ABSTRACT
Customer satisfaction is essential to survival in the restaurant business (Kirwin, 1991 ). Restaurants and their employees primarily deal with perishable products that are prepared, presented, and consumed by customers (Susskind, Kacmar, & Borchgrevink, 2003). Customers are now, more than ever, demanding efficient and high quality service. A recent study examined the factors that influence a customer's decision to purchase a meal, and found the following factors to be the most critical: expectation level, food temperature, color, and aroma (Hameed, 2002).
