International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management

Volume 11 • Issue 2 • April-June 2020

Impact of Food and Beverage Quality on

Passenger Satisfaction in Indian Railways
Ravi Dandotiya, Chitkara University, Punjab, India
Pranav Aggarwal, Chitkara University, Punjab, India
Ram Gopal, Chitkara University, Punjab, India

ABSTRACT

This study uses disconfirmation theory to evaluate a theoretical model, which explains the relationship
of four constructs of the food and beverage quality, namely freshness, taste, presentation, and
temperature. In addition, the effect of price on satisfaction is also measured. Food quality has been
considered the basic component of customer satisfaction in restaurants, but there are very few studies
in railway-related food and beverage quality. The objective of the research is to study the effect of
food, beverage quality and price on passenger satisfaction in Indian railways. This study also tries
to investigate key attributes related to food and beverage quality, which are important in improving
overall satisfaction. The results show that all the food and beverage quality attributes and price
significantly affect passenger satisfaction. Subsequent regression analysis exhibits that taste followed
by presentation were the most important factors in achieving passenger satisfaction. The managers
can focus on the key food and beverage attributes, which brings out the passenger satisfaction.

Keywords
Disconfirmation Theory, Food and Beverage Quality, Passengers, Price, Railways, Satisfaction

INTRODUCTION

Customer satisfaction and service quality are interlinked notions where one is definitely going to
affect other; good quality product leads to higher satisfaction (Oliver, 1980; Yuksel & Rimmington,
1998; Hallak et al., 2018). Service quality is a very vast phenomenon and different people have
different perceptions about it. Most commonly used definition is that it is supposed to be the study
of differences among expectation and perception of a received product or received service (Zeithaml
et al., 1988; Grönroos, 1982; Yuksel & Yuksel, 2008).
Two main factors food quality and food service quality are important in the overall customer
satisfaction in the vast realm of the hospitality sector - in the food and beverage industry. Both of
these complement each other. Success in this industry depends a lot on understanding a customer
(Kandampully et al., 2018). Survival requires surveillance and a continuous quality check to ensure
customer satisfaction. Satiation always remained the most important in food provision. There is little

DOI: 10.4018/IJCRMM.2020040103

Copyright © 2020, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.


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work reported on this aspect (Muskat et al., 2019), though efforts were made since early 1995 on
food quality and customer satisfaction which also affect his behavioral intentions.
Overall food quality, particularly taste and presentation of food, has been claimed to be the key
element that affects customer satisfaction and his behavioral expectations (Namkung & Jang, 2007).
Chandrashekhar et al. (2006) investigated organoleptic qualities of food pertaining to human senses
of sight, touch, smell and taste, and mouth feel may not affect satiation and these affect appetites.
Yin et al. (2017) found that taste and aroma alone do not affect satiety value but in combination help
in hunger suppression. Price plays a crucial role in deciding while making a choice for buying and
it is fully reflected even in daily life (Sinha & Batra, 1999). Rothenberger (2015) investigated the
fairness of price directly influences customer satisfaction; whereas perceived price does not impact
customer satisfaction in a restaurant atmosphere (Pedraja Iglesias & Jesus Yagüe Guillén, 2004).
The perception of fair and economical price has a direct impact on the customer brand association,
perception of unfair price results in a greater level of dissatisfaction, bad word of mouth and higher
customer complaints (Anderson et al., 1994).
Some methods – termed scales or models - have since been developed by various researchers to
evaluate the quality of food and healthfulness in restaurants that would grade the food and beverage
for customer satisfaction and his behavioral intentions. Some such models in use are expectancy
disconfirmation theory 1980 of Oliver (Yuksel & Rimmington, 1998), model of Grönroos (1982)—to
compare the anticipated services, service quality model (Grönroos, 1984), SERVQUAL based on
ten parameters to assess the service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1985), SERVQUAL based on five
quality parameters Parasuraman et al., (1994), DinEX (Bufquin et al., 2017)—an evaluative scale.
Kumar (2016) in his investigation suggests, Indian Railways, sometimes termed ‘lifeline of the
nation,’ is a premier public sector enterprise of the country. It plays a vital role in the movement of
man and material. Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) was established in
1999 to provide on-train catering services in a professional manner. It now manages restaurants, hotels
and train services also. Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duranto trains offering the fastest mode of surface
transport serve all the meals of the day with a wide variety of menu. A number of food and beverage
quality variables were used to evaluate food quality which was reported to be good in Duranto and
Rajdhani trains with affordable food prices. Maruvada & Bellamkonda (2010) developed RAILQUAL
on analogy to SERVQUAL for evaluating service quality perceived and expected on Indian trains.
Adhering to literature, quality is thus technical quality which the customer actually gets as against
functional quality which is more an expressive performance of a service and pleases the customer. The
objective of the present study is to establish correlation among food and beverage quality attributes,
price and customer satisfaction in some select Indian trains, specifically focusing on effect of food
and beverage quality attributes on passenger satisfaction as well as the effect of price on that intent,
the model has been built upon the 1980 Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory of Oliver (Yuksel &
Rimmington, 1998).

