Influence of value determinants on customers` preferences: to order food online of to go out

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FEDERAL STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

OF HIGHER EDUCATION

NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY

HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

Saint Petersburg School of Economics and Management

Department of Management

Lyapina Alexandra, Derevyanko Ekaterina

Influence of value determinants on customers` preferences: to order food online of to go out

Bachelor's thesis

In the field 38.03.02 `Management'

Educational programme `Management'

Rudchenko

Abstract

Restaurant business in one of the most fast developing fields of today in Saint Petersburg. Saint Petersburg - a gastronomic center, the second largest city in Russia was chosen as a research area for the paper. Today mealtime is more occasional than planned and this is the reason for meal patterns to change and develop from year to year. Modern customers are extremely different: each of them has its personal needs and values that influence the choice whether to eat out or to order food online. Customers are constantly looking for new options, opportunities and experience and as a result force the business to implement new innovations. Marketing and psychology have always been closely connected with each other and buying behavior has always been based on humans` emotions feelings and thoughts. Value determinants that are deeply studied in this paper are supposed to structure and classify consumers` emotion and feelings and represent the correlation between them and choice whether to eat out of to order food online. The purpose of this study is to find out in what way do value determinants influence consumers` choice of online and offline food. The authors used a Survey completed by 400 respondents to gather the data about preferences and then evaluated it. Quantitative methods were used in this paper to evaluate the respondents` answers. The main method that was used for response evaluation was logistic regression. The research has confirmed all the hypotheses and the authors found out in what way do value determinants influence consumers` choice. The practical implementation is supposed to be recommendations for restaurants and online services on how to improve its work to meet customers` needs in a better way.

Key words: value determinants, marketing, catering industry, restaurants, online food delivery, customers` needs, Saint Petersburg

Introduction

determinant customer preferences

Over the past several decades restaurant business has been trending heavily on the market. It is a fest developing and promising niche that has been popular for many years, which is connected with hospitality industry. Hospitality management has always been highly demanded and successful on the market. Due to the rapid development of travelling industry, hospitality management has gained its popularity even more. It has always been about interacting with people, communicating with them, and satisfying their needs. Public catering and other facilities have played a vital role for people away from home. Public catering industry is closely related to hospitality management as it is a significant part of it. Restaurants and cafйs have always been attracting guests in every city. However, Saint-Petersburg, also known not only as cultural capital but also as a gastronomic center (Trabskaya, et al, 2013) was chosen as an area of study. Second largest city in Russia, the city with rich history which attracts millions of tourists from all over the world represents great variety of restaurants, cafйs, bars and online food delivery services. Getting back to hospitality management, probably, the key question is about the meaning of term “hospitality”. What is it? There are many definitions which are stated in literature. However, researchers claim that mostly these definitions are not precise enough and not strict to the point (Brotherton, 1999). First of all, definition of “hospitality” needs to be provided. Palmer, (1992) defined this term as a liberal entertainment of all sorts of people with kindness at one`s house. It is also claimed that the basic idea of hospitality is to establish a strong relationship. Hospitality management definition can be formulated like this: it is a business field that is aimed to apply management knowledges and concepts in such areas as public catering, accommodation and other guest services and more than that to establish symbolic ties between the business and the customer (Slattery, 2002).

Literature claims that meal represents everyday life moments, which makes mealtime an extremely essential part of every person`s life. We eat every day several times a day which makes this process essential and crucial for every person. Due to the number of restaurants increase, people are now given lots of options to choose (Gagic et al., 2013). People have always been searching not only for beloved places that have been being checked for years, but also for new restaurants emerged on the market. Looking for new options is a natural process, that has been deeply discussed in psychological literature. It is said that every human needs to be in process of looking for something new in order to develop. This claim explains that customers are always in a process of looking for new opportunities, places, and experience. The market has become exceedingly competitive over the past years and it makes owners of restaurants to somehow rearrange its business, implement new patterns, change the menu or to ameliorate it on order to attract more consumers.

