Destination restaurants,place attachment,and future destination patronization

Abstract

Consumers sometimes travel to a destination for the main purpose of enjoying the food and services a restaurant can offer. These restaurants are termed destination Restaurants. This study explores what constitutes such an experience at destination restaurants and how such experience influences visitors’ sense of place development for the destination they travel to and their revisit intention for the place. Data was gathered using a self-administered questionnaire distributed to tourists dining in destination restaurants in Hwayang-Dong in Chungbuk province, South Korea. Based on a convenience sample of 244 participants, the results suggest that a destination restaurant experience compromises seven components including ‘Food quality’, ‘Locale image’, ‘Restaurant atmosphere’, ‘Price Fairness’, ‘Ingroup socialization’, ‘Ease of conversation’, and ‘Immersion’. The research showed that locale image, atmosphere, ease of conversation, and immersion significantly affect overall restaurant experience satisfaction. The findings also demonstrated that the destination restaurant experience positively affects tourist place attachment and destination revisit intention.

Keywords

Destination restaurant destination restaurant experience food tourism place attachment revisit intention satisfaction

Introduction

In today’s experiential tourism marketplace, destinations have integrated food into their tourism products to attract tourists and provide a plethora of culinary opportunities to differentiate themselves (Sthapit et al., 2017; Tsai and Wang, 2017). As a main crucial component of the tourism product, food plays a pivotal role in crafting a memorable tourism experience (Peštek and Činjarević, 2014). Over the past two decades, food tourism is gaining increased importance. The desire to travel to taste unique and authentic dishes is becoming one of the prominent paradigms in the tourism industry (Kim et al., 2009b, p. 424). As a result, the importance of food consumption has gone beyond daily practice and has become a significant aspect of the travel experience (Sthapit et al., 2017). Studies propose that, when tourists receive a satisfactory and positive food experience, they develop lasting and deep memories of the wonderful experience (Kivela and Crotts, 2009). Tsai (2016) suggests that local food and cuisine experience reflect local features; they may convey local cultures and histories and evoke delectation memories. Thus, local food experience may be an indispensable element of a memorable tourism experience and an ideal medium to enable tourists to gain a clear understanding of a place. More and more literature argues that local food experience can be used effectively to build and enhance destination image, with several studies suggest that food experience affects tourists’ pre-, during-, and post-travel behaviors (Choe and Kim, 2018). Food consumption itself can potentially play a role in deriving pleasure, obtain memorable holiday experiences, and even forming special meanings on the part of visitors (Kim and Eves, 2012; Quan and Wang, 2004). In addition to visitors’ cognitive assessment about a place through cuisine, the multi-sensory functions of food may effectively invoke tourists’ emotional ties with the place (Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2016).

However, a large amount of theoretical and empirical debate has been developed around the importance of food consumption at a tourism destination. Tourists’ food experiences and questions about food consumption remain relatively unexplored. One area that has not received enough attention is the phenomenon of consumers traveling to places for the sake of enjoying locale-based food. This phenomenon created a new form of local community-based restaurants that serve as the main attraction and the primary motivation for visiting a place. These restaurants provide a space in which the diner can experience tangible elements of both culture and landscape of the local community (Tresidder, 2015). These local restaurants position themselves outside the traditional approaches to cuisine and hospitality through embedding the food experience within the local culture, history, and environment. Utilizing a wide range of local cuisine resources (e.g., local food ingredients, cooking techniques, presentation style), they create a distinctive yet innovative and creative gastronomic experience that directly links the restaurant experience to the landscape and resources of the local community. This means that these restaurants provide authentic food experiences underpinned by the local environment (Sims, 2009). Because of these characteristics, these dining establishments are ‘destination restaurants’, where the restaurant becomes a main tourism attraction and community-based tourism initiative (Peštek and Činjarević, 2014).

It is therefore our proposition that the destination restaurant experience (DRE) differs from other food experiences in the way that it is grounded in its specific cultural and geographical location. While previous studies have quite extensively examined food consumption and restaurant experience, the conceptualization of tourist experience in this unique context is missing in the literature. Further, how tourists develop place attachment through their dining experiences in such restaurants is an under-researched area. This research draws on both restaurant experience and local food experience literature to uncover what constitutes a destination restaurant experience and how a destination restaurant experience influences satisfaction, place attachment, and diners’ intention to visit the destination itself in the future.

Theoretical background

Destination restaurant experience

In the tourism context, the experience is defined by Yuan (2009, p. 33) as

the total outcome involving a combination of customer’s cognitive, affective, emotional, social, and physical responses gained from participating in activities and interacting with both tangible and intangible components in the consumption process, which in turn influences how consumers interpret the world.

With the increased recognition of food as a pleasurable sensory experience, involving participation and interaction with tangible and intangible experience-related attributes that impact tourist satisfaction and behavior, studies have acknowledged the value of local food as a peak tourism experience (Kivela and Crotts, 2009; Choe and Kim, 2018). Recently, food experience has been acknowledged as a main component of the tourism experience (Quan and Wang, 2004; Sims, 2009), and food has developed from being a baseline necessity for tourists to being recognized as a significant part of the tourist experience (Kim and Eves, 2012).

A unique context of local food experience is when the food and dining places become the ‘destination’ itself. We name these dining places ‘destination restaurants’ and identify them as local restaurants that adopt a completely authentic design, underpinning the destination’s unique characteristics and serving as the primary motivation for visiting the place. Tresidder (2015) names this new form of restaurant ‘terroir restaurant’, where the restaurant represents the culture and authenticity of its geographical location and serves as a significant draw for tourists to visit the place. Destination restaurants are those restaurants that provide a food experience that is entirely local, including not only the food and its preparation style but also the whole dining environment. In this way, destination restaurants can be seen to take the local food experience to a higher-order through privileging the central relationship between food, culture, and geography to generate an authentic experience (Tresidder, 2015). It can also be argued that the experience cannot be replicated once the dining experience has been removed from its geographical location (Sims, 2009).