BACKGROUND

Attempts have been made to study customer satisfaction and service quality adopting the theory of
disconfirmation. What Crosby stated forty years ago in 1979 that people need proper, correct, and
intelligent statement for service quality from the service provider and if it is not forthcoming or is
improper, the customer gets distracted is valid even today, this is also explained by Han et al. (2019).
Grönroos (1984) in his model on quality of service and marketing observed that functional quality is
more sought after than technical quality of perceived service. Sureshchandar et al. (2002) examined
the quality of service parameters which are basic service and service product, non-human and human
elements in service delivery, tangible service, and social responsibility, they observed that both the
quality of service and customer satisfaction were autonomous in nature.

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In a concerted effort to assess the service quality Parasuraman et al. (1985) conceptualized a model
called SERVQUAL based on ten parameters later on reduced to five determinants viz., tangibility,
responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and empathy. They opined that the SERVQUAL model was more
or less flawless but agreed that further research was required to find new dimensions in the future.
The SERVQUAL model is mostly adopted now for an assessment of the service quality. Perceptions
of a consumer regarding the quality of services provided are closely related to his evaluation of
the services (Cronin & Taylor, 1992). The dimensions, their occurrence and lack of uniformity in
different contexts aroused objections on the validity of constructs in SERVQUAL. Hence it may not
be possible to capture all the determinants using its 5-key version (Akbaba, 2006).
To assess the quality of service Grönroos (1982) in his model recognized that customers compared
the services that they anticipated with the perception of the services they got. Smith & Houston (1983)
concluded that satisfaction towards services was associated with its confirmation or disconfirmation.
To understand quality in a better way Grönroos (1984) framed one more model of service quality
where he suggested that quality was of two types viz., technical and functional. Whereas functional
quality remained more of the expressive performance of a service, the technical quality remained
actually what the customer got. Mason et al. (2016) suggests that the overall dininig satisfaction can be
achieved by good food quality that is as per the expectations of customers. Studies have mostly been
carried out on food service restaurants which were having the same concept of customer satisfaction
and they also needed loyal and repeat customers. Josiam et al. (2014) found that in the student-run
restaurants, the customers were contented with all the attributes of service and food quality. Ryu &
Han (2010) concluded that the quality of food was of utmost importance in any food outlet, especially
the quick casual restaurants, followed by the environment and service (Sulek & Hensley, 2004; Ziku
et al., 2019). Bufquin et al. (2017) established, after applying DinEX, that quality of food remarkably
influenced customer satisfaction and his behavioral intentions. It has been said again and again in
the literature that the food is definitely the most important reason that people dine out (Pantelidis,
2010). Han et al. (2019) suggested that there is a lack of empirical studies on food quality parameters
and recommended future research.
Indian Railways is the biggest rail network in Asia and the second biggest in the world in terms
of employees under one management (Sarkar et al., 2015). It is the fourth all over the world in terms
of rail network covering 67,368 km routes, with 1.308 million staff working and runs more than
13,000 passenger trains daily (indianrailway.gov.in). It contributes almost 1% of the GDP of India
(Kumar, 2016). It completed 165 glorious years on 16th April 2018. Indian Railway Catering and
Tourism Corporation now bears the responsibility for providing on the train and on station catering
services. Majority of passengers contacted agreed that the quality of food was good in Duranto and
Rajdhani trains and noted that the food prices were affordable (Kumar, 2016). Beristain & Zorrilla
(2011) documented that the perception of acceptable and economical price also exerted a direct
effect on the customer brand association. Maruvada and Bellamkonda (2010) suggested that there
is a huge gap in actual service quality perceived and expected in Indian Railways while they were
developing RAILQUAL.
To evaluate the services rendered by railways Maruvada & Bellamkonda (2010) developed a
model called RAILQUAL based on SERVQUAL. They also maintained five dimensions in this
model to assess service quality. They analyzed the service quality using some logics which were
rather irrelevant to catering. The rail travelers were dissatisfied with the following attributes – waiting
time, safety, various amenities and facilities provided at the railway station and in the trains (Gupta
& Datta, 2012). Rajeswari and Santa Kumari (2014) investigated that perceived service quality and
expectations possessed a negative customer response. They formulated eight different hypotheses to
check the response of frequent travelers. Rajeshwari and Elangovan (2014) subjected the randomly
sampled data to SERVQUAL and reported that passengers were fairly satisfied with general services
provided by Indian Railways but there was still a need for improvement in the services. Sharma et
al. (2016) evaluated the performance of rail transport services by data envelopment analysis (DEA)

