SURVEY: RESEARCH IN PROGRESS The Penn State/USA Today Restaurant Service Survey Or (un)Forkedible Frequencies Vivienne J. Wildes Stuart Mann Fred DeMicco

Abstract. In October 1996, a survey developed at Penn State University ran In USA Today. The 14-question study asked USA Today readers, "How does restaurant service fare?" Nearly 6,000 responses, from around the globe, have provided rich data for exploratory research.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: 1.)  to give the frequencies for the responses to the 14 questions; 2.)  to publish initial findings and points of interest; 3.)  to share ideas for further research.

This survey does not purport to be without statistical fault. The authors recognize that the USA Today readership is not a random sample of the U.S. population. What this study shows is a snapshot of USA Today readers' feelings about hospitality service. That aside, there are several reasons to pay attention to what these diners tell us. [Article copies available for a fee from the Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: getinfo@haworthpressince.com]

BACKGROUND

The USA Today readership is 5.2 million people.¹ As will be demonstrated, they are a well-traveled, well-fed group.       USA Today was an excellent vehicle to distribute a well-designed survey to a readership of an enormous number of restaurant goers. For example, the newspaper appears daily at the doors of several hundred thousand hotel rooms around the world. USA Today's affinity with business travelers is well known. The authors contend that the sheer magnitude of the sample size and the number of responses ameliorates a great deal of the bias.       The survey (Exhibit 1) appeared on page D11 in the Friday, October 13, 1996, Life Section of USA Today. Being a Friday, the paper remained on the news stands for three days because USA Today does not publish a separate Saturday or Sunday edition. An on-line copy of the survey also appeared for two weeks on the USA Today Website. We will call this "the electronic survey."       The study produced 9,000 responses, 3,000 mailed and 6,000 electronically delivered. Analysis revealed that the electronic responses had 3,000 duplicate entries. That is, it was determined that someone attempted to 'stuff the ballot box.' As a result, these 3,000 responses were deleted from the study.       According to the paper's Life Section Editor, Barbaranda Lumpkins, a typical USA Today survey produces 300 to 400 responses. Eva Neigy, On-Line Editor, says 2,000 to 3,000 responses are typical for an electronic survey. Only one other survey from USA Today, a two-question survey about the size of Michael Jordan's feet, produced more responses than the USA Today/ Penn State Restaurant Service Survey.       In addition to the 6,000 quantitative responses, the mail-in survey also produced about 300 letters and thousands of brief comments, providing rich qualitative data. The electronic survey, while efficiently superior, produced numbers only.

DEMOGRAPHICS

First, let's take a look at the respondents. Exhibit 2 shows the demographic breakdown of the typical USA reader and those who responded to

EXHIBIT 1. The Penn State/USA Today Restaurant Service Survey

1. How many times a month do you dine out in each of the following circumstances?
	None	1-2	3-4	More than 5
Business meals with others	-	-	-	-
With family, friends	-	-	-	-
Alone	-	-	-	-
Other	-	-	-	-
Reasons for other	-	-	-	-

2. Which do you prefer:

Having an automatic service charge added to your bill to cover the tip.

Determining for yourself what the tip should be?

3. In general, which of the following best describes how you feel about tipping?

Strongly favor

Moderately favor

Moderately oppose

Strongly oppose

4. How often do you do each of the following if you have bad service in a restaurant?
	All the time	Frequently	Sometimes	Rarely/Never
Complain verbally	-	-	-	-
Write a letter	-	-	-	-
Don't return to restaurant	-	-	-	-

5. How satisfied have you been in general with the service you have received at the following types of restaurants:
	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Not very satisfied	Not satisfied
Quick service/fast food (no table service)	-	-	-	-
Casual dining (table service)	-	-	-	-
Fine dining	-	-	-	-

6. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: "The more expensive the restaurant, the better the service."
Agree	Disagree
7. Would be wiling to pay more to improve the service you typically receive in a restaurant?
Yes	No
8. If you paid more, do you think you would receive better service?
Yes	No

9. How likely is it that each of the following will improve the performance of food service in the USA?
	Definitely will	Probably will	Probably will not	Definitely will not
Education	-	-	-	-
Better benefits	-	-	-	-
Increase in wages	-	-	-	-

