Food Service Innovation Guide on Perception and Consumer Variables

INNOVATION FOR THE FOOD SERVICE SECTOR
Part 2. Perception as a basis of food
acceptance and consumption
We are very conscious that many working in the food service sector may
not have a professional training qualification in food. Others may have
trained many years ago. Therefore, our content is based at an accessible
entry and refresher level and is grounded in the consumer and market
trends as the food service sector is reinvented post Covid-19.
MODULE 1

SENSES
The way we perceive food, from a sensory point of
view, is determined by the five human senses:
sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. The success
of food greatly depends on the extent to which
their sensory quality appeals to the target
population.
Other benefits such as the health aspects may
enhance the perceived value of the food but can
be largely useless if the sensory qualities are
unattractive.
…”You can tell me its good for me but that’s no
good if it looks, tastes & feels like cardboard!”

EATING RESEARCH
Before you innovate your food
service offering, it is useful to
dive into the power of ‘eating
research’, which can be divided
into 3 types of Variables.
Current food research is
concentrating on how each
category of eating variable
interacts with each other for
example: Matching people’s
expectations of food differs
across environments.
FOOD VARIABLES
PERSON VARIABLES
ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES

1. FOOD VARIABLES

1. Food Variables
“Our senses are designed to work together, so when they are combined, the brain
pays more attention and encodes the memory more robustly.”
Medina 2014
All variables & senses intertwine when assessing food (multi-modalities). Sensory
analysis (or sensory evaluation) is a scientific discipline that applies principles of
experimental design and statistical analysis to the use of human senses (sight, smell,
taste, touch and hearing) for the purposes of evaluating consumer foods. They are
generally ‘packaged’ and assessed as the following:
PALATABILITY APPEARANCE FLAVOUR

Food Variables : PALATABILITY
Palatable is defined as: ‘agreeable or pleasant, especially to the sense of taste’.
In an interesting study, chefs in the Netherlands were interviewed about their most
successful dishes to search for ‘common denominators’. In total 18 chefs were interviewed
and 63 dishes were analysed. Six product characteristics were found that were present in at
least 80% of the described dishes and it was hypothesized that palatability is determined by
the presence of each of these culinary success factors (CSFs).
(i) name and presentation fit the expectation;
(ii) appetizing smell that fits the food;
(iii) good balance of flavour components in relation to the food;
(iv) presence of umami, also called the fifth basic taste;
(v) in mouthfeel a mix of hard and soft textures; and
(vi) high flavour richness. Read more at the link in the additional resources

Food Variables : PALATABILITY
As you craft and design your menu, assessing palatability can be divided into two broad
classes:
1. Affective methods
Bringing together a panel of your target consumer
to answer questions such as:
• Which dish/product do you prefer?
• Which dish/product do you like?
• How well do you like this dish/product?
• How often would you buy/use this product?
Affective methods require a much larger panel size
than do analytical methods, to give greater
confidence in the interpretation of the results.

Food Variables: PALATABILITY
Discrimination tests can be used to
determine if dishes/ products are different
from each other
• If a given characteristic (crunchiness,
softness, melt point etc.) is different
among samples, or
• If one product has more of a selected
characteristic than another.
Descriptive methods are used to
provide more-comprehensive profiles of a
product by asking panellists to identify:
• different characteristics within the
product and
• quantify characteristics.
Better results are forthcoming from
trained taste panellists.
2. Analytical methods
Analytical methods of sensory evaluation are most commonly discrimination and/or
descriptive methods.

Food Variables: APPEARANCE
Digestion starts from the eyes. Food appearance helps
prepare the mouth for the incoming food (the mouth-
watering effect). The technical description…..
Food appearance determined mostly by surface colour is the
first sensation that the consumer perceives and uses as a
tool to either accept or reject food (Leon et al., 2006)
Appearance tests consider the visual perception of food
which includes colour, size, shape, transparency, dullness
and gloss.
Appearance and colour are easily explained through fruit. As
a fruit ripens, the colour becomes enriched or alternatively
as a food spoils or stales, a loss of colour occurs.

VISUAL &
OLFACTORY
WHICH ONE WOULD YOU CHOOSE?
Visual perception or olfactory signals (smell) are
usually the first senses to provide information or a
perception on the quality of food.