While the consumption of food in fine dining restaurants is often seen as a functional and luxurious exercise (Ryu and Jang, 2008), destination restaurants, although they offer such functional value, also extend the experiential value by creating a total experience that becomes an artifact of joint cultural production (Kim et al., 2009a). In this way, the food experience in these restaurants may be seen as a direct experience of the local society and its way of life (Choe and Kim, 2018). The quality of the experience is also dependent upon being immersed in the geography and culture of the locality. Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen (2016) suggest that tourists’ local restaurant experiences consist of the food, the place, and the behavior, shaping the relationship between food and the tourism experience and place. Kim et al. (2012) state that tourism destinations and organizations should understand that an important conduit through which tourists derive affiliation with, and positive recollection of, a destination is through experiences. Studies argue that unique and authentic food experiences develop deep and lasting memories of the overall trip experience, regardless of whether they will dine at the same place in the future (Tsai, 2016). For instance, Kivela and Crotts (2009) suggest that feelings and memories associated with food experience during travel make it very special and attractive since they become transposed into experiences that come to be lived.

Given the unique and authentic characteristics of destination restaurants, it is crucial to understand what factors contribute to such a tourist restaurant experience. In their seminal work, Babin et al. (1994) identified the experience to involve hedonic and utilitarian values, stressing the need for a complete and detailed account of all values provided by a consumption experience. In restaurant literature, studies have shown that utilitarian and functional aspects (e.g., quality and price) are important in a food experience. For example, food quality has been identified as the primary component of a dining experience (Namkung and Jang 2007; Jin et al., 2012). However, restaurant experience in a tourism destination holds other important values. A recent study by Erkmen (2019) found that food experience-related cultural and social aspects outweighed the food quality in relative value to travelers. Therefore, understanding how destination restaurant experiences form experiential value might allow a better explanation of how tourists value DRE. Chang et al. (2011) suggested that besides the food itself, ambience authenticity, food cultural sophistication, and service represent the important attributes of tourists’ dining experiences. Similarly, in the restaurant industry context, the overall dining experience is identified to include three aspects: the food, the physical environment, and service level (Han et al., 2009; Jin et al., 2012). In addition to food quality, the physical environment is proposed as the other attribute complementing the dining experience (Han and Ryu, 2009). Also, considering that service is the foundation of the hospitality industry, the service level is usually highlighted as an important attribute of the dining experience.

Regarding the local food, several studies recently examined the experiential value of such consumptive experiences (e.g., Choe and Kim, 2018, 2019). From a value perspective, studies found that tourist local food consumption captures multiple important values, including tasty/quality, health, price, emotional, prestige, interaction, and epistemic values (Rousta and Jamshidi, 2020). According to the proposition of Mohamed et al. (2020), food experience arises from four sources: sensory, affective, behavioral, and intellectual. Based on this proposition, the DRE enhances the opportunity for tourist sensual indulgence via taste and locale-based ambiance. Also, the experience provokes feelings of pleasure and enjoyment. Socially, food experience brings people together through group socialization and interaction with family, friends, and others. The intellectual element offers an opportunity for tourists to take in place-based information such as local culture and knowledge about the host destination.

This being the case, it is important to identify food experience as a multidimensional experience that captures the multitude of attributes important for tourist’s satisfaction, especially in the case of destination restaurant where the dining place serves as the primary motivation for visiting the place. This study draws on literature related to local food consumption value, local food experience, and restaurant experience to conceptualize the DRE. The study addresses how tourists perceive DRE and how such experience affects their place attachment and behavioral intention. It suggests that DRE is a unique experience by which the food experience may create a place attachment and revisit intention. It is the study’s proposition that destination restaurant experience, as the term implies, will exhibit attributes related to general restaurant dining (e.g., environment, food quality, and price), destination value (e.g., locale image), and traveler interpersonal and social values (ingroup socialization and immersion). The constructs used to measure DRE were chosen to reflect (1) restaurant elements (as a dining experience) and (2) destination locale-based elements (as a unique context of dining experience). We hope that this study stimulates future efforts to further strengthen the conceptualization of the destination restaurant experience.

Place attachment

Place attachment refers to people’s attachment to their societies, homes, and communities (Brocato, 2007). Specifically, it refers to the individuals’ connection to a specific environment (Yuksel et al., 2010). Place attachment conceptualization is founded on psychological theories such as interdependence theory and attraction theories (Hinde, 1979; Kelley and Thibaut, 1978). However, to date, the usage of attachment theory has moved far from the parent-infant relationship. It has been widely used in studies on neighboring, marketing, and consumer behavior, among others (Brocato, 2007). People can form attachments with objects, buildings, landscapes, environments, neighborhoods, homes, towns, and cities (Tsai, 2016). Low and Altman (1992) argued that attachments are not limited to real places, but may extend to hypothetical, imagined, or mythical places, and stated that place attachment ‘involves an interplay of affect and emotions, knowledge and beliefs, and behaviors, and actions about a place’. Many scholars have tried to further define place attachment as the affective bond and a psychological linkage to a particular environment (Hidalgo and Hernandez, 2001); ‘an emotional investment with a place’ (Hummon, 1992); or the degree to which a person identifies and puts a value on a particular setting (Moore and Graefe, 1994).

Since the 1980s, the concept and theories of place attachment have been applied to tourism studies. Tourism studies conceptualize place attachment as the value and level of identification perceived by a tourist for a specific natural place (Lee et al., 2012; Sthapit et al., 2017; Tsai, 2016). Previous studies in tourism literature have indicated that the concept of place attachment is useful for understanding aspects of individuals’ behaviors toward tourism and leisure experiences (Kyle et al., 2005; Sthapit et al., 2017). Place attachment has been used as a construct to examine tourists’ emotional, functional, and social attachments to a specific tourism product or destination (Yuksel et al., 2010). In tourism, place attachment considers the human place bond in terms of two main dimensions: place identity and place dependence. This two-dimensional model of place attachment has been the most prominently used by scholars with reliability established across different samples and contexts (Kyle et al., 2003; Lee et al., 2012; Loureiro, 2014; Moore and Graefe, 1994; Tsai, 2016).