Time flies and new trends are constantly appearing on the market. In order to stay strong and highly demanded business owners need to keep in touch with all trends and new implementations emerged on the market. However, it also extremely crucial to monitor which of these trends are applicable for particular restaurant and will gain more profit and which are just waste of money and resources. Academic literature highlights many trends, however, online food delivery (OFD) is one of the most significant one. It has rocketed the modern world extremely fast by letting people to eat out wherever they want. Ordering food online each customer is able to save time while waiting for its food to deliver. Currently, nearly every restaurant provides an opportunity to order online. In the highly competitive restaurant industry, satisfying guests should be the critical objective of all businesses (Kukanja et al., 2017). Researchers claim that the meal is universal and exist in every society, which indicates that restaurant industry will only be solely developing. However, meal patterns have changed significantly over the last decades (Fjellstrцm, 2004). Today meals are more about an afterthought than about a planned thing. People find themselves hungry with no time to cook; so, they eat out (Saad Andaleeb & Conway, 2006). Currently food researches are on the agenda and the number of articles and papers have been growing. This field is persistently studying. An urgent challenge of today is how to satisfy customers in the best way possible and how to attract them. The competition in the market is constantly growing and restaurants need to keep in touch with all the trends to be on the top. Food is an everyday routine of every person, it represents humans` being everyday life. Every person has its own preferences and tastes. This is the reason for all the public catering establishments to monitor its consumers` needs and update its menu, facilities etc. Currently literally every customer has got a choice whether to eat out somewhere of to order food online, but what drives a customer to make this choice? Are there any specific factors that help people to choose? There are many factors that influence consumers` choice: the portion size and the quality of the food, the presence of other customers, the service quality of the staff, the restaurant atmosphere and location, as well as other social cues ,are examples of the distinct characteristics that shape customer perceptions of the restaurant experience (Yrjцlд et al., 2019). However, this paper is aimed to figure out what other factors may influence the choice. The research question that has been studied in this paper can be defined like that: in what way do value determinants influence customers` choice whether to go out or to order online? The represented research question is aimed to fill the research gap that exist in literature. As OFD is considered to be slightly new niche in restaurant business, small number of articles have been produced on this issue. The paper`s critical issue is to provide relevant findings and recommendations on how to make restaurants` or OFD services` work better in a way of satisfying its consumers.

In recent years one of the most interesting areas of research in social psychology was the measurement of humans` values and its system (Kamakura et.al., 1991). Marketing has always been closely connected with psychology as it is mostly about human needs and wants, their preferences and choices and ways of managing it. The interest in this field is steadily increasing due to the rapid developing of competitiveness among restaurants. This paper is based on Kamakura et al., 1991 classification of values and represents a detailed description of its affection on consumers` choice. Values provide a clear explanation of human behavior. Based on previous studies, the authors chose human values list and identified which impact do they have on customers choice. According to the aforementioned issues the following hypotheses were formulated:

H0: The influence of value determinants on customers' choice does not exist.

H1: Single people eat out more often than people who has a family. Determinant: freedom (independence, free choice).

H2: People who consider themselves happy eat out more often than others, who prefer to order food online. Determinant: happiness.

H3: People with low self-esteem order food online more often than others, who prefer to eat out. Determinant: self-respect (self-esteem).

The methodology that is used in the study is based on survey that is completed by 400 respondents.

This research provides a deep understanding and full explanation of valued determinants` influence on consumers choice. What determinants have impact on people and what do not have, in what way do they influence the choice

The research question of the paper is aimed to provide a deep understanding of how the aforementioned values by Kamakura et al., 1991 affect the customers. The research question can be defined like that: in what way do value determinants influence customers` choice whether to eat out of to order food online?

In order to complete the research and get relevant results the following steps are needed:

Describe the restaurant field in a whole.

Provide the connection between marketing and psychology.

Identify value determinants and describe them.

Create hypotheses based on values.

Conduct literature review.

Based on previous points, create a survey that would contain multiple choice questions.

Check the hypotheses using logistic regression and the survey answers

Summarizing all the information received and describe findings

This paper is organized as it was mentioned above. The core objective is to provide a deep, well-based on previous papers research about value determinants and its impact on humans` buying behavior. The research methodology and discussion are main results of the paper. Moreover, recommendations for restaurants and OFD are also provided in the paper. Practical implication is also represented in discussion section.

Literature review

Literature review is going to provide step-by-step track of the study at all. It represents the core aspects of restaurant business and consumer behavior. More than that, the literature review provides a detailed explanation of connection between marketing and psychology and justification of choosing St. Petersburg as an area of study. Moreover, strong theoretical background of innovations in restaurant business is also represented in the study. Generally, nearly all the researches in this field have been produces from the point of view of restaurant producers (Jensen & Hansen, 2007). However, this paper provides a research from customers` point of view, their needs and preferences.

Description of the field:

Public catering business field has proven itself as a strong, sustainable and strong environment of today. It has been consistently growing over the past years skillfully managing various crisis situations. Currently in the world a lot of diverse public caterings are represented. There are many types and cuisines represented on the market: European, Asian, Eastern and many others. Allowing customers great range of public caterings, the field touches nearly every household (Saad Andaleeb & Conway, 2006).

