The Impact of Ethnic Restaurant Menu Visual Appeal and Informativeness on Customers’ Desire to Order

As restaurant menus play a critical role in customers’ perceptions and behavioral intentions, this study examined the effect of ethnic restaurants’ menus’ visual appeal and informativeness on customers’ perceived authenticity, quality, and desire to order. This study also examined the mediating role of the menus’ informativeness between the menus’ visual appeal and customers’ perceived authenticity. Data were obtained from 416 customers who had visited an ethnic restaurant one month prior to the data collection. Based on the structural equation modeling results, this study found that only the menus’ informativeness increased these customers’ perceived authenticity. Also, the indirect effects of visual appeal on perceived authenticity through the menus’ informativeness were discovered. Lastly, perceived authenticity is an antecedent of the customers’ desire to order and perceived quality. These findings suggest that ethnic restaurants should carefully encourage customers to read the information provided in menus to positively increase their perception of authenticity. Theoretical and managerial implications are also provided.