10. How frequently do you encounter the following while eating out?
	Very frequently	Somewhat	Not very frequently	Not at all
Rude server	-	-	-	-
Servers who don't know their products	-	-	-	-
Slow service	-	-	-	-
Unclean glassware, flatware, plates	-	-	-	-
Over friendly/intrusive service	-	-	-	-
Inattentive servers	-	-	-	-
Forgetful servers	-	-	-	-
Rushed service	-	-	-	-
Incorrect billing	-	-	-	-
Unwillingness to correct problems/meet special requests.	-	-	-	-

11. Are you:
Male		Female
12. How old are you?
18 - 25	26 - 35	36 - 45
48 - 55	56 - 65	Over 65
13. Are there children under age 18 in your household?
Yes		No
14. What is your household income?
Less than $30,000	$30,001 - $45,000	$45,001 - $60,000	$60,001 - $75,000
$75,001 - 100,000	over $100,000

EXHIBIT 2. USA Today Reader Profile
Audience (000)
Total Adults	5,774
Men	4,412
Women	1,602
Age 18-49	4,194
Age 25-54	4,105
Age 30-49	2,920
Median age	41 yrs
Attended college or beyond	3,955
College graduate or beyond	2,326
Professional/Manager/Technical	1,899
Employed	4,518
Work for Fortune 500 company	614
Work for federal, state, local government	953
HHI $50,000 or more	3,293
HHI $60,000 or more	2,609
HHI $75,000 or more	1,727
HHI $100,000 or more	974
Median household Income	$55,156
Any children in household	2,428
Children age 2-11	1,431
Children age 12-17	1,329
Own a home	4,342
Own weekend/vacation home	653
Total Responses	5,716
Men	61%
Women	38%
No response	1%
Age 18-25	10%
Age 26-35	31%
Age 36-45	12%
Age 46-55	22%
Age 56-65	15%
Over 65	8%
No response	2%
Children under age 18 in household
Yes	25%
No	73%
No response	2%
HHI Less than $30,000	11%
HHI $30,000-$45,000	16%
HHI $45,001-$60,000	18%
HHI $60,001-$75,000	13%
HHI $75,001-$100,000	15%
Over $100,000	20%
No response	7%
(Source: 1996 Fall Simmons)

The Restaurant Service Survey. The two types of surveys are an interesting study in and of themselves, particularly in the areas of demographic data analysis. Although that topic is beyond the scope of this paper, three differences should be mentioned regarding the electronic versus the mail-in results: 1. The electronics survey captured largely a male audience between the ages of 18 to 35. The mail-in survey received a high percentage of females. 2. Almost 75% of electronic respondents did not have children under the age of 18 living in the household. 3. 3. Household income for electronic survey respondents was much lower than for those who answered the mail-in survey.       All age groups were well represented in the two types of surveys. Household income of all survey respondents was placed into six categories. The category with the largest percentage, 20%, was for household income of over $100,00. Since this far exceeds the average US household income, it can be observed that many USA Today readers who responded to the survey are financially well off, and probably able to spend that income eating in restaurants.

SURVEY RESULTS

Reasons People Dine Out. Exhibit 3 shows that people dine out more than 5 times per month in the circumstance category "with family and

EXHIBIT 3. Number of Times Eating out Per Month by Reason

	None	1-2	3-4	More than 5	No Response
Business meals with others	29%	28%	14%	18%	11%
With family, friends	1%	19%	30%	48%	2%
Alone	19%	28%	16%	23%	14%
Other	22%	13%	6%	10%	49%

friends" than for any of the other situations listed. Paradoxically, a large proportion of respondents (23%) dine alone more than 5 times per month. This could be because many USA Today readers are frequent business travelers. Comments from the "other" category included club meetings and dating as reasons to dine out.       Tipping. Two questions in the survey polled respondents' attitudes about tipping (Exhibit 4). Ninety-five percent of all respondents prefer determining for themselves what the tip amount should be. Additionally, 86% of the survey respondents moderately or strongly favor tipping, in general. The two questions about ripping produced the most written comments. A small selection of these comments appears in Exhibit 5.²       Satisfaction. Two questions in the survey attempted to capture diners' views of service satisfaction. Exhibit 6 shows a categorical breakdown for three types of restaurant service to include: Quick service (with no table service), casual dining (with table service), and fine dining. The responses in the "very satisfied" category vary from 15% for fast food, to 23% for casual dining, to 53% for fine dining. Quick service also received the largest proportion of respondents who were dissatisfied with service in casual dining restaurants; and a mere 6% felt dissatisfied with the fine dining service.       The good news is that when the frequencies for "very satisfied" and "somewhat satisfied" are added together, USA Today readers, overall, are tolerant of and mostly pleased with restaurant servers. About 90% of the respondents are either "somewhat satisfied" or "very satisfied" with