Currently a lot of attention is paid on the menu. Whether it is big or focused on particular items, whether it has great variety of cuisines represented. There is great diversity of paths that a restaurant business is able to follow. The whole restaurant industry can be divided in several segments according to characteristics of the restaurant. However, there are no universal standardization of these segments (Bujisic et al., 2014). For example, it can be a cafeteria that sells to-go coffee only or a fancy cafeteria with big variety of dishes, it can be a small restaurant with menu focused on particular cuisine or a restaurant with mixed cuisine, a lunch-oriented cafй or a cafeteria with main course dishes, a fast food restaurant or a healthy food restaurant and etc. There is no particular trend on what pattern is better. Nowadays the market allows consumer to choose what is better for him or her. However, of course, a lot of attention is paid on quality of food. There is no doubt that the core product of a restaurant is food (Heung & Gu, 2012). A lot of various attributes of restaurant quality have been identified in literature, among them there are service quality, atmosphere, price, convenience and some others (Bujisic et al., 2014). However, in the food industry product quality and service quality are considered to be top priorities and key factors in reaching success and customers satisfaction (Hanaysha, 2016). Of all the components food quality is probably ahold be in top priorities (Sulek & Hensley, 2004). Evaluating the restaurant, customers also pay attention on the way the dish looks. Appearance of the dish can both attract the customer and let him or her to get disappointed and never come back again. (Heung & Gu, 2012). The food quality is usually evaluated by its taste, freshness, and how the food is presented (Hanaysha, 2016). All these factors together form the overall consumers` impression and as a result form demand. What is sold in restaurant is defined as “sensory experience” (Heung & Gu, 2012). Food quality is extremely essential in evaluating restaurant, that is why a lot of attention is paid on this issue. It is one of the key marketing tools that can ensure customers to visit the restaurant again and form the customers` loyalty. It also forms positive purchasing experience, which also positively influence on loyalty. It was indicated that food quality represents one of the most important criteria in consumers` general evaluation of the restaurant (Vangvanitchyakorn, 2000).

It is believed that going to the public catering should bring pleasure and good emotions. Pleasure is defined as a sensual and emotional delight (Arora, 2012). Marketing stresses the importance of customers` satisfaction and focuses attention on consumers` preferences. A restaurant needs to provide a great servicescape to its customers. Servicescape is defined as physical environment and organization of service that surrounds the customer (Lin & Mattila, 2010). Lin and Mattila (2010) identified several servicescapes such as lightening, temperature, interior, layout and design, comfort level and music. According to the fact that there are several different classifications of points that are highlighted as essential for consumers` satisfaction, it can be said that there is no universal classification for restaurants about what points are more important and what points are less important. It all depends on the country, city, type of the restaurant. Moreover, the golden middle in paying attention to these points will definitely be the best option. It is hard to overestimate the importance of creating a pleasant atmosphere, as it is considered to be the key factor in hospitality management (Ryu & Han, 2011). The fast-changing hospitality business industry forces restaurant managers to search for better strategies to increase customers` satisfaction in order to sustain the business on the market. A restaurant can build its competitive advantage by paying attention on physical environment, which consists of tangible and intangible elements (Hanaysha, 2016). These elements exist inside and outside the restaurant. These elements include decorations, cleanliness of the restaurant, accessories and etc. All aforementioned factors are extremely important while attracting customers, as they pay much attention on it (Azim, 2014). As for intangible features, among them there are music, noise, smell and lightning (Bitner, 1992).