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method and found that some rail zones were efficient and some non-efficient with regard to service
quality. Customer satisfaction index (CSI) is also a key measuring element to check the performance
of service quality, a study made therefore revealed that customers were not contented with the services
rendered (Agarwal & Mehrotra, 2017). Transit service quality was also studied through a reflective
approach; some of the variables of this study were punctuality, comfort, cleanliness, and information
(Saputra, 2010; Eboli et al., 2018). The determinants were easily measured applying RAILQUAL
but there were more aspects to be developed. The food and service quality in superfast trains needs
to be measured to increase passenger acceptability.
Although Rozekhi et al. (2016) valued food as an essential component of customer’s dining
satisfaction in restaurant business yet they did not consider food quality as an aspect in their study
whereas, Peri (2006) graded the quality of food as equally important. Namkung and Jang (2007)
found that overall food quality was the key element in both customer satisfaction and behavioral
intentions. Their particular emphasis was on the taste and presentation of food. Yin et al. (2017)
observed that taste and aroma individually did not affect satiety value but in combination helped in
hunger suppression. Min (2016) talks about the importance of freshness and taste, and investigated
that above all the parameters of dining satisfaction, freshness and taste comes above all. The flavor
is a perception felt in the mouth when something is eaten; the flavor is felt mainly by aroma receptor
cells in the nose and taste receptor cells in the mouth (Fisher and Scott, 2007). Zellner et al. (2014)
documented that the food presented in a decorative and attractive manner elicited better positive
response compared to that plated in ordinary style. Whereas Mathe-Soulek et al. (2015) during their
study on quick service restaurant observed, taste and temperature are two most important factors,
when it comes to food quality. Spence and Piqueras-Fiszman (2016) while studying the color impact
on taste and perception of flavors concluded that the change in hue and saturation of the color of
food and beverage products impacted the expectations of the customers. Chandrashekar et al. (2006)
agreed that there are five fundamental tastes in humans: salty, bitter, sour, sweet and umami and there
are distinct receptor cells for each taste.
Price plays a crucial role in decision making while making a choice for buying, studies show that
perceived price fairness has an impact on strategic decision making (Sinha & Batra, 1999). According
to Anderson et al. (1994), the customer while making purchase correlates the quality and price
simultaneously, the price of a product and service may affect the satisfaction level of the consumer
because they assess the quality against the price of product and services. Rothenberger (2015) found
that the perception of unfair price results in a greater level of dissatisfaction, bad word of mouth and
higher customer complaints. Pedraja Iglesias and Jesus Yagüe Guillén (2004), in their investigation
in a restaurant atmosphere, noted that perceived price does not impact customer satisfaction.
In this current study, authors are attempting to target the following food and beverage
quality variables: presentation, taste, freshness, temperature and price and also as to how these
variables influence passenger satisfaction of travelers in Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duranto trains
of Indian Railways.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Among the various theories on customer satisfaction, the most widely used is Expectancy
Disconfirmation Theory - EDT (Barsky, 1992; McQuitty et al., 2000; Ha & Parks, 2005) propounded
by Oliver in 1980, it has two approaches to measure customer response - an inferred approach and
the direct approach. EDP (Expectancy Disconfirmation Paradigm) states that the customer makes a
purchase of a product or services with a pre-purchase expectation. Then the product or services are
judged according to the outcome and expectations are compared with actual product or services. If the
perceived product or service matches with the expected, the result is satisfaction or if the expectations

