence of restaurant services on the customer satisfaction.

References Anderson & Sullivan, 1992; Cronin & Taylor, 1992) the customer's post-usage attitudes deponent satisfaction. Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition HarperCollins Publishers (2005)Sanitation. Wang, Lo, and Yang, (2004) attempt to conceptualize factors of restaurant services as antecedents to customers satisfaction.

Cowan (1964, p.7)Quality is a jewel with many facets, and it is important when using the term, to define, explicitly, or implicitly, with which facet one is concerned Dabholkar et al., (2000); Kueh&Voon, (2007); Qin and Prybutok, (2008); Zeithaml et al., (1996).The relationships among restaurant services and customer satisfaction. Economic Glossary (2006).Definition of Product Quality [Electronic version] Retrieved July 22, 2012 from http://glossary.econguru.com/ economic- term/product+quality

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Elsevier B.V. (2000). Quality of food. (size, shape, color, gloss, and consistency), texture, and flavour; factors such as federal grade standard and internal Helgesen, Holbrook & (2006) Corfman, relationship 1985; between customer satisfaction

Olshavsky,1985customer

satisfaction/dissatisfaction

Howard and Sheth, 1969; Hunt, 1979;viewed customer satisfaction as it relates to a specific transaction, (PZB, 1988)service quality Johnston, Kevin (2011). Strategic Management Problems with Cost Based Pricing and Fixed Product Costs Retrieved July 22, 2012 from http://www.ehow.com/info_12140517_strategic-marketing-problemscostbased-pricing-fixed-product-costs.html#ixzz21JjyJKT9 Lyon, Barb (2010). Customer Service and Customer Satisfaction Retrieved July 12, 2012 from http://managementhelp.org/customer/service.htm Nathuwera (2007), Significant relationship between buffet service restaurant and customer satisfaction, the price, quickness of service, and atmosphere of a restaurant affect restaurant customer satisfaction. Morre (1987) Identified that concentration on service quality leads to differentiation that enhance the competitive position of the organization for long term benefits. Oliver, (1987); Nyer,(1999) To relieve cognitive dissonance and failed consumption experiences by the customers. Oliver (1993) as cited by Agbor, JenetManyi (2011). The Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality: a study of three service sectors in Umea

Paul G. Linnell of New Zealand, marketing profs member since 2002, the problem is that customer satisfaction is seldom expressed in financial terms. Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) defined service quality as customers' evaluation between service expectation and service performance.

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PZB, (1988), PZB (1985) Service quality as a global assessment about a service category or a particular organization. Qu, (1997);Kivela et al., (2000); Soriano, (2002); Zopiatis and Pribic, (2007)The quality of menu items affects customers intention to dine at the restaurant Reh (2010).Customer Survey Satisfaction [Electronic version] Retrieved august 20, 2012 from http://management.about.com/od/competitiveinfo/a/CustomerSatSurv.htm Research conducted by PZB (1985) Illustrated instances where respondents were satisfied with a specific event, but did not feel the organization offered overall high quality. Steenkamp, (1990) definitions of quality roots in the diversity of perspectives from which quality has been analysed Szymanski and Henard (2001), In their meta-analysis, indicate 15 positive and significant correlations between the two constructs. Spreng and Machoy, (1996).Service quality is considered very important indicator towards customer satisfaction Tamayo, Adrian (2011). Psychographic measure of service quality of fastfood chain in Davao City The Free Encyclopedia.Definition of Customer Satisfaction. Retrieved July 29, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_satisfaction Wang,Lo,and Yang,2004) attempt to conceptualize factors of restaurant services as antecedents to customers satisfaction Yuksel and Yuksels (2002) study about customer satisfaction with a buffet service restaurant found that customer satisfaction is an important topic for the researchers. Zeithaml et al., (1996).Behavioural responses to customer satisfaction: an empirical Study Zeithmalet al.(2000)Contributes a lot to gain competitive advantage to maintain long-term relationship with customers

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BUFFET RESTAURANT SERVICES IN DAVAO CITY

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear Maam / Sir: Good day!

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We are the BS in HRM fourth year students of Brokenshire College currently conducting a research study entitled: Buffet Restaurant Services in Davao City. This study aims to determine the level of satisfaction among customers in relation to the restaurants services. In line with this, we would like to ask you to be part of this study as our respondents. Please note and be assured that your answers or comments will be held with very strict confidentiality and will be used solely for this study. Hoping for your kind consideration. Thank you and God Bless.

Very truly yours, The Researchers

BUFFET RESTAURANT SERVICES IN DAVAO CITY

Directions: Please read each item and answer the following questionnaire carefully. Mark check () on the box or space provided for. Rank 5 4 3 2 1 Description Strongly Agree Agree Moderately Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

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RESTAURANT SERVICES Sanitation/Cleanliness 1. Appropriate food handling procedures being practiced in this buffet restaurant.
2. The restaurants walls, ceiling, windows, screens, doors, and light

fixtures are clean and in good repair.

3. The restaurants maintains a clean and hygienic environment for

the health and safety of each customers.

4. Keep counters, shelves, hoods, and sinks clean and free from

dust, dirt, insects, and other contaminating material.

Quality of foods 1. The foods has nutritional value. 2. The foods were juicy and it has a good amount of flavour
3. The foods selections is truly endless. They carry the tastiest

flavour and every customer can enjoy. 4. The food is delicious and flavourful.

Customer Handling Skills 1. The restaurants staff are well groomed and professional in the manner. 1. The restaurants staff are approachable and attentive to the needs of the customers. 2. The restaurants staff checked back to see if everything in my

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table is okay. 3. The restaurants staff are friendly and accommodating.