ROLE OF BUZZWORDS IN JASMIN MEDITERRANEAN BISTRO

Authors: Kristen Bochicchio, Samuel Cho, Allison Clonch, Kayla Hale, Dana Said

We would like to thank the Said family for allowing us to use their facility for our

research. We would also like to thank the customers of Jasmin Mediterranean Bistro for

participating in our buzzword opinion survey.

Objective: The purpose of our research is to understand how buzzword introduction

affects sales in a casual dining establishment. We hypothesized that sales of items would

increase after buzzword introductions, and there would be a positive relationship between

customers’ preferred buzzwords and item sales.

Methods: Four posters each representing an item and buzzword were placed in a

restaurant. Sales of items were tracked one week prior to intervention and one week

during intervention. This was then followed by an online survey to assess buzzword

preference with customers at Jasmin Bistro.

Results: We saw an increase in sales from Week 1 to Week 2 in all items except for the

Eggplant Zaki, which decreased. Overall, there was a positive relationship between

customers’ preferred buzzwords and food item sales.

Conclusions and Implications: With a positive slope from 3 out of the 4 menu items we

applied buzzwords to, we can imply that sales of items would increase when specific

buzzwords are introduced.

Introduction:

The United States has one of the highest rates of obesity in the world with over

one-third of U.S. adults classified as obese. While the reasons for high rates of obesity are

numerous, there has been a rapid increase in meals eaten away from home in the form of

fast food or other restaurants, and these diets have been shown to have poor nutritional

quality.1 Because the number of meals eaten at home has increased, researchers have

started to analyze the impacts of nutrition labeling in restaurants and how additional

information like calorie counts can alter consumers’ habits.2,3,4 Studies about the

effectiveness of calorie counts on menus to alter consumer behaviors have yielded

interesting results. One study showed that only about 50% of people use calorie counts

provided in restaurants, and consumers might not understand which foods should be

considered high calorie or low calorie.3 In a different study, researchers found that

consumers exposed to calorie counts while ordering consume foods with 14% less

calories than those who did not have calorie counts available.4 This is evidence to support

that consumers view menu labeling when making food choices, and labeling can

influence food item sales.

Calorie counts are not the only option for menu labeling at restaurants; products

labeled “local” and “organic” have gained rapid popularity among consumers.5 Organic

food has a reputation among consumers as having potential health benefits and being

environmentally friendly. Research found that people generally choose organic for the

“overall benefits, which includes health, environmentally friendly packaging, and

environmentally friendly techniques.”6 Research has found that there is an overwhelming

positive attitude from consumers toward local foods on the basis of “supporting the local

economy and environmental benefits.” However, consumer preference to buy local foods

over other food items is largely variable and does not rely on demographic factors such as

economic status, race, or gender.7 Studies have not been conducted to look at the impact

on sales by labeling foods local or organic in a restaurant setting, but the words evoke a

positive attitude from consumers which could be utilized to illicit a change in consumer

preference.

Nutritional buzzwords are frequently used on packaging or in grocery stores, but

there is little research about their use in restaurant settings. Buzzwords attract people

because they characterize high quality foods, and display qualities that are valuable to our

everyday lives. With increased interest in researching food labeling at restaurants, our

research aimed to introduce nutritional buzzwords in a casual dining establishment and

analyze the change in sales of specific items before and after the intervention. We also

wanted to survey consumers to have a qualitative assessment of buzzword preference and

whether they used the buzzwords when ordering. We hypothesized the sales of items

would increase when we introduced buzzwords, and there would be a positive trend

between the consumers’ buzzword preference and item sales.

Methods:

Research Design: We selectively chose items from the Jasmin menu that were unpopular,

including the Chicken Shawarma, Eggplant Zaki, Spinach Zaki, and Whole Wheat

Wraps. During the first week, we collected data without administering our intervention.

During the second week, we advertised the items listed above with posters containing

buzzwords that described each item. We then compared the data between week 1 and

week 2. During the third week, we released a survey that asked customers to indicate the

extent to which the buzzwords would influence them to purchase the chosen items.

Sampling Methods: To circumvent complications with minors, participants who were

under 18 years of age were automatically kicked out of our survey. Participants required

a valid email address to enter the survey and obtain the coupon incentive.

Recruitment Strategies: We advertised our survey using a poster near the cash register

and by placing table tents on each table. Our incentive for participation was a 10% off

coupon for the bistro. Towards the end of our survey period we noticed we were not

acquiring enough responses to meet our goal. The researchers then went to Jasmin during

the third week with laptops and tablets to recruit participants in the survey.

