Shapes, music may affect experience of people who dine alone at restaurants

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Specific visual and auditory cues may enhance solo diners’ experience and increase the likeliness they will revisit restaurants, according to a new study from researchers in the Penn State School of Hospitality Management.

Research led by graduate student Lavi Peng along with Anna Mattila, Marriott Professor of Lodging Management at Penn State, found that people who dine out alone have a better experience and are more likely to revisit restaurants that both play slow-tempo music and use angular shapes within the restaurant atmosphere.

The work is available online now and will publish in the April issue of the International Journal of Hospitality Management.

“Industry statistics are showing an increasing number of solo diners, and a lot of restaurants are now trying to attract these individuals,” Mattila said. “This increase in solo diners could be a result of other trends, such as people delaying marriage, choosing to stay single or solo traveling. We wanted to learn how a restaurant’s environment influences the dining experience of solo and social diners.”

The research team conducted two studies to better understand how these environmental factors affect solo and social diners. The first study surveyed 188 people in the United States via Amazon Mechanical Turk and tested the effect of shape cues on both solo and social diners. Survey takers were asked to imagine whether they were eating alone or with friends and family at a mid-priced restaurant. Then, they were shown angular and circular shaped pictures reflecting the restaurant’s environment and asked about their dining experience and intention to revisit the imagined restaurant.

“We found that shapes had a significant influence on dining experience and likelihood to revisit for solo diners, but not social diners,” Peng said. “Angular shapes cause solo diners to have a higher arousal, enhancing their dining experience and intention to revisit.”

The researchers said shapes likely did not significantly affect social diners’ experience and likelihood to return because they were dining with friends and family, so their attention fell on their dining partners rather than the shape cues.

Because social diners do not react to shape cues, restaurants can use angular shapes within their architecture, food presentation or product design to appeal to solo diners without compromising the experience of social diners, according to the researchers.

The second study surveyed 190 people in the United States via Amazon Mechanical Turk and tested the joint impact of shape cues with music tempo. This study focused solely on solo diners since shapes only significantly influenced this group. Imagining they were eating alone at a mid-priced restaurant, survey takers were shown shapes while listening to varying tempos of music, which represented the background music playing in a restaurant. They next answered questions about their experience and intention to revisit the imagined restaurant.

“We found slow-tempo music helped solo diners have a better experience with angular shapes,” Peng said. “Fast-tempo music is dynamic and stimulating. It could dominate solo diners’ emotional responses and diminish responses to shape cues. Even angular shapes, when paired with fast-tempo music, lose their positive impact on solo diners’ experience and intention to revisit.”

In addition to the dining environment, Peng said companies can use this research to better leverage their marketing materials. For example, if a restaurant is trying to appeal to solo diners, it could use angular shapes and slow-tempo music in advertisements or video clips.

Restaurants that find it expensive to invest in new interior design could instead focus on angular-shaped food presentations, such as serving square or rectangular pizza, according to the researchers.

“By using these findings, restaurants can attract solo diners and have them become loyal customers,” Peng said. “This could potentially increase revenue.”

Anqi Luo of Hong Kong Polytechnic University collaborated on this project.

The Marriott Foundation supported this research.