Public catering trends

Modern life tends to force business to implement new methods, approaches and models to meet customers` needs and increase its revenues. Many new trends have been outlined in literature over the last several years and one of them is online food delivery (OFD). E-commerce has become an important issue in modern business world. Online platforms development means virtually unlimited choice of goods and services (Yeo et al., 2017). Online food delivery is an implementation that allows consumers to order food online via website or special mobile applications and receive the order at any place he or she wants. In general, term “innovation” can be defined as a process of applying new ideas. products, or business innovations in activities of the firm in order to gain bigger profits and provide a greater competitive advantage over other firms on the market (Stock et al. 2002). Innovations have always been associated with something new, unstudied, interesting and worth trying, that is why business is constantly applying innovations into its process to attract more and more customers. Food delivery itself is not a new implementation. Big restaurants have been delivering food straight to its customers for many years. However, still great amount of people tends to attend restaurants as it was done before OFD emerged. Nevertheless, Internet penetration has become enormous over the past years and it is hard to overestimate its value on the market. In the new era of e-commerce business needs to be flexible enough to implement new innovations and gain profit. The number of internet users is constantly increasing from year to year and Internet capabilities become more and more complex. Its capabilities are from simple information finding to complicated business developing (Alagoz, 2012). Business has gone online, and it is not wondering. In the world of technologies, we all want to save time, money and gain as much profits as it is possible. E-commerce is rapidly spreading worldwide and rockets the world. Online shopping also makes possible to conveniently compare prices , find various options physically being wherever a customer wants (Alagoz, 2012). It also allows customers to easily navigate its order. Online food ordering was supposed to satisfy needs of busy people mostly from big cities, where they always need to be at work, so that can easily place the order online and get it while still being at the office (Kedah & Ismail, 2015). However, nowadays OFD is widely used not only by businessmen, but also by other groups of people and these groups differ a lot. Unlike offline services, website and mobile apps offer customers more personalized marketing and more interaction (Kedah & Ismail, 2015). A lot of factors need to be taken into consideration while going online. Kendah & Ismail (2015) identified privacy and security, efficient payment system, website or app design and user-oriented interface. Customers aspire to feel good about themselves while purchasing something (Stuppy et al., 2020). Attractive goods and services make consumers feel good and satisfied. This is a strong reason for business to create user-friendly and attractive website and mobile apps as goods` attractiveness influence on customer a lot. This proposition suggests a strong basis for deep marketing researches on humans` values and emotions, driving them to buy and affecting consumers` behavior. Consumers` behavior is defined as an action provided by a consumer in terms of his or her decisions about what he/she buys, needs or wants. This concept is closely related to customers` satisfaction that is specified as a particular indicator or metrics that differentiate the level to which consumers are satisfied with the product or service (Saad Andaleeb & Conway, 2006).

Based on e-commerce another significant trend has emerged- dark kitchen. It is also known as cloud kitchen or ghost kitchen. It is a newest model in restaurant industry which is related to food delivery. The core distinctive feature of dark kitchen is that a customer can`t come to the restaurant itself, it is only possible to order online. It is a restaurant that accepts incoming orders through online systems only (Upadhye & Sathe, 2020). Few scientific articles are represented on this topic due to novelty of the topic. However, periodicals and journalists believe that dark kitchen is a kitchen of future, and it is not wondering. This trend has rocketed the market and strongly proven itself. Forbes, The Village, New York Times proclaimed dark kitchen business model - a restaurant of future. What is the profit of this model? The main benefit is that the business reduces costs on rent, electricity and water and employees paybacks, as the firm does not need to have many employees ( there are only chiefs, no waiters or hall managers -fewer than a usual restaurant), no halls for guests (there is only kitchen). Food is usually delivered through special apps such as YandexEda, Delivery Club etc. Sometimes dark kitchen restaurants have their own food deliverers (Bromwich, 2019). Food deliver straight to your house - what can be more convenient? This is what Forbes says. Dark kitchen can also provide a new dining experience, as it gives more flexibility for customers because it is possible to order food to any place of customer`s choice. It also gives more control and personalized features (Morgan, 2020).

High market competition causes a need of a business to meet customers` expectations in the best way possible to be able to survive on the market. Growing competition and increase of consumers` patronage require better service and better satisfaction of its needs. Therefore, understanding who your consumer is and what are its needs is a critical issue of today for any entrepreneur. The public catering industry in constantly growing worldwide (Gagic et al., 2013). The number of restaurants is growing and more options for customers to choose are appearing. Modern market principles are based on the fact that consumers` interests are paramount.

Food and meal researches have been on the agenda for more than hundred years (Fjellstrцm, 2004). Over this great period of time many things have changed: social norms, political patterns, behavioral patterns, economic conditions, people attitude to the world and many others. According to this world development social and cultural aspects have significant motives behind their food choice (Fjellstrцm, 2004). Over the years different meal dimensions can be identified. These dimensions are the following: meal order, special rituals and patterns. All of the aforementioned issues are typical for particular groups of people. Mealtime is universal, which claims that it is for everyone in every part of the world.