The first dimension, place identity, refers to the feelings and memories that a person has about a place that creates a reliable identification between the person and the place (Sthapit et al., 2017). In the tourism context, place identity can boost an individual’s feeling of bonding with a destination (Yuksel et al., 2010). However, as Kyle et al. (2004) and Brocato (2007) argue, not every destination can increase one’s self-identification. It is the place that reflects their own identities that enable individuals to identify with the place. Poria et al. (2006) found that only when one’s self-identity and place attributes are met, those feelings of attachment and emotional involvement can be drawn. In other words, visitors can have different feelings of belonging to a destination based on what the destination means to them (Yuksel et al., 2010).

The second dimension, place dependence, is defined as a functional attachment to a place due to its importance for particular activities (Williams and Roggenbuck, 1989; Yuksel et al., 2010). Place dependence is derived from the transactional view that individuals evaluate places against alternatives. From this perspective, people assess places according to how well they meet their functional wants and needs (Brocato, 2007). Thus, others define place dependence in terms of how a specific place experience meets tourists’ needs (Tsai, 2016). That is the dependence on a place can be described as a functional bonding related to specific experiences and activities that a person can enjoy only in that place (Cardinale et al., 2016). Therefore, tourism and leisure literature typically conceptualizes place attachment as the level of identification and value perceived by a tourist for a specific destination.

In the tourism context, tourist experience in many contexts has been found to affect place attachment significantly. Specifically, experience factors such as experiential quality, authenticity, familiarity, involvement, emotions, and memories were found to affect tourist place attachment (Ramkissoon, 2015; Sthapit et al., 2017; Tsai, 2016; Tsai et al., 2020). Studies have meanly focused on exploring these factors and tourist place attachment stemming from leisure and sports activities (Kyle et al., 2003), rural tourism experiences (Loureiro, 2014), cultural tourism activities (Hou et al., 2005), and virtual reality experiences (Wu et al., 2019); while research on place attachment in the context of local restaurant experience is lacking. Despite the increased knowledge about how tourists form place attachment through tourism experience structures, we have little knowledge about the role local restaurant experience can play in affecting tourist place attachment. This gap is aimed to be filled in this study by investigating how a DRE can engender tourists’ attachment to the destination where the restaurant is located.

Research model and hypotheses

The proposed model is shown in Figure 1. Based on the theory of consumption values, the study posits that destination restaurants provide a unique tourist experience, including several dimensions or values important for tourists’ dining satisfaction (Choe and Kim, 2019; Rousta and Jamshidi, 2020). Consumption value theory suggests that consumers make informed decisions based on multiple value dimensions such as price, quality, enjoyment, socialization, and their trade-offs. According to Choe and Kim (2018), local food experience holds important consumption values vital for consumers’ choices and behaviors, including functional values such as quality and price values, or some other utilitarian values (e.g., socialization and epistemic values). Functional values such as food quality, service quality, menu variety, and price fairness have been widely investigated in the context of food consumption and were associated with higher levels of tourists’ satisfaction (Choe and Kim, 2018; Han and Ryu, 2009; Jang et al., 2012; Namkung and Jang, 2007; Peštek and Činjarević, 2014). Germane to the local food experience, recent studies have started to reveal other values complementing the dining experience. According to Chang et al. (2011), besides the food itself, the authentically presented atmosphere and cultural sophistication of food represent important values affecting tourists’ dining experience satisfaction. Similarly, Choe and Kim (2019) recently found that socialization and intellectual values of local food experience positively affect tourists’ satisfaction with local food. This being the case, the study builds on previous literature to suggest that the multidimensional conceptualization of DRE can better predict customer satisfaction. Further, previous research has also illustrated that local food experience satisfaction significantly influences tourist behavioral intention (Ha and Jang, 2010; Hendijani, 2016). For example, Choe and Kim (2018) recently found that tourists’ satisfaction with local food experiences create positive perceptions toward the destination and increase tourists’ revisit intention. Hence, this study considers DRE as an antecedent of food experience satisfaction and revisit intention as a consequence of experience satisfaction in a destination restaurant setting. Consequently, the following hypotheses were proposed:

Figure 1.

Proposed conceptual model.

H1: Destination restaurant experience positively influences consumer satisfaction with the restaurant.

H2: Tourists’ satisfaction with the restaurant positively influences revisit intention to further explore the larger area.

Loureiro (2014) pointed out that experience at a destination can generate self-identification and dependence on a place, suggesting that experience will generate positive emotions and memories, which will influence attachment to the place. In tourism, food-related experiences are usually associated with emotional values such as pleasure and enjoyment (Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen, 2016; Choe and Kim, 2018). When experience creates an emotional or cognitive connection to the destination, familiarity with the place positively influences place attachment formation and development (Tsai, 2016). Place attachment can be developed only when people know and experience a place environment by engaging in and deeply understanding the events and activities associated with the place. Therefore, positive experiences gained from a DRE are expected to create valuable and unforgettable memories that may positively affect their sense of identification and belonging to the destination. Therefore, the following hypothesis was posited:

H3: Destination restaurant experience positively influence place attachment.

Yuksel et al. (2010) considered place attachment as a significant predictor for tourist destination loyalty. They found that tourist’s positive emotional and cognitive connections to a destination may affect their evaluation of intention to revisit that destination. Studies also reveal that tourists with higher place attachment to a destination were more willing to revisit the destination in the future than those with a low place attachment (Loureiro, 2014; Sthapit et al., 2017). The study, thus, hypothesized the following:

H4: Place attachment positively influences revisit intention to further explore the larger area.

Tsai (2016) points out that consumer experience is a critical factor in tourist intention to re-experience a product or service or recommend the product or service to others. Scholars also suggest that unique, emotional, and memorable place experiences evoke loyalty (Barnes et al., 2014). They explain that since the experience is positive, tourists seek to repeat it by changing their behavior favorably toward the place. DRE is usually perceived as unique and distinct, which leads tourists to return to the destination to retry the unique and authentic experiences (Sthapit et al., 2017). Recently, Choe and Kim (2018) found that local food consumption affected tourists’ attitudes toward local food which in turn significantly affected their intentions to revisit the destination. Thus, the study suggests that:

H5: Destination restaurant experience positively influences revisit intention to further explore the larger area.

