Michael C. Dalbor

Customer Satisfaction of Theme Restaurant Attributes and Their Influence on Return Intent

Abstract Theme restaurants were designed to provide customers with not only a meal, but also an entertaining experience. After a rapid rise in popularity in the early to mid 1990s, theme restaurants began to experience a decline in market share. As this segment of the restaurant industry experiences the downsizing of many once popular brands, it is imperative that investigations are undertaken to determine the causes of this decline. Many researchers have attributed customer satisfaction and subsequent return intent as key indicators regarding the success of a restaurant. Although considerable research has been conducted on these indicators in the service industry, none has focused on theme restaurants in particular. Relying upon expectancy disconfirmation theory, this study adds to the existing body of customer satisfaction literature by examining four theme restaurant attributes (food quality, service quality, atmosphere, and novelty) and their influence on return intent. Interestingly, customers were least satisfied with novelty. Further, customer satisfaction with theme restaurant food quality and atmosphere were the only significant attributes influencing return intent.

An Examination of Capital Structure in the Restaurant Industry

Examines the capital structure decisions of restaurant firms. Hypothesizes that these decisions are based upon a financial “pecking‐order” as well as the position of the firm in the financial growth cycle. Using ratios from publicly‐traded restaurant firms in the USA and ordinary least squares regression models, the results tend to support the notion that both the pecking‐order and the financial growth cycle influence financing decisions. However, the results also indicate that there may be separate factors affecting long‐term and short‐term debt decisions made by restaurant managers.

The Investment Opportunity Set and the Long-Term Debt Decision of U.S. Lodging Firms

This article investigates, in further detail, a previously researched positive relationship between long-term debt and growth opportunities in the U.S. lodging industry. In addition to utilizing variables related to the three major theories of capital structure, the authors use alternative growth opportunity measures in an attempt to confirm previous findings in the hospitality literature. The results indicate that certain growth opportunity proxies do a better job of explaining the long-term debt choice for U.S. lodging firms. This research could be used to reexamine the long-term debt decision and growth opportunities in other sectors of the hospitality industry.

Factors Affecting the Long-Term Debt Decision of Restaurant Firms

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the impact of previously theorized factors on the long-term debt ratio of publicly traded restaurant firms. The authors examined the financial literature to find variables related to three capital structure theories: contracting costs of debt, signaling effects, and tax effects. Using a cross-sectional pooled regression model on publicly traded restaurant firms, the authors’ results largely confirm those of Barclay and Smith that were based on a wide range of industrial firms. Firm size and the probability of bankruptcy are positively correlated with higher long-term debt ratios. Firms with growth opportunities use less long-term debt. However, no significant relationship was found between the use of long-term debt and effective tax rates.

Using RevPAR to analyze lodging-segment variability

Abstract The higher the RevPAR, the greater the volatility in a hotel investment—but theres also more money to be made.

Analysis of Relative Growth Rates Between Domestic and International Earnings of U.S. Based Publicly Traded Restaurant Firms

ABSTRACT This study explores the relative growth rates in earnings of public restaurant firms for a 20-year period from 1981-2000. No significant differences were found in sales growth between multinational and domestic restaurant firms. However, multinational firms significantly outperformed domestic firms in growth of operating income and pre-tax profitability. Multinational restaurant firms also had significantly lower negative growth in domestic earnings when compared to domestic firms. The results imply that multinational restaurant firms are more efficient than domestic firms in converting sales into profits.

An Initial Investigation of Firm Size and Debt Use by Small Restaurant Firms

ABSTRACT This study examines whether or not size affects the use of debt used by small restaurant firms. Owners often use debt as a mechanism to minimize agency costs in large firms. However, there is no consensus in the literature about how to measure firm size. This study uses different proxies for size and finds the significant measures to be total assets, total sales, number of owners, and number of employees. The study finds number of owners and total assets to be variables with maximum explanatory power.

The Initial Public Offerings of Restaurant Firms: The Case of Industry-Specific Micromarket Capitalization Offerings

We investigate the pricing characteristics of 59 initial public offerings (IPOs) of firms in the restaurant industry. Many of these offers are by extremely small micromarket capitalization companies, ones that are typically excluded from other studies of IPOs. We find that the choice of underwriter and the issuing companys subsequent financial performance significantly affect the level of underpricing and aftermarket performance. Companies that employ small, regional investment banking houses as underwriters fail to attract much investor interest, resulting in less underpricing and poorer aftermarket performance. In addition, investors appear to accurately appraise those firms that subsequently suffer from poor financial performance. This is demonstrated through greater underpricing to compensate investors for the greater perceived risk.

Returns of Merger and Acquisition Activities in the Restaurant Industry

The restaurant industry experienced numerous merger and acquisition activities in the 1990s. This study examined cumulative abnormal returns for both target and bidding firms of restaurant mergers and acquisitions for the last 20 years. It is found that restaurant targets enjoy significantly positive returns, consistent with most of the literature on merger and acquisition targets. Restaurant industry bidders as an overall group earn slightly positive but not statistically significant returns in this study. The significant positive returns for targets indicate that there may be synergistic gains from mergers and acquisitions.

An Examination of Dividend Policy in the U.S. Restaurant Industry

Abstract We examine the potential role that agency costs have on dividend payout policy in the restaurant industry. Specifically, we hypothesize that dividends serve to constrain the actions of management. Interest payments also have the same effect, and in a sense, may act as an effective substitute for dividend payments. Furthermore, the larger number of firm owners, the greater the need for dividends to control agency costs. Our findings show significant differences in debt ratios and the number of shareholders between restaurant firms that pay dividends and those that do not.