Food Variables: FLAVOUR
Flavour usually consists of 3 components:
• SCENT: contributes to the pleasure of
eating: e.g. the aroma of fresh baked
bread
• MOUTHFEEL: is the physical sensation a
food or drink creates in the mouth,
sometimes it is interlinked with texture
• TASTE: plays a vital role in recognising,
accepting and appreciating food: sweet,
salt, sour, bitter, umami

How Our Senses Interact
Leatherhead Food Research published an
excellent research paper to help us
understand how the senses operate together.
Over 7 pages, it shares fascinating
investigations such as the physical
(tactile/taste) interactions. It is a powerful
tool for food product developers and
marketing professionals.
READ: White-Paper-How-Our-Senses-Interact.pdf (leatherheadfood.com)

2. PERSON VARIABLES

CONSUMER
LIFESYTLES
Our consumers come
from many perspectives
and lifestyle variables.
EXPERIENCE
The TOTAL PRODUCT EXPERIENCE
is the combination of events,
memories & sensations that
occur before during and after
the sensation proper
EMOTIONAL
Featuring emotional
characteristics in brand &
promotion can cue emotions
that are fundamental to the
way consumers perceive and
interpret brands.
The considerations in Person Variables are threefold:-

1. Lifestyles and how they affect food choices:
EU research has identified the key food related lifestyles or consumer segments :
• The uninvolved food consumer; where food quality is limited to convenience –
traditionally thought of young and urban but now much more health -conscious
• The careless food consumer- like the uninvolved consumer but interested in quality
– young and urban
• The conservative food consumer: traditional meal patterns, taste and health – rural,
older
• The rational food consumer: looks at product information & origin, meal plans,
interested in food quality – rural
• The adventurous food consumer, quality – younger, high education and urban

2. Total Product Experience (TPE):
More than meets the tongue!
Total Product Experience is the combination of events, memories and sensations
that occur before, during and after the sensation proper.
The Total Product Experience approach is built on the following four principles:
1. Multisensory perception: products are perceived by humans using all their
sensory systems
2. Top-down effects: ideas, expectations, information, emotions, in addition to
direct sensory perception affect the perception, and liking, of products
3. Consumer-product interactions: the interaction of consumers with a food product
ranges much wider than just oral ingestion
4. Unconscious influences: there is much information about food products and their
sensory perception than is consciously and volitionally available to a consumer

3. Emotions
Emotions/feelings are an extremely strong trigger
for food choices. From a young age food becomes
connected to a variety of emotions and social
interactions. Whether sad, happy, celebrating,
commemorating, lonely, angry etc food is often
used to support or cope with these emotions and
circumstances.
A fascinating article by Steve Grant explores this
emotional connection and why it influences
behaviour as well as bringing awareness to the
social role that food plays.
READ THE FULL STORY at the Why We Eat in the additional
resource section.

Emotional branding is the process of
forming a relationship between a consumer
and a food product or brand by provoking
their emotions.
Emotions connects with your target
consumers in a human or personal way.
With consumers increasingly making buying
decisions driven by feelings rather than
logic, emotional marketing creates
meaningful relationships that result in
brand fans, replacing the loyalty marketing
approach of years past.
Emotions cannot be underestimated in the
food service sector, used in menu design
but also in your branding

Generally, there are five approaches to emotional marketing that can turn casual
consumers into brand fans: Inspirational, Aspirational, Love, Milestones and Local.
The proliferation of new media channels, platforms and devices means consumers
have greater access to brand stories, and food business owners have more ways to
convey their brand’s identity and vision.
Done right, emotional marketing helps food service businesses differentiate and
compete in this changing environment, and conveys your brand’s values, interests and
passion.
Part 3 of this training module goes into more detail.
Emotional marketing

3. ENVIRONMENT
VARIABLES

3.ENVIRONMENT
Environmental factors such as
weather, time of day, the
immediate setting, who you are
dining with, advertisements, what
you can afford also influence
food service choices.
Restaurants and food service
outlets often take advantage of
this.
PHYSICAL
SOCIAL
ECONOMIC

Environmental Factors that affect Food Choice
There is growing interest in the role of the environment in promoting or
hindering healthy eating. It has been suggested that individual change is
more likely to be facilitated and sustained if the environment within which
choices are made supports healthful food options.
The main factors having an influence on food choices are:
1) social environments, such as family, peers, and social networks;
2) physical environments, including schools, child-care, worksites, retail food
stores, and restaurants
3) macro-environments, such as socioeconomic status, cultural norms and
values, food marketing, and food and agricultural policy.

Summary:
THE 3 VARIABLES
and their
Characteristics
Characteristics or
Variables of the food:
• Taste
• Appearance
• Texture
• Cost
• Food Type
• Method of preparation
• Form
• Seasoning
• Food combinations
Characteristics of the
Individual or person:
• Age
• Sex
• Education
• Income
• Nutrition knowledge
• Cooking skills & creativity
• Attitudes to health & the
role of food to it
Characteristics of the
environment:
• Season
• Employment
• Mobility
• Degree of urbanization
• Size of household
• Stage of family
Food
Preferences
Food
Consumption
Figure a): Factors influencing food preferences (Randall and Sanjur, 1981)

Using this Information
By now understanding the 3 variables
in Food and Eating Research, where
perception and preferences form a
basis of food acceptance and
consumption, as food service
business owners or entrepreneurs
you can carry this information
forward for your own food and menu
innovation and branding.

Food Service Innovation Guide on Perception and Consumer Variables

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