Use of service quality gap theory to differentiate between foodservice outlets

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a questionnaire analogous to the SERVQUAL instrument of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry in order to assess the performance of a contract catering service in relation to its competitors. Although reliability criteria for the instrument were encouraging, the factor structure identified by previous researchers was found not to be present in the catering industry. Other considerations such as food and the attitudes of staff played a move important part in the meal experience. The nine study sites were evaluated on the basis of mean item scores, by discriminant and factor analysis and by multi-dimensional scaling.