Chapter 9 Menu Labelling and Customer Decision-making: Case of Calorie Information on the Menu of the Quick-service Restaurants

In the last few decades, the obesity rate has increased along with the increasing of away-from-home food consumption at restaurants ( Wei & Miao, 2013 ), especially the food consumption at quick-service restaurants (QSRs). Previous research stated that the main factors that influence the customers’ food selection are found. Price and quality of food are the most significant things that mostly concerned customers when they are in decision-making process. There is a controversial argument between several studies that identified calorie labelling on menu influences consumers on food choice, while others said vice versa. However, several studies argued that calorie information does not have as much impact on customers’ food purchasing as other factors such as food’s quality, ranges of food, price of food, restaurant’s atmosphere, and speed of food service ( Carey & Genevive, 1995 ). The aim of this chapter is to examine the importance of representing calorie information on menu and its effects on customer decision-making especially at QSRs. Therefore, the following questions have been addressed in this chapter: What are the factors that influence consumer choice at QSRs? Does calorie labelling on menus impact customer purchasing at QSRs? This chapter starts with the introduction of the topic and reviewing previous research on menu labelling and calorie information at QSRs. This chapter aims to provide a better understanding of customer decision-making when ordering a food with regard to calorie information on the menu and the customer preference.