Proceedings of International Conference on Contemporary Management – 2014 (ICCM – 2014), pp 882-891

A STUDY ON FACTORS AFFECTING

ON CONSUMERS’ FAST FOODS BUYING BEHAVIOUR:
REFERENCE TO PIZZA HUT IN THE ANURADAPURA CITY AREA, SRI LANKA

Y.M.W.G.P.K. Udurawana,

Abstract

This explorative study conducted to identify factors affecting on consumers fast foods buying behavior
with special reference to Pizza Hut outlet in Anuradhapura city area. The study population represented by
each and every customer located in Anuradhapura city area and representative sample was selected
including school children to foreigners and entrepreneurs those who have consumed pizza. 114 members
out of 120 responded to the researcher, where they ware contributed to examine nine variables was
Location, Atmosphere, Sales Persons Behavior, Awareness, Price, Quality, Image, Promotion, Fast Service
with demographic variables and the required data was collected through structured questionnaires. Data
was analyzed through descriptive techniques where percentages, mean, standard deviation, t test and
cross tabulation ware facilitated. At the end researcher identified that all factors ware significant towards
consumer buying behavior but related to the selected region customers was not satisfactory awareness
about various brands of pizza, culture of pizza; location was confused on parking and low freedom even
with atmosphere. And they enjoyed their image though consuming pizza appreciating sales person
behavior but pricing, nutrition and promotion ware somewhat deviated on consumer expectation related
to the analysis. Finally researcher suggested to change location of pizza outlets and commented to
increase awareness of consumers related pizza culture.

Key Words: Pizza Hut, Fast Foods, Consumer Behavior

1. INTRODUCTION slowly, the present trend changed the

In the modern days, where the life habits to foods, which are simple and easy
is at fast pace with the time very valuable to to digest. Hence, the existence of these
every person, "Fast Foods" play an foods fulfilled all the needs of modern
important role in everyone's day-to-day life. human being. Preparing food with instant
The very term 'Fast food' means simple, fast mixes has become a way life and no doubt
and convenient food, which is easy and fast they are going to be an integral part of food
to prepare besides being hygienic, free from habit in future.
microbial contamination and also
convenient to eat. Unlike olden days where In relation to the Anuradhapura district
man used to have his food lavishly and majority of food consumption is still at

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home than outplace. Nevertheless, out-of- crowded by customers even weekends or

home food consumption is increasing due some holidays.
to several consideration such as increase in
urbanization, breaking up of the traditional However the demand for fast foods is
joint family system, desire for quality, time unpredictability fluctuating on some
which translates into an increased need for occasions where a few organizations
convenience, increasing number of working acquire their business objective while other
women, changing lifestyles and increasing organizations are run away from business
level of affluence in the middle income environment on poor performance. This
group had brought about changes in food dynamic nature implies to researchers to
habits. find factors which are affecting on
consumer buying behavior.
In relation to the Anuradhapura city area,
there are various fast food providing And when considering the literature Nadia
organizations among them Alankulama & Shohana (2011) (01) identified that Many
Family Supper, Chinthana Bakers, Chamee researchers relating to fast foods such as
Restaurants, Carlton Restaurants, Seedeevi Wilcock, Pun, Khanona, &Aung, (2004, 63),
Restaurants and Pizza Hut are the Yarrow, Remig, and Higgins (2009 have
extremely famous to customers. And Pizza argued that food safety beliefs, attitudes,
Hut was the nearly located in Anuradhapura knowledge, and practices can be altered
providing fast foods on deferent experience through educational intervention,
than other foods providers. Therefore McCarthy, Brennan, Kelly, Ritson, de Boer,
researcher is considering to study of factors & Thompson, (2007); Röhr, Lüddecke,
affecting to fast foods buying behavior Drusch, Müller, & Alvensleben, (2005)
related to the pizza hut in Anuradhapura stated food safety knowledge of the
city area. customers, Mattsson and Helmersson
(2007) conducted study on attitudes
2. Statement of the Problem towards fast food restaurant of young,
Kruger, Blanck and Gillespie (2008) stated
Related to the identification of research the dietary practice and physical activity of
problem, researcher contributed relevant adults who had desire to loss and maintain
literature on fast food and empirical weight, Olumakaiye M. Funke and O.A Ajayi
evidence in Anuradhapura Pizza outlet. In described youngsters’ snaking practice,
relation to the researcher experience with United Soybean board reported (2008)
fast food at Pizza’s initiated period in health and nutrition issues of food.
Anuradhapura, who was unable to reserve
even a table in Pizza Hut for his friends as Though much more research emerged on
the place was overcrowded by customers fast foods none of publications, researchers
even week days. But today the place rarely have explored the overall behavior of

