Service Quality Management in Catering Industry

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I thank my research facilitator, friends & family for support they provided & their belief in me as well as guidance they provided without which I would have never been able to conduct this research.

ABSTRACT

The catering industry in UK is one of the significant and booming industry. However with the passage of time, the innovation and greater awareness of customers about the service quality has made the business environment for food services. This research determines the extent to which the perception and expectation of consumers affect the quality of the catering service and how important is customer perception of the food service quality. A quantitative research was employed by using the servqual model of service quality. Servqual is one of the most commonly used model that measures the service quality of the industries on customer perception and expectation scale. This research used the questionnaire in the form of servqual model where 120 respondents answered the relevant questions about service quality. It is found that the difference between service expectations and perception is greater than means that customers expect more of the catering service quality than what they are currently receiving. Customer expected more from the catering services in uk than it is actually offered. This is shown from the negative mean of 6823 that depicts that the expectations overdo perceptions in the catering service industry. Out of all the responses from the subjects, the calculated gap is -0.623 and the greater number of respondents had a gap of -1.65. This shows that the catering industry needs to improve its service quality so that customers perception meets the performance standards.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT2

ABSTRACT3

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION6

Overview6

Background of the Study6

The Aim7

The Primary Research Question8

Research Objectives8

Research Questions8

Structure of the Research8

Rationale for Research9

Theoretical Framework10

Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction10

Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty11

CHAPTER 02: LITERATURE REVIEW12

Overview of Food Quality12

Employee Attitudes14

Survey of Catering Industry16

Managing Employees17

Consumer Buyer Behaviour17

Six Sigma Strategies18

Service Quality in Catering Industry19

The Behavioural Consequences of Perceived Service Quality21

Role of Perceptions and Attitude in Determining the Service Quality23

Measurement of Service Quality25

Measuring Service Quality In light of Various Authors27

Gronroos27

Lehtinen and Lehtinen27

Customer Attitude towards Hotels28

Hotels Services29

Effectiveness of Good Customer Service Management29

Cost control Measures Related to Food Service30

Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Customer Service31

The Importance of Customer Service in Catering Industry33

Models of Service Quality34

The Gap Model34

Gap 135

Gap 235

Gap 336

Gap 436

The SERVQUAL Model36

Criticism of SERVQUAL38

Questionnaire for Organizaitons for the Service Quality Regarding Servqual on Five Dimensions38

Questions on the 1st dimension38

Questions on the 2nd dimension39

Questions on the 3rd dimension39

Questions on the 4th dimension40

Questions on the 5th dimension40

CHAPTER 03: METHODOLOGY42

Research Philosophy42

Research Design43

Sampling Design43

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria43

Data Collection Method44

Measurement of Service Quality using SERVQUAL44

Questionnaire Design46

Analysis47

Reliability and Validity48

Ethical Consideration48

Informed Consent49

Confidentiality50

Gap Scores Analysis53

Analysis of Dimensions54

Cronbach's Reliability Coefficient54

The overall perceived Service Quality55

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION56

REFERENCES59

APPENDIX67

Appendix 1: Informed Consent Sheet67

Appendix 2: Questionnaire68

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Overview

The research focuses on how service quality management in catering industry can be the ultimate business strategy. The research reviews a decent amount of literature to properly identify factors and issues involved in the management of such factors, and how ...