Johye Hwang

Popular Ethnic Foods in the United States: A Historical and Safety Perspective

 In recent years, a dramatic increase in the demand for ethnic foods in the United States has been observed. Interestingly, with their rise in popularity, more foodborne illness outbreaks associated with ethnic foods have also been reported. Despite a more than 200-y history of ethnic foods in the United States, there is a paucity of information about them. Furthermore, there is also a lack of research on food safety issues involving ethnic foods. Therefore, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of ethnic foods, including the history, types, popularity, characteristics, ingredients, and consumer attitudes toward them. Importantly, this review provides an analysis of the statistics of foodborne illness outbreaks associated with ethnic foods based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The breakdown of etiology of ethnic foods identified the number of total outbreaks, the causative microorganisms, the food vectors, and the locations where foodborne disease outbreaks have occurred. Also covered is a review of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system implementation, food safety training, and inspection score systems related to ethnic foods and how these can serve as effective tools for the prevention of foodborne illness outbreaks. This study contributes to the body of food safety literature by providing helpful information about ethnic foods in the United States.

A critical review of research on customer experience management: Theoretical, methodological and cultural perspectives

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical review of research on customer experience management (CEM). The objectives are as follows. The paper first introduces the concepts involved in CEM by identifying definitions and dimensions of the customer experience. Second, the paper describes the evolution of CEM research from a theoretical perspective in generic businesses and then in the hospitality and tourism (H&T) sector. Third, the paper investigates the methodological approaches used in CEM research and addresses the challenges in measuring the customer experience. Fourth, this study addresses cultural issues in CEM research. The identification of gaps in CEM research in the general business and H&T sectors leads the authors to consider directions for future research. Managerial implications are also provided. Design/methodology/approach The paper takes the form of a review of the extant literature in the general businesses and the H&T industry. Findings Despite the emergence of CEM as a vital research area, a large portion of its studies remain conceptual, which indicates that further empirical investigations are necessary. Importantly, the uniquely experiential nature of H&T products/services calls for systematic, theory-driven research. The paper identifies future research topics, which include total customer experience, transcendent experience, transformational experience, authentic experience and the co-creation of experience. This study delineates potential methods and measurement scales that can be used in CEM research and some challenges in the development of future measurement scales of customer experience. Recognizing a lack of CEM research from a cultural perspective, this paper calls for future studies that consider cultural factors in the identification of the underlying reasons for various perceptions of experiences. Practical implications Companies need to take a holistically integrated approach to creating a memorable experience in which multidimensional value can be delivered through multiple, sequential stages of experience. The co-creation of experience can lead to a sustainable experience that can be life transforming or perspective transforming. Originality/value Acknowledging the importance of excellent CEM in the contemporary H&T industry, this paper provides a compilation of literature on CEM and offers a foundation for advancing future CEM research in the H&T industry.

Joint Demand and Capacity Management in a Restaurant System

This paper studies the demand and capacity management problem in a restaurant system. A queueing-based optimization model with underlying quasi birth-and-death process and state-dependent functions is developed to address the dynamic and nonlinearity difficulties. In particular, our model explicitly captures the demand changes with respect to the system congestion state on a near real-time dynamic basis. With this framework, we empirically examine the relative performance of commonly used strategies for the case of a local restaurant. The study shows that a strategy that balances service quality and cost yields maximum profit. The result indicates that the traditional view of the conflict between service quality and cost can be overcome by using an interdisciplinary perspective of marketing and operations. Both perspectives should be embraced in academic research and industrial practice in capacity planning decisions for services.

The use of acceptable customer waiting times for capacity management in a multistage restaurant.

This study took an integrated approach to restaurant capacity management by capturing major types of capacity and multiple stages of service and incorporating customers’ expectations. A simulation was used to measure the current restaurant’s performance in meeting the waiting time standards and to identify the threshold requirements of resources to meet the different levels of customer expectations of waiting times. The results showed that the current restaurant needed to adjust capacity levels to meet the customer service standards, and more than one combination of multiresource thresholds existed because the threshold level of each resource varied with the other types of resources.

Ingredient labeling and health claims influencing consumer perceptions, purchase intentions, and willingness to pay

ABSTRACT This study examined impacts of different types of fiber labels (i.e., a regular label; fiber-labeled; fiber-labeled with a health claim) on consumers’ perceptions, purchase intentions, and willingness to pay. Consumers’ taste- and health-consciousness and degree of food neophobia were considered as moderators. Results reveal that different types of labels significantly influenced consumers’ perceptions toward the product. Consumers with higher overall perceptions had higher purchase intentions. Fiber labeling with a health claim made consumers willing to pay more. The analysis found a direct impact on the purchase intentions of consumers’ health-consciousness and their overall perceptions.