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customers on fast food in Anuradhapura Quality, Image, Promotion, and Fast

city with special reference to Pizza Hut Service are significantly influenced
outlet. Therefore in this study, researcher on consumer fast foods buying
tend to explore consumer overall behavior behavior.
when they having fast food in
Anuradhapura city. 5. Limitation of the Study

3. Objectives of the Study This study was based on primary data

collected from sample consumers by survey
The generic purpose of this study is to method facilitating Anuradhapura city area.
understand how consumers make their Therefore the study area was too limited.
behaviors towards fast food products and As many of the consumers furnished the
to investigate what factors influence on required information from their memory
their fast food buying decision. and experience, the collected data would
Being facilitated to upon purpose be subjected to recall bias. And not only
researcher has contributed specific that researcher particularly considered only
objectives as denoted bellow. pizza outlets than other places. If it was
moved for other places the findings may be
 To study the extent of consumer changed than explored.
awareness towards Pizza’ fast Food
Products, 6. Literature Review

 To identify the factors influencing The term "pizza" first appeared "in a Latin
on consumer buying behavior of text from the southern Italian town of
Pizza fast Food Products in Gaeta in 997 AD, which claims that a tenant
Anuradhapura area, of certain property is to give the bishop of
Gaeta 'duodecimpizze' ['twelve pizzas']
4. Research Hypothesis every Christmas Day, and another twelve
every Easter Sunday". (Martin Maiden
On the basis of the objectives and after (2012) (02)
reviewing the extensive literature the
following research hypotheses were framed But Pizza Hut was familiar to the world
by researcher. around 1958, where Frank and Dan Carney
had an idea for a great local pizza
H1: There is a high level of consumer restaurant in Wichita Kansas. The small 25
awareness about Pizza fast foods in seat restaurant used to sell pizza where
Anuradhapura area used building looked like a hut… so 'Pizza
H2: Location, Atmosphere, Sales Hut' was born! (Usha v. 2007) (03)
Persons Behavior, Awareness, Price,

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Pizza Hut in Sri Lanka is one of the first awareness related fast foods. It provided a
variety chain stores in the country. sense of familiarity a sense of presence or
Currently Pizza hut offers an online ordering commitment and substance and it was very
system which delivers to the following important to recall at the time of
outlets: Colombo, Negombo, Kandy, purchasing process. Apart from the
Kiribathgoda, Kotahena, Colpetty, Union conventional mass media, there were other
Place, Rajagiriya, Havelock Rd., Malabe, effective means to create awareness viz.,
Dehiwala, Nugegoda, Thalawathugoda, event promotions, publicity, sampling and
Moratuwa, Maharagama Wattala and other attention-getting approaches.
Anuradhapura. (http://en.wikipilipinas.org)
(04)
Study of Sundar (1997) (08) revealed that,
grocery department of Saravana Bava
Brown et al. (2000), (05) considered about Cooperative Supermarket, Cuddalore was
consumer awareness with fast foods enjoying favorable images of consumers in
consumption, and young consumers have the attributes, such as, equality of price,
considered about effective nutritional behaviour of sales persons, moving space,
education before being with food habits. location, correctness of weight, packaging
And though they considered balanced of goods, number of sales persons and
nutritionally foods many young consumers convenient shopping hours. At the same
may fuel the consumption of poorly time, the image is weak in the attributes,
nutritionally balanced meals. such as, quality of goods, availability of
range of products, variety of goods,
Binkley (2006), (06) the theoretical model is acceptance of returns, credit facility, door
based on household production theory. This delivery and in sales promotional measures.
theory names the household as “both a Yarrow, Remig, and Higgins (2009) (09) and
consumer and producer of final goods,” other previous researchers have argued
(Binkley). He formulates the general model that food safety beliefs, attitudes,
knowledge, and practices can be changed
Yi=f(P, I, T, H, D), where Yi measure is the through educational intervention. They and
household’s food choice, P is a set of other researchers have therefore
relevant prices, I represents household attempted to determine how to segment
income, T involves measure of time cost, H consumers so that effective communication
measures nutrition concerns and can take place regarding these issues.
knowledge, and D represents demographic
and other factors. Yee and Young (2001), (10) concluded that
customer attention goes to aware about
According to the Aaker (2000), (07) brand nutrition and used to identify nutrition on
awareness as a remarkably durable and labeling or packaging details. And food
sustainable asset to enhance consumer companies should be encouraged to make