Methodology

Sample and data collection

A convenient sample was gathered near Hwayang-Dong, a rural community surrounded by a national park—one of the most well-known tourist destinations in the Chungbuk province of South Korea. Hwayang-Dong is where streams from 35 mountains meet. People visit Hwayang-Dong for hiking all year long and swimming in the waters, picnics, and local foods. Along with the natural heritage, the area offers many opportunities for visitors to enjoy the unique delicacies of local cuisine in the traditional restaurants scattered in the area. Some of these restaurants provide a completely authentic experience by adopting food ingredients, cooking methods, and restaurant designs representing the local community. For example, one restaurant provides visitors with a unique dining experience by serving the local food on small boats in the water, allowing the diners to enjoy the area’s natural scenery while eating. The data was gathered in three local restaurants located in the area. Based on Tresidder (2015), the main criteria for selecting the restaurants were that these restaurants provided a local food experience that reflected the place’s authentic and cultural foundations (Hwayang-Dong community) and served as the primary motivation for visiting the area.

A self-administered questionnaire was used. The questionnaire was developed in English and went through the recommended translation back-translation process by two bilingual researchers. The two English versions were compared to denote problems related to translation and cultural differences. Minor wording changes were made to the Korean version before the implementation of the survey. The survey was conducted on-site and permission form the restaurants was received before data collection. Participation in the survey was completely voluntary. Two students majoring in hospitality management undertook the survey on different days of the week, over 2 months (November–December 2016). Potential respondents were personally approached, and three screening questions were asked—prior to survey distribution—to make sure that the respondent met the selection criteria:

The respondent was over the age of 18.

The respondent is a tourist, meaning that he/she was not a resident of Chungbuk province.

The respondent’s primary motive was to dine in the restaurant.

Participants who met these criteria were invited to participate in the survey upon completion of their meals. A total of 250 restaurant customers completed the questionnaire. However, six questionnaires were excluded because of a high percentage of incomplete responses, so a total of 244 usable responses were available for further data analysis.

Variables and measurement

The survey included measures of DRE, restaurant experience satisfaction, place attachment, revisit intention, and respondents’ demographics. The DRE was measured using 29 items adapted from previous work (Hess et al., 2007; Jackson and Marsh, 1996; Jin et al., 2012; Namkung and Jang, 2007; Ryu and Jang, 2008; Stevens et al., 1995). Both tourist experience satisfaction and revisit intention were assessed using single items based on (Namkung and Jang, 2007). The use of global, single-item measures of tourist satisfaction and revisit intention is adopted and recommended by many studies (e.g., Barnes et al., 2014). Finally, place attachment was measured using the two-dimensional scale introduced by previous studies (Brocato, 2007; Kyle et al., 2004). This scale has four items for place dependence and four for place identity. All the items were measured using a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 18. The analytical methods included descriptive statistics, factor analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM), and multiple regression analysis.

Results

Among 244 respondents, 53.7% (n = 131) were female and 46.3% were male (n = 113). Their ages ranged from 19 to over 61. Slightly less than half of the respondents (47.3%) had at least a bachelor’s degree. Top respondent occupations included ‘self-employed’ (n = 47, 19.7%), ‘white-collar worker’ (n = 39, 16.3%), and ‘housewife’ (n = 33, 13.8%) (Table 1).

Dimensions of destination restaurant experience

To better understand the various aspects of dining in a local restaurant at a tourist destination, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was undertaken on the 29 statements related to the restaurant experience, using the principal component method with VARIMAX rotation. An eigenvalue of 1.0 was used for factor inclusion, and factor loading of .45 or higher was used as the benchmark to include items in each factor for practical and statistical significance (Hair et al., 2006). Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity (a statistical test for the presence of correlations among the variables) and KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) measure of sampling adequacy were measured to assess the factorability of the data.

The 29 items for restaurant experience at a tourist destination measure yielded a seven-factor solution explaining 72.24% of the variance. The eigenvalues of the seven factors ranged from 2.09 to 3.99 (Table 2). Following a close examination of the items included and based on the core items that constituted them, the factors were labeled as ‘Immersion’, ‘Locale image’, ‘Atmosphere’, ‘Price fairness’, ‘Ingroup socialization’, ‘Ease of conversation’, and ‘Food quality’, respectively. Due to their high cross-loadings, three items were deleted for further analysis. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy is .91, which exceeds the acceptable minimum value of .60, and Bartlett’s test of Sphericity was found to be significant (p < .000). Thus, significant inter-correlation exists among all factors. Internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients; the seven factors were all above the general cut-off criterion of .7 (.88 for ‘Immersion’, .88 for ‘Locale Image’, .86 for ‘Atmosphere’, .87 for ‘Price Fairness’, .79 for ‘In group socialization’, .78 for ‘Ease of conversation’, and .79 for ‘Food Quality’), indicating satisfactory reliabilities for the overall scale and all the extracted factors (Hair et al., 2006).

Table 1.

Demographic characteristics.

Characteristics	Frequency	Percentage
Gender
Male	113	46.3%
Female	131	53.7%
Age
19 to 20 years	5	2.1%
21 to 30 years	52	21.8%
31 to 40 years	73	30.5%
41 to 50 years	64	26.8%
51 to 60 years	39	16.3%
Older than 61 years	6	2.5%
Education
High school or less	87	35.6
Associate degree	37	15.1
Bachelor’s degree	94	38.5
Master’s degree	15	6.1
Ph.D. degree	3	1.2
Occupation
Employed	115	47.1%
Self-employed	47	19.7%
Student	27	11.3%
Retired/unemployed	14	5.9%
Other	36	14.8

Table 2.

Exploratory factor analysis: restaurant experience at a tourist destination.

