Consumer Perceptions About Fast Food Restaurants In Asaba
The fast food culture is fast expanding in Nigeria. Much of that is attributable to the increasing affluence, rapid urbanization, and changing life sytles among Nigerians. Although many of the fastfood chains offer similar or undifferentiated products the way and manner their services are provided are critical to gaining competitive edge. In Asaba the Delta State capital, experience has shown that as one new fast food outlet opens shop some of the old ones close, thereby suggesting a “revolving door syndrome” in the fast food industry. This paper therefore, sought to assess the perceptions of customers about service quality in selected fast food restaurants in Asaba. A total of 180 customers were randomly selected and administered a 22 – item structured questionnaire out of which 120 were found useable. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that the range of products, availability and consistency of products as well as packaging significantly affect customer perception about service quality at .001. Gender and price do not affect customer perceptions about quality of service. The findings further showed that customers patronize fast food for the change and not because of nutritional value. Therefore fast food is not yet perceived as a clear alternative to homemade cooking. Major recommendation is for fast food chains to improve on the nutritional value of their products.