Instruments and Tools: We designed four posters by assigning a buzzword to each food

item. We used the buzzwords “natural, hormone-free and steroid-free” on Prestige

Farm’s website to describe their chicken, which is used in the Chicken Shawarma. The

Eggplant Zaki contains eggplant from a local North Carolina farmer, so we labeled that

item as “Locally Grown.” The Spinach Zaki is “Made with Fresh Baby Spinach” as

indicated on the package, and we advertised the Whole Wheat Wraps as “Less Processed

[than refined wheat wraps], Aids in Healthy Digestion, and Promotes Satiety” (Appendix

A). In addition, we created an online survey that then asked customers to indicate how

the buzzwords on our posters influenced them to purchase the associated item (Appendix

B). The advertisements for our survey (Appendix C) contained a Quick Response code

for accessibility. The survey only took roughly two minutes to complete to minimize

participant burden.

Data Collection Procedures: We printed receipt summaries from each day of the first

week from the Jasmin cash register on Friday after closing. The receipts included specific

time frames from 11 AM to 11 PM. We also did not consider sales from Saturday or

Sunday since weekend hours vary from week to week. This could make it difficult to

accurately compare data between the control week and the intervention week. We

extracted the sales of the Chicken Shawarma, Eggplant Zaki, Spinach Zaki, and Whole

Wheat Wraps from the receipts and entered those numbers into an Excel spreadsheet. We

then repeated this process in the second week for comparison purposes.

Statistical Analysis: After data collection, we used SPSS to create graphs describing our

findings from our intervention and our survey. Sales data for each item were represented

using line plots. We were unable to use tests for significance because our data was not

normal. Further tests for significance were outside the scope of our training. We

compared data from the survey responses using box plots (Figure 5) to show the

distribution of responses, and compared these findings with the intervention results.

Results:

We observed changes when intervention was placed between Week 1 and Week 2

of our data. Our sample was a 10-day period (n=10) from Week 1 and Week 2.

Figures 1-4 show the trendline of the sales of each food item from Weeks 1 and 2. The

Spinach Zaki, Chicken Shawarma and whole wheat wraps increased in sales, but the

Eggplant Zaki reduced in sales. Figure 1 shows that the Spinach Zaki had a positive slope

(m=0.6909), which indicates sales of Spinach Zaki increased from Week 1 to Week 2.

Similar results were seen in Figures 3 and 4. Both Chicken Shawarma and whole wheat

wraps had positive slopes (m=0.6182 and m=0.2485, respectively) from which we can

conclude that sales increased from Week 1 to Week 2. However, in Figure 2 Eggplant

Zaki sales dropped; the slope of the trendline for Eggplant Zaki is m= -0.0061. Our data

was not normally distributed, therefore we could not conduct statistical tests for

significance on our data.

Our survey had a total of 49 respondents. The survey conducted showed a positive

correlation between buzzwords on the posters as well as buzzword influence when

applying food choices. Figure 5 shows the average consumer ranking of buzzwords in our

survey. The level of influence ranged from 1 to 3 with 3 being the most influential and 1

being the least. Figure 5 shows that the buzzword “fresh” had the greatest mean influence

of 2.57, followed by “locally grown” and “all natural-hormone and steroid free” with

mean influences of 2.33. People were less attracted to the buzzword “promotes satiety”

with the lowest mean of 1.65.

Discussion:

Our data generally supported our hypothesis that certain buzzwords influence

restaurant sales, but with restrictions. Only the Eggplant Zaki showed a downward trend

in sales (-0.61%) and we can deduce from this result that our intervention may not have a

specific effect on consumer results. The buzzwords associated with the Eggplant Zaki on

the posters during the intervention period was “Locally Grown.” The reason we

associated these specific buzzwords with the Eggplant Zaki is because it contains

eggplant grown from a local North Carolina farmer and products labeled “local” have

gained rapid popularity among consumers.5 In the survey, this buzzword had a mean

influence of 2.33 (on a 3.0 scale). However, since actual sales still declined with a highly

popular buzzword, we learned that this particular buzzword relationship was not

successful.

The Chicken Shawarma indicated a positive sale increase by 61.82%. The

buzzwords associated with this sandwich was “All Natural-Hormone and Steroid Free.”

We used the buzzwords “Natural, Hormone-Free and Steroid-Free” on Prestige Farm’s

website to describe their chicken, which is used in the Chicken Shawarma. The chicken

was raised with no fertilizers, pesticides, or chemicals. All of these terms are associated

with organic foods in over 30% of a survey conducted by the US Consumers’ Perception

of Local and Organic Foods.5 The average influence of these buzzwords according to our

survey was 2.33 (on a 3.0 scale), just like “Locally Grown” scored. The Spinach Zaki had

a similar correlation with increased sales by 69.09%. This used the trendy buzzwords

“Fresh” and “Baby” spinach. One study shows the word “Fresh” is associated with local

food in spontaneous thought only about 8.6% of the time.5 The average influence of the

buzzwords according to our survey results was 2.57 (on a 3.0 scale). Trends from the

Chicken Shawarma and Spinach Zaki support our hypothesis that buzzword choices have

a positive influence on Jasmin Bistro sales.