Factors and items (Cronbach’s alpha)	Factor loading	Eigenvalues	Variance explained	Item means
F1: Immersion (.88)		3.99	15.36
The dining experience was exceptional.	.79			4.48
I was not conscious of how time had passed by while I was eating.	.73			4.71
I had a pleasant feeling while eating the food.	.71			4.16
I felt that time passed differently than usual while I was eating.	.70			4.65
I felt that time had stopped while I was eating.	.66			4.5
The food provided me with an exceptional feeling.	.64			4.82
Grand mean				4.55
F2: Locale Image (.88)		3.09	11.9
The decoration of this restaurant reflected the cultural characteristics of this region.	.74			4.27
The taste of food reminds me of the cultural characteristics of this region.	.72			4.59
Dining at this restaurant made me feel in harmony with nature.	.69			4.53
Dining at this restaurant made me feel in harmony with the local culture.	.66			4.50
This restaurant fits my taste and preference.	.57			4.71
Grand mean				4.52
F3: Atmosphere (.86)		2.75	10.6
The atmospherics of this restaurant is excellent.	.85			4.41
The appearance of employees is neat and clean.	.77			4.38
The furnishing of this restaurant is aesthetically attractive.	.69			3.81
Grand mean				4.2
F4: Price Fairness (.87)		2.46	9.46
The price of beverages was reasonable.	.85			4.45
The price of this restaurant is appropriate for the level of service.	.77			4.48
The price of food was reasonable.	.76			4.31
Grand mean				4.41
F5: Ingroup Socialization (.79)		2.24	8.6
While we were in this restaurant, we could focus on ourselves.	.79			4.73
While we were in this restaurant, we could pay attention to each other without any interruption.	.76			4.70
While we were in this restaurant, we paid close attention to things we had conversation on.	.66			4.62
Grand mean				4.68
F6: Ease of conversation (.78)		2.15	8.27
While I was in this restaurant, I joked more than usual.	.87			4.54
We talked about topics we do not ordinarily discuss about.	.76			4.71
While I was in this restaurant, I felt more talkative than what I most often am in other restaurants.	.48			4.7
Grand mean				4.65
F7: Food Quality (.79)		2.09	8.04
This restaurant provides a variety of menu items.	.75			4.54
The served food was aesthetically attractive.	.72			4.59
The served food was very tasteful.	.67			4.79
Grand mean				4.64
Total Variance			72.24%

In order to further test the structure of underlying dimensions of local restaurant experience and place attachment, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted. The measurement model was evaluated through CFA with maximum likelihood estimation to establish confidence in the measurement model. The CFA resulted in a good fit with indices surpassing the cut-off values (χ² = 39.9, χ²/df = 1.535, CFI = .985, NFI = .957, TLI = .979, IFI = .985, RMSEA = .047) (Hair et al., 2006). The results of the CFA are summarized in Table 3. Construct validity was estimated by assessing convergent validity and discriminant validity. To check convergent validity, we estimated factor loadings, AVE, and construct reliability. As presented in Table 3, standardized loadings for all measurement items were between .65 and .83, and all of the items were significant at the alpha level of .001.

Table 3.

Confirmatory factor analysis for the measurement model.

Variables	Standardized loadings	Item reliabilities	Construct reliabilities	AVE
Destination restaurant experience			.875	.501
Ingroup socialization	.67	.44
Ease of conversation	.68	.46
Immersion	.76	.58
Locale image	.83	.69
Price fairness	.65	.43
Food quality	.68	.47
Atmosphere	.66	.44
Place Attachment			.801	.668
Place dependence	.81	.65
Place identity	.83	.69

Note: χ² = 39.9, χ²/df = 1.535, CFI = .985, NFI = .957, TLI = .979, IFI = .985, RMSEA = .047.

Furthermore, the AVE for all constructs was .501 for the restaurant experience at a tourist destination and .668 for place attachment, meeting the minimum threshold of .5 (Hair et al., 2006). Item reliabilities, which are the squared standardized loadings of individual items, ranged from .44 to .69 and indicated good reliability levels. Construct reliability was .801 for place attachment and .875 for restaurant experience at a tourist destination, which exceeded the minimum criterion of .70 for reliability. Hence, the items used in this study showed adequate internal consistency. Besides, discriminant validity was also tested using AVE to check whether a construct was truly distinct from other constructs. All factors met the criterion for discriminant validity since AVEs were greater than the squared correlations between any pairs of constructs (Ping Jr, 2004).

Structural model and hypotheses testing

The proposed structural model was estimated by structural equation modeling (SEM), which included a test of the overall model fit and individual tests of the significance of the relationships among the constructs.

The model fit indices of the structural model and the cut-off value of those fit indices are summarized in Table 4. For the overall model, the chi-square value was significant (p = .001), suggesting a deviation of the estimated covariance matrix from the sample covariance matrix. However, the Normed chi-square value was 1.627, within an acceptable cut-off value range, from 1.0 to 3.0. The goodness comparative fit index (CFI), the normed fit index (NFI), the Tucker-Lewis index (TLI), and the incremental fit index (IFI) met the proposed criterion of .9. Finally, the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), one of the indices best suited to a confirmatory model approach with a large sample, indicated that the structural model was a reasonable fit.

Table 4.

Structural parameter estimates and hypotheses summary.

Hypothesized path	Standardized path	t-Statistic	Results
Hypothesis 1: Destination restaurant experience→ Satisfaction	.722	9.725***	Supported
Hypothesis 2: Restaurant experience satisfaction→ Revisit intention	.198	3.016**	Supported
Hypothesis 3: Destination restaurant experience→ Place attachment	.481	6.969***	Supported
Hypothesis 4: Place attachment→ Destination revisit intention	.095	1.758 (p = .079)	Not Supported
Hypothesis 5: Destination restaurant experience→ Revisit intention	.577	6.615***	Supported
	Structural model	Cut-off value
Model fit statistics	Chi-square = 120.4; d.f. = 74; p-Value = .001
	Normed chi-square = 1.627	1.0–3.0
	CFI = .966	>.9
	NFI = .918	>.9
	IFI = .967	>.9
	TLI = .952	>.9
	RMSEA = .051	<.08: good fit

