Beyond the Plate : A qualitative study on atmospheres impact oncustomer experiences in the Swedish restaurantindustry.

Sammanfattning: This thesis was conducted to get a better understanding on how the atmosphereimpacts a restaurant experience in Sweden. To investigate which factors influence arestaurant's atmosphere, the customer journey model and FAMM-model will beutilized. A qualitative research method was used, the data was collected throughsemi-structured interviews where 14 customer interviews and 2 expert interviewswere conducted. The authors started out with an deductive approach that wascombined with an inductive to create an abductive approach. The authors found thatatmosphere has a significant impact on customers' restaurant experiences where thesenses play a crucial role in creating a good experience. However, the findings aredependent on the restaurant's setting and personal perspectives from the customer.The research shows that customers priorities differently when it comes to thedifferent periods of the customers atmospheric experience journey. Where thebefore and under the service factors have different impacts depending on andprioritization. The authors can therefore see that it is important for customers thatthe restaurants communicate their atmosphere, both before and during the serviceperiod to create more satisfied customers. The authors can imply that the discoveryprovides a way for restaurants to become more competitive and create a moresatisfying atmosphere for their customers. This thesis provides an opening forfurther research on atmosphere impact on customer experience.