Influence of Customer, Foodservice Management and Competitor Environment on Quality of Customer's Life in Contract Foodservice

Abstract

The goal of the current study was to analyze major factors for improvement of quality of life in contract foodservice customers. This study investigated how characteristics of customers, foodservice management, and competitors differ in different contract foodservice business environments in order to understand increasing concerns over health, in-house working, and the environment, which are directly connected to work and life satisfaction and company profits. For the foodservice business environment, this study classified environmental factors reported by Duncan (1972) into three factors: customer environment, foodservice management environment, and competitor environment. Multi-regression analysis was conducted on quality of life using the Korean version of the WHO Quality of Life Scale Abbreviated Version (WHOQOL-BREF). Sub-factors of the contract foodservice business environment included foodservice management environment, customer environment, and competitor environment in the order of importance. The results indicate that the foodservice management environment of the company or organization where the customer is employed has the most substantial influence on quality of customer life.