Surveying 2 Million USA Today Readers On Restaurant Habits

12-3-96

University Park, Pa. -- Using the newspaper as a research tool is not unusual, but when Vivienne Wildes used USA Today to distribute a survey, she might have been breaking new ground.

Wildes' survey on Restaurant Service, distributed in a Friday issue of the national newspaper USA Today, reached more than 2 million potential respondents. The survey was also run on USA Today's web page.

"USA Today's readership is the group we wanted to target," says Wildes, graduate student in the Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management program in Penn State's College of Health and Human Development. "They are people who travel, people who eat in restaurants and have opinions about restaurant service."

The survey, which ran in September, is expected to reach people in hotels, airports and airplanes as well as those who read the newspaper daily. The Friday release meant the largest audience that USA Today has all week. Wildes received more than 9,000 responses from the printed and online survey.

Wildes, founder of the Waiters Association, is interested in how customers view service in restaurants and how they view tipping.

"In the 1980s there was a big increase in restaurant traffic and competition that made owners and managers look at service as part of the business plan," says Wildes. "Guests were becoming more demanding."

The survey is intended to lay the baseline for a long-term study of restaurant eating patterns, tipping preferences and service.

"I hope that USA Today does this survey as an annual event so we can get a sense of how things change over time," says Wildes.

Using a newspaper to distribute a survey increases the number of people who can receive the survey and decreases the cost of sending out the survey.

While there was no mailing cost, Wildes does have to pay for the compilation of the results. USA Today plans to report on the survey after Wildes presents her preliminary findings at Food Services 2002, a conference scheduled for Feb.17-18. Penn State's Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management department will host the first International Service Conference in September 1997.

"Hopefully I will receive a large number of anecdotes along with the survey results which will help to illustrate how people respond to restaurant service," Wildes says.

**aem**

EDITORS: Ms. Wildes may be reached at (814) 238-8424 or vjw100@psu.edu

Contacts:
A'ndrea Elyse Messer (814) 865-9481 (office) aem1@psuvm.psu.edu
76520.3240@compuserve.com
Vicki Fong (814) 865-9481 (office) vyf1@psu.edu