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Proceedings of International Conference on Contemporary Management – 2014 (ICCM – 2014), pp 882-891

small changes to the fat of food products on And when considering the factors affecting
customer request. to consumer buying behavior Gluckman
(1986) (13) studied the factors influencing
Nandagopal and Chinnaiyan (2003) (11) consumption and preference for wine. The
concluded that the level of awareness explicit factors identified were, the
among the rural consumers is satisfactory familiarity with brand name, the price of
level and the major source of brand wine, quality or the mouth feel of the liquid,
awareness was word of mouth followed by taste with regards to its sweetness or
advertisements, family members, relatives dryness and the suitability for all tastes
and friends.
Ramasamy et al. (2005) (12) discussed the Sabeson (1992) (14) in his study stated that,
buying behavior and it was vastly influenced high quality, price and taste of the product
by awareness and attitude towards the were the major criteria based on which the
product where commercial advertisements consumers selected a brand of processed
over television was said to be the most fruits and vegetable products.
important source of information, followed Kumar et al. (1987) (15) examined the factors
by displays in retail outlets. Consumers do influencing the buying decision making of
build opinion about a brand on the basis of 200 respondents for various food products.
which various product features play an Country of origin and brand of the products
important role in decision making process. were cross-tabulated against age, gender
Not only that he explored that large and income. Results revealed that the
number of respondents laid emphasis on considered factors were independent of
quality and felt that price is an important age, education and income. The brand
factor while the others attached image seemed to be more important than
importance to image of manufacturer. the origin of the product, since the
consumers were attracted by the brands.
Not only that even Usha V (2007) has
mentioned several reasons for popularity of 7. Methodology
Instant Food Products related to India
where, Emergence of Industrial society, According to the objectives of research it is
Reduced domestic servants, Womenfolk embraced the characteristics of explorative
taking to job, Emergence of nuclear research. And In this study researcher
families, Prices of raw materials, New expected to quantify the preferences for
products, Drudgery of work, Convenience, fast foods products on demographic,
Increasing income, Standard of living, situational, lifestyle, and cognitive factors.
Media, Globalization are the factors Then research has been aligned for
importantly have considered to be spread qualitative research. Related to the study
of fast foods among the customers. researcher considered all consumers
around the Anuradhapura city area as his

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population including high, middle and low

level income categories with children to In relation to the study the response rate
elders. was 95% (114 respondents from 120) on
motivated supervision of researcher.
Farhana and Islam 2011(01), mentioned According to the figure number 1, 67 heads
about Prof. Nunnally as he suggested in his in sample represented male and balance
book Psychometric properties the ideal was represented by female. It is 59% and
sample size for any exploratory research is 41% respectively. It says that fast food
40-60 members for sample. Based on the related dominance may retain on male than
Nunnanlly criteria researcher selected 120 female according to the sample.
respondents who have the tendency of
consume fast food regularly or occasionally. Figure 1: Sex * Income level Cross tabulation
And researcher facilitated stratified sample
Income level
to select 120 consumers who are using fast
foods from where sample was enriched Sex 500- 20000-
including school children, university 20000 50000 50000+ Total
students, executives Foreigners, Male Count 13 45 9 67
entrepreneurs, and non-executives % 19.4% 67.2% 13.4% 100.0%
surrounded Anuradhapura city area. The Female Count 0 0 47 47
study may enriches being with dependent % Sex .0% .0% 100.0% 100.0%
and independent variables where suitable
Count 13 45 56 114
statistical tools are to be facilitated to Total % Sex 11.4% 39.5% 49.1% 100.0%
identify and define the relationship among
variables. Source: Research Data
And related to the pizza consumption, pizza
The scaled questionnaires had to be was familiar (100%) to everyone in the
facilitated to collect data as primary, where sample as they had consumed pizza at least
the Questionnaires were sent to selected in one time in their life.
customers with ideal involvement of
researcher. Considered variables as Figure 2: Income, Age, Sample composition
Variable
Location, Atmosphere, Sales Persons Sample Composition (%)
Behavior, Awareness, Price, Quality, Sch. Uni
Image, Promotion, and Fast Service ware Chn stude Fore Exect Entrepr Total

measured through five scale questionnaires Income

13 0 0 0 0 13
level
as strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree,
500-
disagree, strongly disagree. 11.4 .0% .0% .0% .0% 11.4
20000 (%)
20000-
7 25 13 0 0 45
50000
8. Result and Discussion

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(%) 6.1 21.9 11.4 .0% .0% 39.5

50000+ 0 0 1 31 24 56
% .0% .0 .9% 27.2 21.1 49.1
13.16%
Age 10-20 13 0 0 0 0 13
% 11.4 .0% .0% .0% .0% 11.4
Age 20-30 7 25 4 0 0 36 14.91%
% 6.1 21.9 3.5 .0% .0% 31.6
Age 30-40 0 0 10 31 8 49
% .0 .0% 8.8 27.2 7.0 43.0
Age 40-50 0 0 0 0 14 14 71.93%

