Unlocking the key factors behind the recurring patronage of open-kitchen restaurants

• Minseo Kim

  School of Business, Yonsei University

• Linda Heejung Lho

  Department of Hotel and Foodservice Management, Cheongju University

• Heesup Han

  College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Sejong University

  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6356-3001 (unauthenticated)

• Jongsik Yu

  Department of Hotel and Foodservice Management, Cheongju University

  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1921-491X (unauthenticated)

We applied push–pull–mooring migration theory to open-kitchen restaurants to gain an understanding of customers’ revisit intention. Our model assessed the direct impacts of push, pull, and mooring factors on revisit intention to determine the influence of potential variables within each category. We conducted an online survey of 425 participants, employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. We validated the direct effects of the variables on revisit intention using structural equation modeling. Only the mooring factors had a significant direct impact on customer revisit intention. Among the factors that could be controlled by restaurant operators, the pull factor of efficiency and the push factor of smell significantly influenced revisit intention. The findings have valuable insights for open-kitchen restaurant operators seeking to increase customer return likelihood, confirming that these restaurants possess distinct characteristics compared to the traditional restaurants studied in previous research.

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