When to get it is to eat it-Assessing brand fit-mediated equity of extended restaurants of a high-end automobile vendor

While brand extensions have been widely practiced in contemporary business marketing and management, empirical rather than hypothetical examinations of extended branding in the hospitality sector are still scant. This study responds to current research gap by comprehensively modeling and assessing the effectiveness of brand extensions of a high-end automobile brand into full scale restaurant services. Brand fit is constructed as the mediator between the extended brand and the high-end parent brand. Data were gathered from 258 patrons at one 'Mercedes me' restaurant in east China. Research findings from Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that brand quality, brand fit, brand satisfaction and brand loyalty were positively related to each other for the restaurant brand of the high-end auto maker. The interrelationship between brand quality and brand satisfaction of the extended brand was significantly mediated by its brand fit with the parent high-end auto brand modeling. This study contributes to knowledge enrichment on the mechanism of brand extensions and their effects on the equities of both the extended brand and the parent brand in the hospitality sector.