• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.155-166
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• 2021

Objectives: Driven by a growth of single-person households and individualized lifestyles, solo dining in restaurants is an increasingly recognizable trend. However, a research gap exists in the comparison of solo and group diners' menu-decision making processes. Based on the self-control dilemma and the temporal construal theory as a theoretical framework, this study compared the ordering intentions of solo vs. group diners with healthy vs. indulgent (less healthy) entrées. The mediating role of consumption orientation and the moderating role of amount of menu nutrition information were further explored to understand the mechanism and a boundary condition. Methods: A scenario-based online survey was developed using a 2 (dining social context: solo vs. with others) × 3 (amount of menu nutrition information: no nutrition information vs. calories vs. calories/fat/sodium), between-subjects, experimental design. Consumers' level of nutrition involvement was controlled. A nationwide survey data (n = 224) were collected from a crowdsourcing platform in the U.S. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance, independent t-test, univariate analysis of covariance, and moderated mediation analyses. Results: Findings reveal that solo (vs. group) diners have less (vs. more) intentions to order indulgent menu items due to a more utilitarian (vs. more hedonic) consumption orientation in restaurant dining. Findings also show that solo (vs. group) diners have more (vs. less) intentions to order healthy menu items when the restaurant menu presented nutrition information including calories, fat, and sodium. Conclusions: The findings contribute to the literature of foodservice management, healthy eating, and consumer behavior by revealing a mechanism and an external stimuli of solo vs. group diners' healthy menu-decision making process in restaurants. Furthermore, the findings provide restauranteurs and health professionals with insights into the positive and negative impacts of menu nutrition labelling on consumers' menu-decisions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.287-294
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• 2017

This study analyzed the comparative importance of the selection of a restaurant for solo diners, and suggests a solution for the ideal type of the restaurant that are appealing to solo diners using conjoint analysis techniques. A total of 280 questionnaires were distributed to consumers who had experience dining alone from June $7^{th}$, 2017 to June $14^{th}$, 2017, and 261 were completed (93.21%). As a result, the importance of the attributes of the restaurant was found to be the menu for solo diners (36.92%), price (30.29%), seating for solo diners (20.87%), and serving time of food (11.91%). The ideal combination of selection attributes was found to be having a menu for a solo diner, having a seat for a solo diner, meal service time of less than 10 minutes, and a low price of 2,500won. These results will form a database that contributes to the development of differentiated products and is building marketing strategies that can satisfy the needs of solo diners.