For deeper understanding of what a meal is, a definition should be provided. Literature defines that meal is a specific portion of food eaten at a specific time (Fjellstrцm, 2004). This definition does not provide a basis for social dimensions dedicated to mealtime. However, other researches also claim about mealtime and they say that mealtime is not only about eating, it is also about emotions, style and atmosphere. The considerable growth of “theme” restaurants cam be explained by the fact that consumers are not interested in simple food, they are interested in atmosphere and vibe provided by the place they eat in. Currently, there is huge diversity of different restaurants of different cuisines and styles. Among them are represented European, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Mediterranean, Arabian, Jewish and many other national cuisines. More than that modern restaurant industry allows consumers to eat in cafeterias, fancy restaurants, global fast-food chains and small local cafeterias. It does not matter what will be chosen by a consumer, the most significant point is what drives a consumer to choose either a public catering where he or she can eat or to order food online.

Marketing and psychology

Understanding emotions is critical issue while planning a marketing strategy, as marketing and psychology have always been closely connected. The way consumer feels about the product or service highly affect its purchasing decision (Ladhari et al., 2008). Emotions are considered to be an important determinant of satisfaction (Ladhari et al., 2008). Researchers highlight many factors that influence customers` emotions: music, noise, prices, service etc. However, all these factors are strictly individual and relative, because what is important for one consumer may be absolutely indifferent for another due to the fact that all the people are different in their emotions. They also differ with sex, age, lifestyle, personal background, occupation, salaries etc. That is the reason why a complex research is a must for restaurants and OFD services to be conducted in order to find out whether there are any correlations between these factors and their consumers.

Of course, the quality of goods and services are extremely important as none of the advertisement can promote a product or service if it is bad. However, nowadays, successful management is not only about high quality, it also about good promotion, great communication, strong brand image and highly qualitative consumers` needs satisfying. Literature claims that the success of any firm mostly depends on what its consumers are willing to buy and if the firm suggests these G&S for the customers, the company is more likely to succeed.

Over the past several decades one of the most urgent and interesting topics on psychology has been value determinants and its affection on humans` choice. Values provide strong explanation of consumers buying behavior (Kamakura et al., 1991). This research is based on values classification, represented by Kamakura et al., 1991 that highlights 19 human values according to which the researchers conducted hypotheses and tested it. In the paper researchers identified the following determinants: true friendship, mature love, happiness, inner harmony, a world at peace, freedom, family security, equality, self-respect, wisdom, a comfortable life, accomplishment, a world of beauty, pleasure, social recognition, salvation, national security and an exciting life. A decision that a consumer makes results from everyday factors and aforementioned value determinants perfectly classify and structure these everyday factors into groups. Brand concepts are usually stated as “abstract and unique”, in the same way as human values - they are also unique and abstract due to uniqueness of every person. Psychologists say value-based decision making is natural. We all make decisions based on our experience, feelings and thoughts (Rangel et al., 2008). Currently brand loyalty and its recognition are on agenda and firms tend to stimulate its recognition through building good buying experience for customers. This experience is supposed to be built through customers` emotions and feelings while buying goods or services. Despite measuring good emotions and factors that drives these emotions it is also a common practice to measure bad emotions and factors that brings them (Barsky & Nash, 2002). It is very common in hotel industry which is relative to public catering as these two industries are parts of hospitality industry. In the paper Barsky & Nash (2002) also emphasis on paying attention on customers` emotions and feeling as it provides straight connection to satisfaction.

Justification of choosing Saint Petersburg as an area of study

Saint Petersburg is known as the 2nd largest city in Russian Federation and the cultural capital of the country. However, it is also known as a gastronomic center of Russia. The city is also recognized for having rich local history, attractive reputation and European image. Researchers claim that there is a strong correlation between tourism and gastronomy (Boyne et al., 2003). Tourists encourage local public catering to develop. Furthermore, the more tourists come to the city, the more competition they provide on the public catering market which makes more and more restaurants and OFD services to open every year. According to the government of Saint Petersburg the yearly tourist flow in 2018 was 8.2 million people. 3.9 million were from abroad, while 4.3 million were from other Russian cities and districts. Comparing with 2017 the annual growth was 9.3% (Saint Petersburg Tourism Development Committee, 2020) . According to TASS agency statistics the tourist flow in 2019 has grown by 10% and reached its top over the years (TASS, 2019) The number of tourists that came to the city was 9.1 million. Gastronomy fills many significant tourists` functions via satisfying personal needs (Trabskaya, n.d.-b, p. 190). Moreover, Trabskaya and Gordin claim that gastronomy is an important component for creating a comfortable environment for tourists. Food provides discover of culture, local traditions and history; it is also a part of local character of the region (Trabskaya, n.d.-b, p. 190). Overall, Trabskaya and Gordin claim that Saint Petersburg`s potential as a gastronomic and touristic destination is enormous. They also emphasis on the fact that tourism and gastronomy are closely connected which makes this paper relevant and valid research of today.