% .0 .0% .0% .0% 12.3 12.3

Age 50+ 2 2
% 1.8 1.8 Source: Research data
Source: Research Data .
According to the research objectives, one
objective was related to consumer
Related to income distribution among the awareness about Pizza product. At the data
sample 13 respondents were at below presentation high consumer awareness can
income level that was 500-20000 monthly be seen on “Pizza as a foods” as it
income while 45 represented middle presenting higher mean value and t value
income level that was 20000-50000 that is 4.73 and 104.107 respectively. But
monthly income; 56 consumers represented when considering the awareness of various
higher income level that was more than products under pizza brand it is not in the
50000 monthly incomes. As a percentage it satisfactory level with pizza promotion as it
was 11.5%, 39.5% and 49% respectively. shows moderate level of mean value and
That implies that pizza is highly attracted by low t value as 3.02 and 27.424 respectively.
middle income category to higher income And not only that the awareness about
category. And among them revisited to take ingredient in a pizza and awareness of pizza
pizza is represented by 23 customers requesting and eating culture are showing
including a foreigner out of 56 from higher dissatisfactory result as it shows very low
income group that were 41.07%. And few mean value according to the below table 1.
customers agreed to revisit from middle
income that was 9 (all are foreigners) out of The research model articulated by
45 (20%) customers (figure 3). researcher explained about nine variables
where its significance was explored through
several dimensions. Location is a major
Figure 3: Revisit for pizza hut component when considering the buying
behavior.

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According to the study location of pizza Aware of Culture 2.89 1.119 27.535 .000
outlets was not attracted well. Parking Parking facility 2.25 .958 25.136 .000
facility and enough freedom of the location Fast Reaching 4.13 .793 55.641 .000
Enough Freedom 2.85 1.024 29.729 .000
was very poor level as its mean vale ware
Interior Attraction 2.48 1.041 25.461 .000
2.25 and 2.85 respectively. But location was
Familiar Layout 2.73 1.075 27.097 .000
somewhat satisfactory to the customers as
Fast Service 3.90 .872 47.792 .000
it can be reached in a short time. It is Helpfulness 3.60 .828 46.387 .000
proved through high mean value was 4.13. Cleanness 3.32 1.156 30.708 .000
Responsive 3.42 1.112 32.841 .000
Store atmosphere is also capable to attract Value of Price 2.89 1.034 29.901 .000
consumers as enough. Related to study Credibility of Price 3.19 1.088 31.335 .000
sample not agreed in satisfactory level to Price Comm 3.17 1.128 29.968 .000
interior attraction and store layout in Pizza Healthy Ingredient 3.32 1.016 34.847 .000
High Nutrition 3.11 1.042 31.813 .000
hut as where very few mean value is shown
Good Image to you 3.82 .812 50.295 .000
as 2.48 and 2.73 respectively.
Can understand 3.72 1.093 36.329 .000
Can Arouse 3.03 1.140 28.338 .000
As a important factor to consumer Can Memorable 3.02 1.056 30.515 .000
attraction price was not strongly help to Satisfy Stay Time 4.00 .872 48.956 .000
convey the value of pizza as it bring 2.89 No Queue 3.91 .898 46.517 .000
mean value locating around moderately Delivery speed 3.90 .752 55.407 .000
satisfied. But credibility of pricing at the Source: Research data
store and price communication also located
around moderate level of satisfaction than Finally when considering the significant
helping to satisfy customer. And when contribution of identified variable on pizza
considering the consumer feeling on fast foods, researcher identified that each
healthy ingredient and nutrition of pizza and every variables are significantly
products, was not in satisfactory level in influencing on consumer buying behavior
Anuradhapura area (3.11 & 3.32 mean related to pizza fast foods in Anuradhapura
value). But almost consumers retain around area. Among those variables consumer
somewhat satisfactory level on fast service awareness about “pizza hut” was highest
of pizza related customer requisitions. significance and consumer awareness about
pizza products was very poor. And parking
Figure 3: Mean, Standard Deviation and T facility and interior attraction are slightly
value for variables significant though those are very important
to consumer attraction.
Variable Sig. (2-
Man SD t tailed)
And sales person behavior is measure
Brand Awareness 3.02 1.175 27.424 .000
through four dimensions where all
Pizza Awareness 4.73 .485 104.107 .000
Aware of Ingredient 2.85 1.075 28.328 .000
dimensions ware in moderate to

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satisfactory level as shown by bellow table. graded as that was on expectable condition.
Among them fast service was the And another important thing is customers
considerable dimensions has contributed to attitudes related to nutrition and ingredient
arouse the behavior of sample. in a pizza is somewhat poor. This attitude
should be eliminated to revisit to pizza
9. Conclusion and Recommendations outlet and to repurchase its fast foods.

According to the findings of the study it is 10. References

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