The whole-wheat wraps indicated a positive sale increase by 24.85% when

associated with the buzzwords “less processed, aids in healthy digestion, promotes

satiety.” According to the US Consumers’ Perception of Local and Organic Food, the

phrase “Less Processed” was second most popular when associated with better

production methods. The mean of all three of these buzzwords was only 1.86 (on a 3.0

scale). The whole-wheat wraps in Jasmin Bistro were not advertised at all before our

intervention with the posters. We cannot completely say that the buzzwords applied to the

posters had an influence on restaurant sales. However, letting consumers know the wraps

were available created an upward trend despite what degree of influence the buzzwords

may have had.

We came across few limitations with our research, one of them being the study

was only conducted at one Jasmin location. This means our results neither represent all

causal fast food dining settings nor all Jasmin restaurants. The subjects to our study were

mainly students from North Carolina State University. Selecting one location and

favoring a college student audience could have caused implications to our study, such as

fluctuations in business. For example we could have encouraged people the Monday-

Wednesday before spring holiday to take the survey, since the restaurant was not as busy

as it usually would be. By Wednesday (April 1st) we only had 15 surveys completed.

Due to the lack of response, we decided to go to Jasmin Bistro on April 2-3 to encourage

people to take the survey. At the end of the survey period, we received 49 respondents

and did not reach our goal of 100 completed surveys. The small sample size may not be

fully representative of all people’s opinions on buzzword influence.

A minor limitation we noticed while collecting data was how we could not

measure the influence of the word “organic.” Several people paralleled the literature,

noting on the survey and in person that this term often affects their food purchases.

Previously, we had “organic” in mind to be included in a poster until we confirmed its

use is regulated by the FDA. Our aims were to use non-regulated buzzwords, because

these are words any restaurant or food company could use with ease, especially if they

are found to help sales increase.

Additionally, there were some changes we could have made with our

advertisements. We discovered that some people did not want to take the survey because

they thought they were supporting the business’s revenue. After we informed them in

person that this would support student-led research, more people agreed to take our

survey. The advertisements for the surveys could have displayed a short description of

the research being done.

Although we did not come across many dire limitations, the few that we had

could have significantly impacted our results.

Implications for Research and Practice:

With more funding and a longer research time frame, further research can yield

more meaningful results than our three-week study. Because this study is unprecedented,

it is our hope that it is a springboard for further dialog and research about the impact of

buzzwords in restaurants. We are presenting two recommendations for future research.

First, we recommend comparing the sale trends of each Jasmin location to another upon

implementing the same research strategies on each location. This will provide a more

meaningful research assessment, allowing the owners to see variation in buzzword

influence for each location. They can use this information when selecting which items

and buzzwords to advertise to their customers.

Secondly, we recommend lengthening the control and intervention phases.

Increasing the number of data points would produce more meaningful results to support

or reject our hypotheses. We would also recommend future researchers to administer the

online survey for a longer period of time to accumulate more responses and therefore

more meaningful data. With these two recommendations- expanding the number of

research locations and the timeframe- richer qualitative and quantitative data could be

acquired to draw more meaningful conclusions on buzzword influence on the sales of

menu food items.

Appendix A: Posters Containing Buzzwords for the Chicken Shawarma, Spinach Zaki,

Eggplant Zaki, and Whole Wheat Wraps. Posters were each 18x24.

Appendix B: Survey

Appendix C: Advertisement Design for Buzzword Opinion Survey. This design was

used for 25 table tents (one per table) and one laminate 8”x11” poster, which was hung

beside the cash register.

Figures 1-5

Resources:

1. Todd JE, Mancino L, Lin B. The Impact Away From Home on Adult Diet Quality. US

Dept of Ag. Economic Research Report no. 90.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/136609/err90_1_.pdf Accessed January 27, 2015.

2. Elbel B, Kersh R, Brescoll V, Dixon L. Calorie Labeling And Food Choices: A First

Look At The Effects On Low-Income People In New York City. Health Aff (Millwd).

2009; 28(6):w1110-w1121

3. Krukowski RA, Harvey-Berino J, Kolodinsky J, Narsana RT, DeSisto TP. Consumers

May Not Use or Understand Calorie Labeling in Restaurants. J Am Diet Assoc. 2006;

106(6):917-920.

4. Roberto CA, Larsen PD, Agnew H, Baik J, Brownell KD. Evaluating the Impact of

Menu Labeling on Food Choices and Intake. Am J Public Health. 2010; 100(2):312-318.

5. Haas R, Sterns J, Meixner O, Nyob D, Traar V. Do US consumers perceive local and

organic food differently? An analysis based on means-end chain analysis and word

association. Int J Food System Dynamics. 2013; 4(3):214-226.

6. Paul J, Rana J. Consumer behavior and purchase intention for organic food. J. Consum

Mark. 2012; 29(6): 412-422.

7. Zepeda L, Jinghan L. Who buys local food? J. Food Distribution Research. 2006;

37(3):5-15.