Exploring which factors impact restaurant willingness-to-pay by menu course

ABSTRACTWhile hospitality researchers have examined what impacts willingness-to-pay in restaurants, they have yet to determine if willingness-to-pay varies by menu course. The impact of sustainability messages and historical information on willingness-to-pay has also not been explored. This study used choice-based conjoint analysis to examine the effects of food quality, service quality, ambiance, sustainability information, historical information, and price on willingness-to-pay for three different courses in a restaurant: appetizer, entrée, and dessert. The choice of menu items and prices was based on an examination of casual dining restaurants in the U.S. The results indicate that while food quality, ambiance, and service quality were significant for all three courses, there were some interesting differences by course. While food quality was consistently the highest-rated antecedent, demographic information significantly changed the value of other antecedents for appetizers. For desserts, the uncommon menu item was the most chosen item. The sustainability and historical information messages were not significant, indicating that consumers may be experiencing information overload.KEYWORDS: Perceived valuewillingness-to-payrestaurantschoice-based conjoint analysis Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)Supplementary materialSupplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15378020.2023.2281196.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the William F. Harrah College of Hositality.