THE EFFECT OF DEGREE OF DONENESS OF BEEF STEAKS ON CONSUMER ACCEPTABILITY OF MEALS IN RESTAURANTS

A total of 3554 consumers, who selected beef steak menu items at nine restaurants, were surveyed on their attitudes to beef and their assess ment of beef steak meals, Consumers were asked to describe the menu it em, their assessment of steak steak size and the degree of doneness of the steak, both as they ordered it and how they perceived it was deli vered. Consumers rated the meal for tenderness, taste, overall satisfa ction, value for money and intent to repurchase, and,cere also asked t heir sex, age and attitude to beef. The average ordered degree of done ness for all consumers was medium. A total of 30% of consumers conside red they did not receive their steaks cooked to their ordered degree o f doneness. The interaction between ordered and delivered degree of do neness had a highly significant (P < 0.001) effect on consumer scores for tenderness, taste, overall satisfaction, value for money and inten t to repurchase. The maximum consumer scores were obtained when steaks were cooked to their ordered degree of doneness. If steaks were perce ived not delivered as ordered, there was a decline in all consumer sco res (P < 0.001), with a greater penalty for over- than under-cooking ( P < 0.001). This study showed the dramatic penalty in consumer satisfa ction for a chef failing to deliver a steak cooked to the ordered degr ee of doneness. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.