Customers` satisfaction and loyalty

In a highly competitive restaurant industry satisfying guests should be the critical objective of today (Kukanja et al., 2017). Customers` satisfaction gas always been a key to company`s success. Satisfaction is an overall evaluation of his or her buying experience of goods or services (Johnson et al., 1995). When people dine out of order food online, they definitely evaluate its experience. Moreover, success of the company strongly correlates with customers` satisfaction as satisfaction provokes repurchase intentions(Fang et al., 2011). Companies emphasis on stimulating repurchase buying behavior to create strong client base which brings profits regularly. Also, a strong correlation between loyalty and satisfaction has been found (Saad Andaleeb & Conway, 2006). In a competitive business environment customers loyalty is one of key factors of success. Loyalty itself is defined as a deep commitment of a customer and its will to repurchase a product or service in the future (Suhartanto et al., 2019). It also helps to increase market share and attract new customers. If customers associate a brand with positive experience, they are always loyal (Tepeci, 1999). Loyalty is essential for both online services and offline public caterings. Building a positive brand image is extremely important for success in order to be competitive enough over other firms. Customers are those who brings money to the company which means that without them a firm will never be successful and recognizable on the market. A growing recognition among customers is what every company hankers. That is why understanding its customers` needs is a first step to delivering highly qualitied goods and services (Kukanja et al., 2017). Researchers stated that the general company`s strategy should be customer relationship management. Relationship is usually built thorough loyalty programs and these programs are aimed to build long-lasting relationship with customers and force them to repurchase goods or services. Many types of loyalty programs are represented; however, they differ by the type of business, it means that every firm according to its specificity chooses loyalty programs. Over the past decade customers have proved that they request more interesting loyalty programs, since that companies create various programs so that customers are able to choose which one is more suitable for him/ her (Gudonaviciene & Rutelione, n.d.). There are several types of loyalty programs. Berman (2006) has grouped all the programs into four main types:

Table 1. Types of loyalty programs (according to Berman, 2006)

According to aforementioned types it can be confirmed that key aims of loyalty programs are communicating with customers and stimulating its repurchasing behavior via providing discounts. Understanding customers` needs is, probably, the first step to manage their expectations (Kukanja et al., 2017). Internet retailing has been growing rapidly over the last years and the main challenge that e-retailers have been constantly facing is customers` e-loyalty (Rafiq et al., 2013). Moreover, (Harris & Goode, 2004) claim that building e-loyalty is more important and complicated than offline loyalty. High level of importance is placed on e-loyalty due to extremely high competitiveness of online services. As it was mentioned before, strong correlation between loyalty and satisfaction exists, the same tendency follows in e-business world. However, e-business world represents its own difficulties and rules. Due to the fact that online services allow more freedom for customers by switching from service to service by one click, it is particularly crucial to build strong relationship between the firm and the customer. Relationship marketing theory says that investing into long-lasting relationships in more profitable for the company than attracting into short-term customers (Mцller & Halinen, 2000). The reason for it is that long-term customers are more likely to repurchase, and they are willing to pay more for goods or services. A lot of things are said about hedonism- a thought about getting pleasure and sense of satisfaction from everything in one's life. Consumers require different hedonism ways and their values towards the same good or service can be different (Suh & Yi, 2012). Hedonic goals are inseparably linked with emotions, which are linked to human`s value determinants mentioned above. Consumers` satisfaction is a complex and versatile topic. Being inextricably linked to psychology, it allows researchers to provide more and more papers. Additionally, business world changes from year to year, implementing new methods, ways, and innovations, which require new up-to-date information, hence based on fundamental theories.

Statement of the research question

As it was already written in the previous sections, the research question is the following: In what way do value determinants influence customers' choice whether to eat out or order food online? This research topic was chosen for several reasons. The restaurant business, as proved in the section of the literary review, is one of the most profitable at present. In this area, new ideas are constantly coming up for retention, as well as for attracting customers. All these innovations create a certain struggle between restaurants of different concepts.

As mentioned above, at the moment all restaurants are divided into three concepts: restaurants without delivery, but with a place where visitors can come and eat; restaurants with both delivery and place for eating; and delivery-only restaurants that are called "Dark Kitchen” concept restaurants. The main trend of confrontation is between food delivery and visiting the usual cafe/restaurant/ fast food, as in recent years (namely, since 2016), the above - mentioned concept - "Dark Kitchen" - has been gaining popularity, great advantages of which are:

Easy to find spaces for kitchens. Kitchens do not require "first line" space, so even low-traffic streets can be a great place.

