As various types of robots increasingly influence consumers’ service experiences, companies need to consider how to be competitive in this new artificial intelligence and service automation business environment. However, only limited studies have investigated the factors involved in consumer behaviors toward robot restaurant visitors and their impacts. This study integrates trust, the perceived risk, and satisfaction with the well-known Technology Acceptance Model’s (TAM) original constructs (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and acceptance) in the robot service restaurant setting. A scenario-based online survey was performed on 338 respondents. Structural equational modeling shows the direct impact of PU (perceived usefulness) and the indirect impact of PEOU (perceived ease of use) on consumers’ revisit intention to robot restaurants. Trust significantly increases PU and PEOU toward a service robot, and increased trust in robot service decreases the perceived risk as well as increases satisfaction. Further, perceived risk decreases satisfaction and revisit intention. The study provides useful information for hospitality marketers to acknowledge how consumers accept robot service and better understand the key drivers of robot restaurant revisit intention.

This paper aims to identify service quality dimensions of street food that have an impact on utilitarian and hedonic values and to determine the effect of utilitarian and hedonic values on repurchase intention. It also examines the moderating effect of risk perception toward street food safety on the relationship between service quality and perceived value. An Internet survey was performed in Korea with 285 respondents. The results confirmed that the five dimensions of street food’s service quality—food quality, employee service, physical environment, price, and rapidity of service—had positive impacts on utilitarian and hedonic values. All perceived value (utilitarian, hedonic) has an impact on repurchase intention. Finally, the food quality of street food showed a stronger influence on utilitarian value among the low-risk perception group than the high-risk perception group depending on the consumers’ level of awareness of food safety. This provides new insights for marketing strategies to attract domestic/foreign consumers to street food vendors and for creating a new food culture by emphasizing important domains of service quality, the relation of quality to consumer values, and risk perception toward food safety in street food.

Obesity-induced hypothalamic inflammation is characterized by activation of microglia, which are resident macrophages of the central nervous system, and is implicated in the derangement of energy homeostasis, metabolic complications, and neurodegenerative diseases. Quercetin, a naturally occurring flavonoid, is known to protect against oxidative stress and inflammation-related metabolic complications. Here, we demonstrate that quercetin reduces obesity-induced hypothalamic inflammation by inhibiting microglia-mediated inflammatory responses, and the beneficial action of quercetin is associated with heme oxygenase (HO-1) induction. Quercetin markedly reduced the production of inflammatory mediators (monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, interleukin (IL-6), IL-1β, nitric oxide) by microglia stimulated with saturated fatty acid palmitate and/or lipid-laden microglia-conditioned medium. Quercetin also upregulated the expression of HO-1 in palmitate-treated lipid-laden microglia, and the actions of quercetin against microglia activation accompanied by IκBα degradation were abolished by a HO-1 inhibitor. Moreover, quercetin supplementation reduced the levels of inflammatory cytokines and microglia activation markers in the hypothalamus of high fat diet (HFD)-fed obese mice, which was accompanied by upregulation of HO-1. These findings indicate that quercetin suppresses microglia-mediated inflammatory responses via the induction of HO-1, and hence protects against obesity-induced hypothalamic inflammation.

Purpose: This study evaluated risk perception as a critical factor influencing the intention to visit ethnic restaurants; in addition, the role of food safety information in reducing risk perception toward ethnic food was examined. Finally, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of protection motivation on risk perception. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was performed with 506 respondents. Data analyses including descriptive statistics, simple linear regression structural equational modeling and an independent t-test were conducted. Findings: The results highlighted the negative influence of risk perception toward ethnic food consumption on the intention to visit ethnic restaurants. The results indicated that providing food safety information on menus reduces risk perception. Protection motivation theory explained consumers’ risk perception toward ethnic food. In particular, vulnerability (the chance of occurrence), self-efficacy (certainty in one’s ability to carry out a recommended preventive behavior) and response-efficacy (belief that an individual can handle a threat effectively) affected consumers’ risk perception toward ethnic food. Practical implications: The results provide effective strategies for reducing risk perception, such as a provision of food safety information on the ethnic menu or an open kitchen, which produces a safer food image for consumers. Originality/value: A scarcity of research has been offered to explain the predictors influencing consumers’ risk perception toward ethnic food and the methods whereby risk perception can be reduced. Thus, this study makes an important contribution to the hospitality literature by exploring risk-perception-related variables.

The promotion of healthful dietary intake in adolescents is an important public health concern, as obesity is on the rise among adolescents. The current study aimed to determine the association between sociodemographic characteristics and dietary intake (breakfast, vegetables, milk, fruits, fast food, carbohydrate beverages, and caffeine beverages) and to examine the influences of physical and mental health on dietary intake. A nationally representative sample of 187,622 adolescents who attended middle and high schools and participated in the Korean Youth Risk Behavior Survey (2015, 2017, and 2019) was used. The results showed a decrease in breakfast, vegetable, milk, and fruit consumption and an increase in the obesity rate from 2015 to 2019. There was a significant association between dietary intake and gender, economic status, BMI, and academic achievement. Multiple logistic regression analysis results revealed that the consumption of breakfast, vegetables, milk, and fruit were associated with greater odds of having enough sleep. Fast food intake was shown to be a significant risk factor for depression with an odds ratio of 1.204 (95% CI = 1.169–1.239), and carbonated beverage consumption was shown to be a significant risk factor for stress with an odds ratio of 1.042 (95% CI = 1.030–1.054). These results provide fundamental data that can be used to develop an effective nutrition intervention program or nutrition policy for adolescents or school food service programs.

Adoption of the use of robots in the foodservice industry has increased, and research in the quality of service provided by robots is required. Our research objective is to determine interrelationships among service quality, perceived value, restaurant image, satisfaction, and revisit intentions among customers at robotic restaurants. Data collection was conducted, with 342 South Korean restaurant consumers considered suitable to offer accurate responses to the survey questions. An online survey was employed to examine hypothesized relationships. Data analysis used descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. Three dimensions of service quality (atmosphere quality, food quality, and interaction quality) at robotic restaurants were critical for higher perceived value by diners at robotic restaurants. Perceived value increases robotic restaurant image, customer satisfaction, and customer revisit intention. Additionally, findings reveal that robotic restaurant image is a positive predictor of satisfaction, and that satisfaction is a positive predictor of revisit intention. Robotic restaurants have become pervasive in hospitality service environments. Accordingly, theoretical and empirical findings about multiple dimensions of service quality in this context likely will be of interest to marketing researchers and practitioners for sustainable restaurant business.