Consumers’ perceptions of value in shopping, purchase and/or consumption behavior are based
upon their expectations on perceived important criteria being realized during the behavior (Richins 1994).
Table 2 shows which criteria were most important to the consumer subjects in this study. Through
informal discussions with consumers we identified a list of twelve restaurant characteristics that might be
potentially important to consumers. From these twelve characteristics, subjects in the current study were
asked to rank their top five criteria from most important to fifth most important. These selections were then used to generate a weighted score which could then be used to compare the level of importance from one criterion to another. The five most prominent (in order) restaurant selection criteria were Price, Speed of Service, Location, Quality of Food, and Cleanliness. The ability of quick service restaurant establishments to satisfy these criteria ultimately leads to the level of customer satisfaction, which promotes repeat business and drives profits.