10: Hospitality as an Emotional Experience
This chapter intends to focus on social dining, as opposed to convenience eating. It is accepted that many eating activities that involve grabbing a quick bite to eat are decisions made with a minimum of deliberation and virtually no emotional investment. But the dining experience is quite different and involves great deliberation with strong psychological and sociological overtones that derive from the notion of pleasure and the social esteem of a meal that is an event unto itself.
Methodology
This study provides data gathered from 63 first-year students registered in a BA degree in hospitality management at a British university. Naturally, this speaks of the perspective of a younger demographic (participants are aged 17-25) who are decidedly middle-class, European, and come from families of above-average affluence. It's also noted that, as hospitality students, they possess some interest in and knowledge of the restaurant industry, though as first-year students their perspectives are not yet skewed by the academy.
These students were required to write a 500-word narrative describing their most memorable meal experience, with specific instructions to mention the occasion, company, atmosphere, food, service, and setting. These essays were accepted as literal data, but the researchers also employed semiotic analysis to deconstruct the signifying codes, thereby more closely studying the intent of the message in a relatively objective manner.
The multi-dimensionality of meals
Occasion
The author considers the kinds of occasions the students recalled, which fell into distinctive patterns. Most of the students described occasions that marked significant moments, such as birthdays, celebrations of achievement, and religious rituals. Others described meals taken in the context of a group, such as a family reunion or holiday. The fewest respondents described meals such as romantic dinners or a staff function, which involve an attempt to accomplish something rather than to commemorate past accomplishments.
It is conceded that, given the young age of participants, their dining experiences may be entirely limited, with few being in a position to have experiences outside of friends and family. But it remains significant that all of the events mentioned have to do with a social connectedness - reinforcing the bonds between themselves and others or being granted esteem by others.
Company
It's also observed that the occasions tended to involve relatively large groups of people. None of the students described a meal taken alone and only three listed two or fewer other people in attendance. Neither were there many accounts of meals taken in which the student was an outsider to a group, but instead these events were in the company of people they already knew and with whom they had a significant social connection.
As such it is apparent that a sense of security, social cohesiveness, belonging, and trust are elements in the significance of an occasion. It is noted that this comfortable and low-pressure environment contribute to relaxation and being at ease within a social "comfort zone."
Atmosphere
Similarly, feeling at ease was a significant factor in descriptions of the atmosphere and environment - a place that is familiar and non-threatening. The adjectives used to describe the environment called attention to certain features that have emotional impact - modern, grand, stylist, elegant, etc. - and while they do not support the sense of bing "at home" they imply a sense of comfort and pleasure, and avoid terms that would suggest self-consciousness or embarrassment.
All respondents conceptualized a meal as a procession of formal and structured courses, but few considered the price of the meal, which the author finds curious given their economic profile. In general, the quality and cultural value, rather than the economic value, made the greatest impression.
Food
Their descriptions of the meals were stilted, tending to "imitate the character of menu descriptions or restaurant reviews," which is likely a result of their academic interest in the industry. The ethnicity of the meals was most often Italian, Chinese, or American, with some foreign students naming their own culture of origin. Among the British students, there was little mention of their own traditional routine except among respondents who spoke of traditional meals (such as Christmas dinner), suggesting that domestic cuisine is humdrum and everyday dining whereas foreign cuisine is reserved for special occasions.
Another common factor in the descriptions was a focus on indulgent and hedonistic consumption of food and drink and the notion that festive meals provide a reason to break from the normal diet and set aside concerns about health, body image, and cost.
In instances where the celebration was held in the home, there is most often mention of female family members preparing the meal and a sense of family tradition in the menu, with specific dishes being passed from one generation to the next being used to underscore the social aspect of the mean and generational continuity.
Setting
The students described the setting of memorable meals as being in the home (including vacation homes) as well as in commercial establishments such as restaurants and hotels.
The domestic environment was the most common settings for cultural and religious ceremonies as well as in reinforcing the social ties of the family.
By contrast, meals taken in the commercial environment often involved some element of public display - to celebrate an accomplishment in a public setting underscores its importance outside of the family.
There is also a tendency to describe the scenic beauty of a given setting, whether it is a home decorated for the holidays or a restaurant with a spectacular view.
Service
The respondents are described as being "confident and articulate in their belief" that the service is significant in conducting a successful meal.
In the home, there is clear evidence of a gender division of labor, with many individuals contributing to the successful execution of the event. In a commercial environment, the technical aspects of service stand out - "very attentive, though not suffocating, and seem to have a genuine interest in helping the guests to enjoy their evening."
As a youthful group, the students also noted appreciation for informal service that eschews many of the traditional behaviors that reflect social order in dining places, particularly subservient and punctilious conduct on the part of staff.
Both implicitly and explicitly, the students recognized that service in hospitality involves the management of emotions - to make guests feel comfortable, at east, or "at home" while still respecting their social space. This underscores the notion that the staff is an integral part of the dining experience, in that their service involves more than the functional tasks of fetching and carrying away food and tableware, but requires soft skills and patience to support the event.
Conclusions
This study has demonstrated that the analysis of personal accounts to meal experiences reveals much about their "social worlds" in the reasons they place significance on a given occasion and the factors that they identify as being appropriate and critical to its success.
Again, because this was a survey of first-years students pursuing a degree in hospitality management, the results are somewhat skewed by a precocious combination of higher academic knowledge and lower life experience than most of the population. (EN: This is fairly significant, being that the subjects are participants in rather than planners of such events - which would suggest that this information is useful for conducting the service but not for making the service appealing to the individual who is making a decision regarding the venue.)
In terms of dining, the findings are heavily dependent on context, going beyond the meal itself to consider the significance of the occasion and ancillary factors that pertain to symbolic and emotional elements of a social event.
There is also a contrast between the domestic and commercial, which is significant because the objective of the commercial sector is to provide an experience that equals or exceeds that of the domestic event. The emotional elements that are spontaneous in the home are crafted and deliberately delivered in a commercial setting, and the domestic setting is a point of reference that is used to assess the authenticity of the experience in a commercial environment.
In this study, specific factors were identified that are considered to contributed to success: welcome and friendliness, security and freedom from threat, comfort and warmth, tradition and the familiar, privacy, and freedom from protocols. These qualities would seem to be applicable to everyday dining as well.
At the same time, a special event must exceed the everyday, understanding that the purpose of such an event is to reinforce the social bonds within the group while often making public display of the social status of one or more of its members. So to the above qualities, it must be prestigious, elegant, grand, and in some instances exotic or foreign.
The author concludes by offering specific advice to commercial operators: to become familiar with the values and beliefs of their target market to discover the symbols and emotions that they seek of a dining experience.
While this is dispensable to the utility and convenience eating market it is critical to the success of the upscale market, in which the meal is but one component of a multifaceted experience. And it is especially critical to restaurants that seek to become destinations for special events, such as birthdays, anniversaries, graduation ceremonies, family reunions, and the like.