Low operating costs relative to conventional restaurants.

Measurable marketing. All sales are made remotely, so digital ads work well, and each individual order can be analyzed, comparing with conventional restaurants.

Thus, restaurants of all concepts are constantly searching for new ways to maintain their competitiveness. The research question of this study allows identify factors which are different from the usual ones but can help to determine the choice of the customers.

Generally, a fairly standard analysis to determine the customers' choice is provided by the restaurant's staff. They collect the following information (Deputatova, 2017):

What do customers like from the menu and why?

What do attract them about restaurant concept overall?

Are they satisfied with the service and positioning of the restaurant?

What would they like to change or improve?

Nonetheless, the modern world is developing in all directions from the point of view of research, and research papers that look at familiar things "from a different angle" have begun to become more and more popular. One of these studies, “Value Segmentation: A Model for the Measurement of Values and Blue Systems” by Wagner A. Kamakura and Jose Afonso Mazzone (1991), became the basis for the current study. The main idea of the article is that value determinants can determine a person's choice in absolutely different spheres, including restaurant sphere. Values provide potentially powerful explanations of human behavior because they serve as the standards or criteria of conduct (Wagner & Mazzon, 1991). Despite the fact that the article is not quite new, it describes in great detail the previous studies, their logic, their results, as well as justifies the existing value variables and their significance for future research. Moreover, the most relevant research in the field of psychographic segmentation of consumers occurred in 1980-1990s. For example, one of the famous models of psychographic segmentation - VALS - short for Values and Lifestyle, was developed in the United States in the 1980s. In the VALS classification, consumers are grouped by having the following character traits: energy, self-confidence, intelligence, openness to innovation, innovation, impulsiveness, leadership, and vanity. The combination of these traits with demographic characteristics and the level of expression of these traits in consumers allows them to show one of the 3 motivations for buying- the desire for an ideal, achievement and self-expression.

To develop the author's hypotheses, authors took the value determinants partially included in the VALS, but completely included in the classification of value determinants of the article by Wagner and Mazzon. In total, the article describes 18 value determinants:

True friendship (close companionship);

Mature love (sexual and spiritual intimacy);

Happiness (contentment);

Inner harmony (freedom from inner conflict);

A world at peace (free from war and conflict);

Freedom (independence, free choice);

Family security (taking care of loved ones);

Equity (brotherhood, equal opportunity for all);

Self-respect (self-esteem);

Wisdom (a mature understanding of life);

A comfortable life (a prosperous life);

A sense of accomplishment (lasting contribution);

A world of beauty (beauty of nature and the arts);

Pleasure (an enjoyable, leisurely life);

Social recognition (respect, admiration);

Salvation (being saved, external life);

National security (protection from attack);

An existing life (a stimulating, active life);

The authors' hypotheses relate to the determinants: happiness, self-respect and freedom. The chosen determinants relate to the inner self-perception of the person, and the respondent is able to answer the questions (Tubergen, 2020):

Am I happy? Do I feel happy?

Do I have high self-esteem? Do I feel confident in my abilities?

Am I independent? The decisions I make depend on something or someone?

This allow to delve into the study of real patterns in customer behavior in more detail, since respondents answer questions according to how they actually feel, they do not have to delve into any global problems, such as, for example, the "national security" determinant, which is difficult to interpret.

The exclusion of other determinants was for the following reasons: global values such as salvation, national security, a world at peace, a sense of accomplishment, equity, and family security were not taken, because such variables require deep analysis, and can be attributed the political situation in the country, which categorically does not correspond to the goals of this study.

Also, the study does not take values that are deep in psychology, sociology and personal life of people - true friendship, mature love, wisdom, inner harmony, a world of beauty, pleasure, social recognition and existing life. To study such determinants requires a sufficient knowledge base in the areas related to the study of personality - in sociology, psychology (Pastorini & Doyle-Portillo, 2019). Despite the fact that psychologists and sociologists widely use traditional sociological methods of collecting primary data, as it is assumed in this study (questionnaire / survey), knowledge and competencies are not enough at present.

Returning to defined determinants, authors formulated the hypotheses:

H0: The influence of value determinants on customers' choice does not exist.