EXHIBIT 4: Attitudes About Tipping
Strongly favor	44%
Moderately favor	42%
Moderately oppose	8%
Strongly oppose	4%
No response	2%
Automatic service charge	5%
Determining tip amount for self	95%

Service at fine dining restaurants, 90% at casual dining places, and 68% at fast food restaurant according to Exhibit 6.       As a follow-up to the satisfaction question, we asked respondents how they react to bad service. Exhibit 7 shows the frequencies associated with the choices given. The results confirm what many intuitively know about the customer service: diners vote with their forks. Dissatisfied customers rarely write a letter (63%). Sometimes they will complain orally (48%). The most frequent way bad service is handled, USA Today readers say, is by never returning to the restaurant (67%). Letter writers noted in written responses that whenever they took the time to write a letter they were always compensated by the restaurant.       Expectations. Three questions in the survey dealt with pricing and expectations of "good" service (Exhibit 8). Higher price does not mean better service according to 66% of survey respondents. About the same number say they are unwilling to pay any more for improved service. The majority of write-in comments on this issue said they are paying enough already. Conversely, it is interesting to note that slightly more than one-third of the survey respondents said they would pay more for improved service. Lastly, a resigning 24% of respondents said that even if they paid more they would not necessarily receive better service.       Improving Service. The survey asked how likely is it that education, better benefits and increased wages will improve the performance of food servers in the USA. Many crossed out the word 'education' and replaced it with the word "training."       Improving Service. The most definite means to improve service, according to USA Today readers, is education (Exhibit 9). One-third of the survey respondents felt that education "definitely will" improve restaurant service. Interestingly, when the "definitely will" and "probably will" categories are combined, the percentage of respondents in favor of an increase in service education

EXHIBIT 5. Comments Received About Tipping

Automatic tipping would help some, but on the whole, I think it would diminish the quality of service. The waiters would not have anything to strive for. Tipping rewards good service. I don't mind tipping because I know that most servers aren't paid a lot. Tipping needs to be accorded to performance. It's insulting to tip a person because the employer does not pay her or him a sufficient wage! Too many people tip 15% automatically. Too many waiters expect a tip for service. Better service, better tips. Restaurant owners need to be forced to pay minimum wages so the customer could tip according to service. If we get good service, I am more than willing to tip well, but, refuse to "reward" someone who I feel has not earned it. I tip very well, usually 20%, for good service. For bad service, I leave the penny tip. I do not believe I should pay an employee's base living wage and benefits. The restaurant owner should be responsible. When I leave a tip it should be because I've received good service and attitude not because I feel obligated because the waiter is underpaid. I feel tipping should be based on the "service" the waiter or waitress gives you for above and beyond service. It should not be the customer's responsibility to "pay" their wages. Other service oriented businesses are expected to pay their personnel, not have their customer pay, e.g., department store clerks, bank tellers, gas station attendants, etc. For the most part, service does not play a big part in the tip. Where else in USA is the customer required to help the business owner with expenses by paying their employees... I mean TIP their waitstaff? I resent it-although I am a good tipper. Why should we pay a larger tip for having say lobster or prime rib than someone at a nearby table having pasta or chopped sirloin plus appetizer and dessert amounting to roughly the same check, but considerably more service. I resent paying the waiter a much bigger tip just because the restaurant was expensive when the waiter didn't do any more service than in a cheap restaurant.