*** p < .001. **p < .01.

Among the five relationships hypothesized, four relationships were significant at the alpha level of .05. DRE had a significantly positive influence on restaurant experience satisfaction with β = .722, t = 9.725, and p < .000, indicating that a positive restaurant experience at a tourist destination was an important antecedent of customer satisfaction. Thus, hypothesis 1 was supported. Restaurant experience satisfaction was found to have a significantly strong effect on revisit intention to further explore the larger area (β = .198, t = 3.016, and p = .003). This result suggests that a satisfactory DRE plays a major role as an important driver for visitors to come back to that tourist destination. Therefore, hypothesis 2 was supported. DRE significantly affected place attachment with β = .481, t = 6.969, and p < .000, supporting hypothesis 3, and suggesting that the positive experience of a destination restaurant helps visitors form place attachment to that destination. The relationship between place attachment and revisit intention (hypothesis 4) was not supported by the corresponding estimate of .095 (p = .079), showing that destination revisit intention cannot be predicted by place attachment. However, DRE had a powerful direct impact on revisit intention (β = .577, t = 6.615, and p < .000), supporting hypothesis 5. The results indicated that positive experience at a unique destination restaurant induces positive revisit intentions to that destination to explore the larger area further. Table 4 summarizes the results, and Figure 2 visualizes the direct paths of the structural model.

Figure 2.

Structural model. Note: Chi-square = 120.4, d.f. = 74, p-Value = .001, Normed chi-square = 1.627, CFI = .966, NFI = .918, IFI = .967, TLI = .952, and RMSEA = .051.

Relative importance of destination restaurant experience attributes on satisfaction

In order to understand how the various restaurant experience domains influence visitor satisfaction, Stepwise multiple regression analyses were performed to test the relative importance of individual domains of restaurant experience in contributing to experience satisfaction. Experience satisfaction value was regressed as the dependent variable against seven attributes of restaurant experience as the independent variables.

The results showed that locale image, atmosphere, ease of conversation, and immersion significantly influenced tourist satisfaction with the restaurant experience. The magnitude of the standardized coefficient indicated that the restaurant’s atmosphere was the most important determinant for restaurant experience satisfaction. The R² value of .483 in the model indicated that about 48% of the variance in experience satisfaction was explained by the attributes of DRE (see Table 5).

Table 5.

Multiple regression analysis: restaurant experience dimensions on satisfaction.

	Unstandardized coefficients		Standardized coefficients
Model	Beta	SE	Beta	T	Significance	VIF	Model statistics
(Constant)	.423	.303		1.398	.163		F: 55.727 R²: .483
Locale Image	.210	.075	.192	2.790	.006	2.189
Atmosphere	.272	.057	.269	4.753	.000	1.484
Ease of conversation	.247	.068	.214	3.646	.000	1.597
Immersion	.233	.078	.192	2.983	.003	1.913

a. Dependent Variable: restaurant experience Satisfaction.

Discussions and conclusion

Departing from the perspective of conventional restaurant research, this study focused on DRE and the subsequent influences on visitors’ favorability of the large destination area and their revisit intention. The study extends previous research in several ways. First, the current study explored the dimensions that constitute DRE and tested the relative importance of these dimensions on customer experience satisfaction. The results revealed that tourists perceive DRE through seven dimensions: food quality, price fairness, locale image, atmosphere, immersion, ingroup socialization, and ease of conversation. In other words, the manifestation of DRE was interpreted first by the food itself, second, in the place where the food was consumed, and third, the restaurant’s ability to create an environment where tourists can relax, make jokes, and talk freely with their company during the experience. These elements constitute a holistic consumptive experience that further influence diners’ psychological engagement with the destination itself and their intention to explore the larger area.

In line with the previous research (e.g., Han and Ryu, 2009; Hendijani, 2016), the study found that restaurant experience influences customer satisfaction. This finding is consistent with previous research showing that various aspects of a dining experience contributed to patrons’ evaluation of their dining experience. What is different from the findings of this research is that in the case of a destination restaurant, what contributed to customer satisfaction had more to do with the immersion of the local area and the social and human interactional elements than the foods and pricing/value judgment. As was shown in our multiple regression analysis, when all seven domains are examined together in influencing dining satisfaction, only four aspects of the destination dining experience were significant: locale image (how well the restaurant reflects the destination through restaurant components), atmosphere (the environment of the restaurant), ease of conversation (whether customers have free flow conversations with their companions during the meal), and immersion (whether customers lose themselves in the dining experience) were the most significant drivers of satisfaction. Interestingly, food quality was not a significant determinant of experience satisfaction. This could be because, for destination restaurants, food quality/taste is a given (as this is what motivates customers to patronize the restaurant in the first place. Functional attributes such as price fairness also did not seem significant, which is not surprising given consumers travel some distance to enjoy the specialty foods. The importance of ingroup socialization is also suppressed by other elements. This could be because these diners take on a traveling mode, and their curiosity about the place and other aspects pertaining to the local community take over. A similar result was suggested by Correia et al. (2008) who found that the presentation of local food in its authentic style was more important than the perception of food quality in determining tourist satisfaction. These, of course, need to be further researched upon for us to gain better insights about the dynamics that come with a destination restaurant that may be different from a conventional restaurant experience.

The study thus indicates that DRE is considered a ‘cultural experience’ through which tourists want to discover and explore the local destination’s authentic and unique features (Kim et al., 2009b; Kivela and Crotts, 2009). For those tourists, the food experience plays an essential role in introducing them to the destination’s broader experience (Tresidder, 2015), where the food experience projects the unique features of the area. In other words, whether the restaurant represents the local image of the area through food taste, food presentation, decorations, and other ambiance elements can help predict customer satisfaction. The significant impact of ‘ease of conversation’ and ‘immersion’ factors also confirm that DRE holds important personal and interpersonal values (Choe and Kim, 2018; Kim and Eves, 2012). Tourists consider the DRE as an opportunity to focus on themselves and transcend the feeling of routine life. For these tourists, the destination restaurant’s value lies in its ability to create an environment away from home where tourists can relax and lose themselves in an exceptional food experience. When internal feelings generate enjoyment or make customers feel that the flow of time is different from normal, the level of satisfaction becomes different.