H1: Single people eat out more often than people who have a family. Determinant: freedom (independence, free choice);

H2: People who consider themselves happy eat out more often than others, who prefer to order food online. Determinant: happiness;

H3: People with low self-esteem order food online more often than others, who prefer to eat out. Determinant: self-respect (self-esteem);

One of the most important parts of any research is the creation of hypotheses. This study verifies the authenticity of the 4 hypotheses mentioned above. The authors of the study, who are familiar with research in the field of consumer preferences, have already written an article - “Practical implementation of the neuromarketing and emotional branding and buyers reaction to them in different countries” (2019), which also studied the behavior of buyers. Based on the experience of past research, all hypotheses should reflect current market trends and be relevant for further research (Herrero-Crespo & Perez, 2014). Since the restaurant business does not stop its development, new concepts are emerging, one of them is the Dark Kitchen concept, which involves restaurants that work only for food delivery to the buyer, and have only kitchens where orders are prepared. This concept has attracted many investors, as it is less expensive than traditional concept restaurants. Moreover, the concept attracted customers, since many Dark Kitchen restaurants, such as Yami Yami, Domino's pizza, Dostaevskiy, 2 berega and others, have many advantages in analyzing the needs of customers - digital technologies that contain details about each order, collect consumer reviews, and thus allow to successfully improve the performance of the restaurant, dishes, service or delivery itself.

Traditional restaurants do not have such advantages, many do not even have social media accounts, which are also gaining popularity now. Of course, there are traditional restaurants that create food delivery, but this increases the load on the work of kitchens, which is also a cost in the first time after the opening of delivery. Based on this, it was concluded that there are currently two alternatives for the buyer - to order food online, or to go outside the house, which are of interest for research.

Possible limitations - the process of cooking at home or preparing food from semi-finished products is not taken into account, for several reasons. First, this study focuses on the restaurant business and its existing concepts and trends, which do not include cooking at home. Secondly, the purpose of this research is to prepare practically useful tips, from the point of view of management and marketing for the restaurant business of different concepts, to improve competitiveness and maintain customer demand. This also has nothing to do with home-cooked food.

The H0 was developed in order to deny all others hypotheses. The process of creating hypotheses 2 and 3 is based on a theory from the book by Carl Ransom Rogers, who is a famous American psychologist, one of the leaders of humanistic psychology.

In more detail, hypothesis 2 was based on the assumption that happy people are more likely to eat out for several reasons.

Firstly, according to the theory (Rogers, 2007), people by their very nature tend to communicate with other people, that is, a person can directly and indirectly influence on other people to a certain extent.

The point is that a person who considers himself or herself happy, is most likely to communicate with a great number of people - family, friends, colleagues. The essence is precisely in contact with people. The connection between happiness / unhappiness and the restaurant business seems obvious after diving into the psychological sphere. The idea of the hypothesis is to prove that happy people have a large social circle and therefore they more often eat out for holidays, events, visiting different cafes, restaurants, bars than unhappy people. Secondly, people who feel unhappy, according to the theory of psychology, often try to “hide” from the outside world, and have less desire to meet people, than people who consider themselves happy. Of course, there are can be cases when a person on the contrary wants to communicate with people in order to feel happier. The task of the authors of the study is to try to identify the relationship between the dependent variable (choice - eat our or to make an order) and the independent (state of happiness), if this relationship exists, and provide tips from the management point of view, that can be useful for restaurants' activities improving.

As for hypothesis 3, the logic is the same as in hypothesis 2. According to the assumption, a person who defines his self-esteem as high is not shy, and therefore it does not require effort to contact people for him or her, in contrast to people who have low self-esteem, and because of this it is difficult to communicate. Again, based on the theory from the book, if a person is easy to contact with people, most likely he or she has a large circle of communication, and Vice versa. A large circle of communication, as indicated above, involves meeting people for various events in cafes, restaurants, bars, and so on. It is worth noting that more and more research is emerging on this topic, revealing the links between people's purchasing motives (in this study, people's preferences) and their internal values such as self-esteem (Stuppy, Mead & Osselaer, 2020).

Returning to the first hypothesis, the authors of this study slightly moved away from psychology, taking into account current trends. The rhythm of life in the modern world, according to R. Wiseman, can be described as follows: "People are in a hurry more often, spend less time with friends and acquaintances. These are the trends of the digital age." Because of this, there is a lack of time, a constant sense of fuss and fatigue.

According to the theory of the book that helped formulate hypotheses 2 and 3 (Rogers, 2007), people who do not live alone tend to get home to close people, or just people with whom they live and discuss current events, have a breakfast / lunch / dinner together.

According to the authors of this study, people who live alone will prefer to eat out, on the way from or to work, university, or other places. This is due to both psychological implications and simply time savings. It is also important that a person who lives alone makes more independent decisions about where and when to eat, regardless of the influence of other people. This is correlated with freedom, which consists mainly in making decisions about how to spend the day, what to do, and so on.