EXHIBIT 6. How satisfied are you with the overall quality of service at...
	Very satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Not very satisfied	Not satisfied	No response
Quick service/fast food (no table service)	15%	53%	23%	6%	3%
Casual dining (table service)	23%	67%	9%	1%	0%
Fine dining	53%	37%	5%	1%	4%

EXHIBIT 7. If have bad service in restaurant I...
	All the time	Frequently	Sometimes	Never	No response
Complain orally	8%	21%	48%	21%	2%
Write a letter	2%	5%	22%	63%	8%
Don't return	27%	40%	25%	5%	3%

EXHIBIT 8. Pricing vs. Expectations
	Yes	No	No Response
More expensive restaurants have better service	33%	66%	1%
Willing to pay more to improve the service typically received	35%	64%	1%
Feel they would receive better service if they paid more	24%	75%	1%

jumps to more than two-thirds (77%). Better benefits (73%) and increase in wages (74%) also score as probable ways to improve service. A few respondents (2%) felt that neither education, nor better benefits, nor an increase in wages would help to improve services.       Common Customer Complaints. Lastly, the survey asked respondents to rate the frequency of their experiences with then common customer complaints (Exhibit 10). This list stimulated survey respondents to write hundreds of comments or "war stories."       Of the items listed in the survey, 83% of survey respondents said that they very or somewhat frequently experience slow service, making it the top complaint. Slow service is not likely the result of rude servers or an unwillingness to meet special needs since those two items ranked eight and nine respectively on the list. Rather, it appears more closely linked to inattentive and forgetful servers, the second and third most frequent complaint.       Lack of product knowledge ranked as the fourth problem most frequently experienced by USA Today readers (56%).

EXHIBIT 9. Will Help to Improve restaurant Service
	Definitely will	Probably will	Probably will not	Definitely will not	No response
Education	33%	44%	20%	2%	1%
Better benefits	23%	50%	25%	2%	0%
Increase in wages	28%	46%	23%	2%	1%

EXHIBIT 10. Percentage of Respondents who Encounter These Problems Very or Somewhat Frequently

One could speculate, given the information presented in Exhibit 9, that the customers responding to this survey perceive education to be the most likely way to improve service in the five areas listed above. Note that respondents want this without necessarily raising the price of dining out.       Uncleanliness was the fifth most frequent problem (41%). Several letters detailed personal experiences, with the most common complaints being wiping table with dirty cloths, mishandling flatware, and a lack of handwashing.       Rude, intrusive and rushed service was a very or somewhat frequent problem for about a third of survey respondents. As mentioned above, and unwillingness to meet special needs was a very frequent experience for only 3% of those answering the survey. Smoking was the most common annoyance mentioned by those who wrote comments in relation to special needs category. Lastly, incorrect billing was last on the list with 3% registering it as a very frequent problem. Two reasons billing may have received the lowest rating are : (1) the use of computer point-of-sale systems greatly improves arithmetic accuracy, and (2) it is perceived that most people do not double-check their bill.

SUMMARY

The data provided by The Penn State/USA Today Restaurant Service Survey is rich for both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The authors hope to conduct a longitudinal study over the next several years to add to the current data.       It is under consideration to administer the survey to different groups working in hospitality service such as food servers, managers of service workers, and corporate hospitality executives. Comparisons of "insider" response with customer response has great appeal for a study of opportunity gaps.       Of particular interest is the topic of tipping. The USA Today survey clearly shows that people have their opinions (about tipping). Some would say it is a current "hot" topic. For example, one fine dining establishment in Chicago, Charlie Trotter's, recently moved to pay the service staff a salary in lieu of their working for tips. It is to be hoped that this paper will stimulate conversation and additional research into this subject.       Lastly, the number of respondents prompted the authors to establish a Hospitality Service Conference held at Penn State University in September 1997. This conference featured presentations by service industry experts; panel discussions with customers, industry professionals and service writers; and information about survey instruments and how to use them, technological advances, and service assessment techniques.

REFERENCES

¹ The circulation number for the date of the survey was 2.2 million people. The difference between circulation and readership is reflective of pass-around reading estimates conducted by Gannett. ² The topic of tipping is a much parleyed subject and beyond the scope of this paper. The comments presented in Exhibit 5 are merely presented as a random collection of qualitative data of tipping comments received from USA Today/ Penn State Restaurant Service Survey write-in respondents. The comments were selected by running a search for the word "tip" from 292 letters. Fifteen lines with the word "tip" mentioned were selected at random and copied for this article.