Restaurants as friends of the family: functions of restaurant visits in everyday life

Abstract

A restaurant's function to families was explored by passive observations of adults and children at convenience restaurants in Sweden. Two burger restaurants and two department store restaurants were visited during 12 months, with 399 people being observed. The restaurants appeared to have different functions to family members. A restaurant's level of convenience should therefore be seen as an entity of several aspects of the visit, such as the menu, the restaurant room and atmosphere. Family members’ use of restaurants facilitates everyday situations with children. Thus, the people observed were creating aspects of convenience by themselves, with the restaurants being like home. The restaurant's overall function to families can therefore be interpreted from the patterns of familiarity and friendliness that emerged.