ABSTRACT
Ambience and sensory aspects of the dining experience have been of growing interest for both practitioners and researchers over the past few years. It could be argued that the trend of bringing together food science and culinary arts in what has been termed molecular gastronomy is based on addressing the role of additional sensory excitement to the dining experience. This chapter considers the role of sound in the dining experience, the impact of music on restaurant consumers' perceptions of quality and consumer behaviours in the casual restaurant sector. It extends earlier studies by testing these relationships in the casual restaurant sector, testing music treatments of volume and tempo in this context and determining whether these relationships vary based on meal period. The survey instrument and observation were used to collect data on demographic information, cognitive effects on quality perceptions (food, drink, service and atmosphere) and to quantify behavioural variables (intent to return, duration of stay, total food and drink spending).