Furthermore, the DRE not only influences satisfaction but also revisit intention to explore the destination further. This result indicates that the unique experience provided by a destination restaurant can serve as a pull factor to motivate visitors to come back and explore the destination more. If visitors have a memorable restaurant experience at a tourist destination, the possibility of returning to that destination increases. Therefore, the result of the current study adds empirical evidence that DRE can serve as a selling point where the destination can project its positive image (Peštek and Činjarević, 2014), which in turn attracts more visitors to the destination. Besides, it was also suggested that satisfaction with the DRE could reinforce a visitor’s intention to return to the destination, a result that is supported by previous studies (Ha and Jang, 2010; Kim et al., 2009a). In short, knowing the satisfaction level of visitors to a DRE can help to predict their intentions to revisit the destination in the future to explore the larger area.

The current study also revealed that place attachment is an important result of restaurant experience at a tourist destination. This result explains the core value of a DRE in linking tourists to the larger area through the dining experience. The result highlights that the exceptional DRE enables tourists to create a positive and unforgettable experience, and such experience further enhances their identification with or strong attachment to local attractions. Several studies have made similar observations, e.g. that when tourists are highly impressed by the experience, they tend to have highly unique feelings for the place, which reinforces their place attachment to the destination (Sthapit et al., 2017; Tsai, 2016). However, the results of structural equation modeling used in this study suggested that place attachment was not a good driver of a restaurant customer’s motivation to return to the destination in the future. Albeit statistically insignificant, the relationship between place attachment and revisit intention should not be underestimated. There may be many factors affecting the formation of this relationship, such as sample composition, the timing of measurement, and the reason for the current visit to the destination.

Implications

Theoretical implications

The contribution of this study is twofold. First, it is the first study to provide an understanding as to what constitutes the experience of a destination restaurant and what attributes are important for tourist satisfaction in this context. Specifically, this study presents an initial attempt to examine food experience in the context when the restaurant provides a unique locale-based experience and serves as the main motivation for visiting the place. In addition, while various restaurant studies have separately examined attributes such as food quality, price, service, environment, and authenticity, this study draws on existing experience conceptualizations to bring all these attributes together and examine what attributes contribute to tourist satisfaction with the destination restaurant experience. Second, this study examines the impact of DRE on tourist place attachment and revisit intention, highlighting the value of this unique experience in linking tourists to the place and motivating them to further explore the destination.

The link between the dining experience and cuisine to the destination’s cultural, historical, and geographical landscapes elevates this kind of restaurant to what may be defined as a destination restaurant. It acts as the primary motivation for tourists visiting the area. Despite broad agreement among scholars regarding the influence of local food in destination marketing and brand-building, studies pertaining to food experience in this unique type of restaurant are still scarce. The present study advances the literature on the use of local cuisine in destination marketing by assessing the attributes of DRE from the visitor perspective. By bringing food experiences into the context of destination restaurants, this study makes a significant conceptual contribution toward the development of a valid measure of destination restaurant experience. The resulting seven-dimensional structure of DRE reveals that tourists’ evaluation of experience within a destination restaurant can be conceptualized as a function of three factors: product-related attributes, destination-related attributes, and social-related attributes.

From a product perspective, this study found that food quality, price fairness, and atmosphere are the main product-related attributes that shape a destination restaurant experience. These attributes have always been considered when discussing restaurant experience (e.g., Han and Ryu, 2009; Namkung and Jang, 2007). The study suggests that even if a destination food experience may differ from the conventional restaurant experience, tourists still consider food aspects such as food quality and price as an integral element of their dining experience. From a destination perspective, this study found that locale image, which indicates how a destination restaurant will reflect the local region, is a major dimension of the destination dining experience. Additionally, as suggested by the findings, interpersonal and social elements such as ingroup socialization, sense of immersion, and ease of conversation represent important experience attributes. This study, thus, advances the current literature by introducing the underlying dimensions of DRE that differentiate this unique dining experience form other traditional food experiences. It expands the existing assessment of local food experiences during travel. The applicability of these measurements should not be limited to local restaurant settings but can be further expanded to other local-based experiences.

This study is also valuable because it is one of the first attempts to provide an empirical understanding of the impact of DRE dimensions on visitors’ satisfaction. It introduced four dimensions as the main drivers of experience satisfaction in the context of a destination restaurant. The study suggests that how a destination restaurant designs the experience to reflect the local area can influence visitor’s development of satisfaction. In this sense, it is vital to carefully consider the locale-based characteristics of a destination restaurant where the food and local culture are combined to generate the experience. Visual and service cues need to serve as an introduction to the broader environment—the destination. This study, therefore, adds ‘local image’ as significant stimuli in order to identify the role of ‘experience authenticity’ in tourists’ behaviors at destination restaurants, suggesting that the food experience should be designed as a ‘destination experience’. The study also confirms the importance of the restaurant atmosphere as a driver for customer satisfaction. Destination restaurant’s ability to design and create a unique and different atmosphere that is worth traveling to experience is a significant source of experience satisfaction. Additionally, the study found that restaurant experience satisfaction is evaluated through the facilitation of social and emotional interactions between people as well as the self-immersion in the experience. This suggests that the provision of a dining environment where tourists can enjoy a sense of flow, relaxation, and comfortable ingroup socialization will create a restaurant experience that affects tourists’ place attachment as well as their future behaviors.

This research notes that destination restaurants provide a unique experience by embedding the cuisine and experience in the destination’s land and culture. Consequently, a local restaurant experience may be an ideal and indispensable component of a memorable tourist experience and an optimal tool for tourists to acquire a clear sense of place (Sthapit et al., 2017). This, in return, contributes to place attachment on the part of the diners, further instigating the development of dependency, identification, sense of belonging, or other connections to a destination that satisfies their functions after becoming familiar with the place through tangible contact with and engaging in restaurant food and services. This process is a unique condition under which DRE creates place attachment, where dining experience at a tourism destination leaves pleasant and profound consuming experience and memory for tourists (Sthapit et al., 2017; Tsai, 2016).

