A study of factors influencing perception of tweens for multinational fast food restaurants QSR with special reference to Gujarat

Abstract

newline Fast food or the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry has witnessed a phenomenal growth in the last few decades. The term Fast food was considered as junk food which was unhealthy and hence the term Quick Service restaurants(QSR) replaced the term Fast food which was defined as restaurants where healthier food was served. As the purchasing power of consumers increased, coupled with the impact of globalization, fast food became one of the favorite options of consumers. Children were in no way left out and were equally attracted to local as well as multinational fast food restaurants. Children are the primary market, influencer market and the future market (Mc Neal, 1999). This study is on tweens which is defined as an age group of children between 8 years to 12 years. Tweens, defined as children in between younger kids and teens, are an important consumer group. The term tween has its roots in the words subteen or preteen. The concept of subteen/preteen is derived from the word teen (Cook and Kaiser, 2004). Literature review shows that the tweens segment has been studied all around the world, as kids of this age group appear to have grown beyond their years in terms of preferences, perception, and behavior and have started behaving like teenagers. Fast food marketers across the globe have started targeting the tweens segment so as to maximize revenue. Thus this study was conducted to study the factors which influence perception of tweens for MNC fast food restaurants. The study was done in 2 phases a) Perception of tweens (age group 8 years to 12 years) for MNC fast food restaurants was researched. b) Perception of teenagers (age group 13 years to 17 years) for MNC fast food restaurant was also studied so as to note the similarity/dissimilarity in perception of both the age groups, especially in India. The second phase forms only 1 chapter of the thesis and its scope is limited to facilitate understanding of tweens perception only. The consumption patterns of tweens and the impact of pla