Consumer Choices and Service Quality in the University Canteens in Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Consumers’ Opinion about Canteens
2.2. Canteens Functioning Assessment
- A description of the canteens (number of consumer seats/tables, opening hours, number of operating personnel);
- Assortment (type of meals and beverages, differentiation of prices),
- Cleanliness and hygiene of rooms and tableware (cleanliness/hygiene in the canteen, cleanliness of tables, floor and tableware),
- Personal hygiene of staff (working clothes, the use of headgear, neatness of clothing, use of disposable gloves, separating money from food, hygiene handling with food);
- Customer service (welcome, farewell, speed of service and order processing time);
- Attractiveness of canteen (features such as: interior design, attractiveness; music—variety and volume, time spent waiting for order, sugar availability, availability of spices, availability of disposable napkins, promotion—discount),
- Meals (variety of meals and beverages, nutritional information in menu, vegetarian offer, healthy foods menu offer, the method of meals storage, allergens information).
2.3. Data Analysis
- Four profiles of the subject of consumption (what it consumes?);
- Eight profiles of the frequency of consumption in the canteen;
- Five profiles for evaluation of canteen interior, service and menu.
3. Results
3.1. Opinion of Consumers about University Canteens
3.1.1. Frequency and Factors Determining the use of Canteen Services by Respondents
3.1.2. Types of Meals and Frequency of Consumption by Respondents in University Canteens
- They use it rarely, sometimes buying a beverage (Fr.1)– n = 609; 48.7%;
- They use it once a week when buying soup, less often the main course or beverage (Fr.2) – n = 321; 25.7%;
- They use it once a week, buying a sandwich or beverage (Fr.3)– n = 215; 17.2%;
- They use it systematically, buying various dishes (Fr.4)– n = 105; 8.4%.
3.1.3. Evaluation of Canteens by Respondents
- (1)
- Canteen location, five variants (A,B,C,D,E),
- (2)
- General frequency of using the canteen, five variants (sporadically, once a month, 2–3 times a month, once a week, daily);
- (3)
- The reason for using the canteen, two variants (eat, other),
- (4)
- Gender of respondents, two variants (men, women),
- (5)
- Dwelling place, three variants (village, small city, big city),
- (6)
- Financial status of respondents, four variants (low, average, high, not given),
- (7)
- Profiles of consumption from previous own exploratory analysis, 10 variants (Co-1… Co-10),
- (8)
- Profiles of frequency of use taking into consideration eight types of meals, four variants (Fr. 1, Fr. 2, Fr. 3, Fr. 4),
- (9)
- Profiles of evaluation of canteens from previous own exploratory analysis, five variants (Eval. 1, Eval. 2, Eval. 3, Eval. 4, Eval. 5), Figure 3.
3.2. The Results of the Inspections of the Quality of Services in University Canteens
4. Discussion
4.1. Customer Behavior and their Opinion about University Canteens
4.2. Quality of Canteen’s Services Estimated by Inspections
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Question | Variants of Answers | |
---|---|---|
1 | The frequency of visit university canteen: sporadically, once a month, 2 or 3 times a month, once a week, daily, never | Choose the right answer |
2 | The reasons for visiting to the canteens: food intake, rest between classes, social meeting, preparation for classes, others | Choose the right answer |
3 | Type of meals consumed in canteen | soups; main course full set (e.g.,: meat, potatoes, salad), main course incomplete set (meat + salad or only meat); fast food meals; sandwiches, salads, desserts, fruits, beverages |
4 | Frequency of dish consume: soups, main course, fast food, sandwiches, salads, desserts, fruits, beverages | (1)—daily, (2)—2 or 3 times a week, (3)—once a week, (4)—2 or 3times a month, (5)—once a month, (6)—sporadically, (7)—never |
5 | Evaluation of dining area: interior design, attractiveness of equipment, atmosphere of establishment, music – variety and volume, table cleanliness, floor cleanliness, sugar availability, availability of spices, availability of disposable napkins Evaluation of customer service: speed of service, order processing time, service time - queuing, staff professionalism, staff politeness, staff outfit Evaluation of canteens’ menu quality of soups: taste, smell, the way of serving; quality of main course: taste, smell, consistency, the way of serving; variety of meals, availability of healthy meals, prices of soups and main courses | Scale: very bad (−2); bad (−1); no opinion (0); satisfactory (1), good (2), very good (3) |
6 | Sociodemographic data: Gender: women, men; Age: 19–25 years old, above 26 years old; Education: secondary school, higher education; Dwelling place: city over 500,000 inhabitants, city up to 100,000 inhabitants, village; Evaluation of financial status: very good, good, bad, no answers | Choose the right answer |
Population Features | Group | Number of Respondents | Percentage of Respondents |
---|---|---|---|
Total | -- | 1250 | 100.00 |
Gender | Women men | 776 474 | 62.20 37.80 |
Age | 19–25 years old over 26 years old | 1101 149 | 88.08 11.92 |
Education | secondary school higher education (university) | 1064 186 | 85.12 14.88 |
Dwelling place | big city (city over 500,000 inhabitants) small city (city up to 100,000 inhabitants) village | 544 455 251 | 43.52 36.40 20.08 |
Financial status in own opinion | very good (high income—3) good (average income—2) bad (low income—1) no answer (Income—?) | 274 426 467 83 | 21.92 34.08 37.36 6.64 |
Specification | Evaluated Aspects and Parameters | Number of Canteens Evaluation | Average | Median (Min-Max) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 * | 1 | |||||
Hygiene aspects (max. 9 pts) | Hygiene of dining area and tableware | cleanliness of tables cleanliness of floor cleanliness of tableware (dishes, cutlery) | 5 6 0 | 20 19 25 | 5.08 | 5 (3–7) |
Personal hygiene of staff | working clothes the use of headgear neatness of clothing use of disposable gloves separation money from food hygiene handling with food | 14 14 9 25 25 0 | 11 11 16 0 0 25 | |||
Customer service aspects (max. 10 pts) | Customer service | welcome customers farewell customers speed of service order processing time | 20 22 8 6 | 5 3 17 19 | 4.40 | 4 (3–5) |
Attractiveness of canteens | interior design, attractiveness music (variety, volume) sugar availability availability of spices availability of disposable napkins promotion - discount | 2 9 2 2 1 25 | 23 16 23 23 24 0 | |||
Food aspects (max. 6 pts) | Meals | variety of meals and beverages information in menu, including nutritional information vegetarian menu healthy foods menu the way of meals storage allergens information | 0 0 25 0 4 0 0 | 25 25 0 25 21 25 25 | 5.84 | 6 (5–6) |
Total (max. 25 pts) | 17.04 | 17 (12–21) |
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Czarniecka-Skubina, E.; Górska-Warsewicz, H.; Laskowski, W.; Jeznach, M. Consumer Choices and Service Quality in the University Canteens in Warsaw, Poland. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 3699. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193699
Czarniecka-Skubina E, Górska-Warsewicz H, Laskowski W, Jeznach M. Consumer Choices and Service Quality in the University Canteens in Warsaw, Poland. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16(19):3699. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193699
Chicago/Turabian StyleCzarniecka-Skubina, Ewa, Hanna Górska-Warsewicz, Wacław Laskowski, and Maria Jeznach. 2019. "Consumer Choices and Service Quality in the University Canteens in Warsaw, Poland" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 19: 3699. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193699