The study is one of the first attempts to identify the relationship between DRE and place attachment, as well as the association between place attachment and revisit intention to explore the larger area. It reveals that the exception DRE can significantly help predict place attachment. What the study indicates is that besides conventional factors such as past visit, length of residence in that place, and family roots in that place that were found to affect place attachment (Kelly and Hosking, 2008), a unique food experience plays a vital role in forming an emotional attachment to a place. Another theoretical implication is that conventionally, previous researchers limited their academic scopes to the simple relationship between restaurant experience and revisit intention to that restaurant (Han et al., 2009; Jang et al., 2012; Liu and Jang, 2009). This study argues that the memorable experience offered by a destination restaurant plays a critical role in attracting customers to the destination where the restaurant is located. This result invites future researchers to investigate the role of similar local experiences at a destination in stimulating a visitor’s intention to return to the destination and be engaged with a broader set of destination activities.

Practical implications

This research showcased the close relationship between a DRE and visitors’ appreciation of the destination itself and their intention to not only re-patronize the restaurant but interest in revisiting the destination to explore it further. This is a case of how meals can be worthy of traveling. The pull of delicious foods and memorable food experiences can be strong enough for consumers to travel distances to patronize or even taking plane rides to get to. This research provides further insight as to what a destination restaurant dining experience is like. The study found that the DRE is satisfactory when it is crafted as a destination experience. The experience appeared as a unique condition under which visitors develop place attachment. This suggests opportunities for a destination to work closely with specialty restaurants in projecting an attractive destination image. As shown in this research, visitors to these restaurants appear to use these restaurants as cues of what the larger area may represent. In this regard, there may be value for a destination to strategically utilize destination restaurants as their flagship experience and as brand ambassadors. Destinations should strategically utilize these unique types of restaurants as selling points where the destination can be introduced in an exceptional food experience. In this way, destination restaurants can help to establish a cuisine-based brand for the destination. In other words, destination restaurants can be major differentiation resources of a tourism destination because the demand for a DRE by tourists is based not only on food but on other factors such as social needs and pursuit of novel and exciting experiences.

For managers, to successfully operate a destination restaurant, the study results can provide some guiding elements in the design of a destination restaurant experience. Managers should bear in mind that the restaurant experience has dimensions beyond the functional utility of food consumption. Enjoyment of the foods/restaurants goes beyond food and beverages; it goes to ‘Symbolic consumption’ (Shelton, 1990). Shelton (1990) suggests that symbolic consumption transpires when consumers choose, buy, and use products or experiences to assist in the creation and communication of specific important values. This study found that germane to destination restaurants, locale-specific image perception was one of the most significant predictors of customer satisfaction. This suggests that the symbolic characteristics of food should be highlighted beyond the food itself. Destination restaurants can be cognizant of the need to consciously create and provide a dining ambiance that projects the image of the region. In other words, considerations of strategies using locale-specific decorations, sights and sounds, service and customer contact, and food presentations and table configurations all can be conducive in inducing dining satisfaction as well as arousing curiosity and interests for the destination itself. In some sense, the dining experience also represents a symbolic sampling of the destination itself. Service providers may also be able to serve as an important linkage between the destination restaurant and the destination itself in that perhaps their locale knowledge and ability to tell stories about locale-specific food and place stories can help induce visitors’ place attachment.

Additionally, as validated by the findings, social and self-aspects of the restaurant experience represent essential indicators of customer satisfaction. Accordingly, destination restaurants should create an environment that ensures free socialization among visitors. Restaurant management should provide an atmosphere that facilitates important social and interpersonal values such as freedom to express, free flow of thoughts, and ideas stimulated by an environment away from home. The servicescapes of the experience should allow visitors to socialize and get along well with their companions. This can be done by designing a service delivery that facilitates the free flow of conversations and discussions between visitors. Leaving some space between tables may be a good strategy to prevent customers from being interrupted by others and help them focus on and associate well with their companions. Another important factor is customer immersion in the restaurant experience. Therefore, destination restaurant managers may design their restaurant experience to be perceived as exciting, fun, delightful, and thrilling, where the visitors enjoy their time and relax without any disruption. Immersive experience can be achieved using sound and visual qualities (Park et al., 2006), such as using local music and folklore as a part of the experience. Managing interior colors, lighting, décor and exterior views, and ambiance is another means for achieving customers’ immersion and relaxation. Managers also may need to satisfy other restaurant attributes mentioned throughout this study, including excellent quality of food, reasonable price, appealing atmosphere, and restaurant and food authenticity, while leaving personal space for customers without distractions from other diners.

Limitations and future research

The study has some limitations to be addressed for more effective future research. First, this research is based on respondents with DRE in Hwayang-Dong. Therefore, the findings should be generalized with utmost care regarding the applicability to other places. Second, the current study focused only on local restaurants at tourist destinations. Further investigation in different types of restaurants, such as ethnic restaurants, fast food restaurants, fast-casual restaurants, and fine dining restaurants, needs to be made to see whether the variables used in this study are applicable. Besides, this study identified the destination restaurants where the data was collected subjectively based only on Tresidder’s (2015) definition. Future research may adopt clear criteria to define what a destination restaurant is. Third, several variables of restaurant experience such as locale image, immersion, ease of conversation, and ingroup socialization were conceptualized for the purpose of this study based on other fields since the research on restaurant experience either as an image-builder of the region where the restaurant is located, as a tool to facilitate social relations, or as the means of immersion is lacking. Thus, it is strongly suggested for future researchers to clarify a clearer and better-defined link between these new variables and local restaurant experience. Another direction for future research involves comparing demographic groups because this study did not investigate the role of demographic factors. Finally, tourists’ past experiences with the restaurant or the destination may influence their place attachment. Hence, future research could examine how tourist’s familiarity and past experiences influence the relationship between DRE and place attachment. Lastly, future studies may compare between tourists and non-tourists to see how they perceive DRE and it impact differently.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Mohamed E Mohamed

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