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are more than the perceived product or service then there is negative disconfirmation. If the perceived
product and services exceed the expectation then there is positive disconfirmation (Oliver, 1980).
EDT is used in the present study to understand the impact of food and beverage quality on
train passenger satisfaction level. Churchill and Surprenant (1982) believed that disconfirmation
significantly affected the satisfaction level. When a perceived product performs better than it was
expected, obtaining customer satisfaction led to providing better services, especially in the hospitality
sector, it would give an edge to staff (Yüksel & Rimmington, 1998).
Customer satisfaction and service quality are interlinked notions, where one is definitely going to
affect other, good quality product leads to higher satisfaction (Oliver, 1980; Yuksel & Rimmington,
1998). Service quality is a very vast phenomenon and different people have different perceptions
about it. Most commonly used definition is that it is supposed to be the study of differences among
expectation and perception of a received product or received service (Yuksel & Yuksel, 2008).

METHODOLOGY

1. Survey Instrument

This is a quantitative study, the research instrument had five constructs – the first four represented
the test attributes of quality of food and beverage, viz., the presentation, the taste, the freshness,
the temperature and the fifth - the price of food and beverages. These quality attributes were taken
from earlier studies (Kivela, Inbakaran, & Reece, 1999; Raajpoot, 2002; Namkung & Jang, 2007;
Michel et al., 2014; Lee, & Dewald, 2016). These attributes were assessed on a 5-point Likert scale
starting from 1 (excellent) to 5 (very poor). Opinion regarding the price of food and beverages was
also similarly measured on five points Likert scale. To identify regular travelers an initial screening
question was asked to the respondents and only those who qualified through the screening question
were asked to fill a questionnaire.
Before the instrument was finished, two IRCTC employees, three chefs from five-star hotels and
three scholarly experts from a research background surveyed the poll to guarantee content legitimacy
and certain corrections were incorporated.

2. Sampling and Data Collection

Travelers were randomly selected through convenience sampling for overview through the
questionnaire. They were informed about the information accumulation procedure. The information
utilized for this study was gathered through online overview (300) and self-directed (150) questionnaire
were circulated to arbitrarily chosen travelers on three railway stations New Delhi, Jaipur, and Amritsar
in northern India utilizing convenience sampling, hence discretion was used in summing up the
outcomes as if applied to entire Indian railways. An aggregate of 250 polls were gathered through
Google structures and self-managed and 223 were utilized in the present investigation subsequent to
barring deficient surveys the response rate for the online survey is 30% and for self-directed it is 86%.
Travelers from both the sexes and from different age groups were questioned. The data generated
was analyzed using SPSS, first exploratory factor analysis was done followed by reliability tests and
finally, regression analysis was applied.
Maximum (30.5%, n = 68) of the participants were in the age bracket of 20 – 29 years followed
by 30 – 39 years (22.9%, n = 51), males comprised 71.3% (n = 159). Shatabdi was the most (54.7%, n
= 122) preferred train and the choicest type of coach was chair car (34.5%, n = 77). The respondents
who traveled twice in the last 6 months were 41.7% (n = 93) and twice in less than three months
were 28.7% (n = 64).

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DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOTHESES

Not only the food quality consisting of four major aspects, viz., presentation, taste, freshness, and
temperature that directly leads to passenger satisfaction but also the price charged for the food acts as
an important factor in passenger satisfaction. The passenger evaluates the quality of food and beverages
according to price. All these variables form the basis of hypothesis development in the present study.

Hypothesis One: Presentation of food and beverages significantly affects passenger satisfaction.

Presentation is an art of putting before the customer a particular food and beverage product in
terms of plating, garnishing, and temptation (Namkung & Jang, 2007). Presentation of food and
beverages has an important role in the overall dining experience of customers (Kivela, Inbakaran &
Reece, 1999; Zainol, 2018). Consumers were willing to pay a much higher price for the art-inspired
presented food; and salad presented in this manner resulted in tastier, more complex and preferred
as compared to the simply presented one (Michel et al., 2014). Presentation was one key attribute
in TANGSERV - a scale developed by Raajpoot (2002). Presentation was a very critical tangible
service attribute along with others like aesthetics and sensory perceptions that resulted in customer
satisfaction in dining (Lee et al., 2016). Hence the hypothesis that presentation of food and beverages
significantly affects passenger satisfaction was included in the study.

Hypothesis Two: Taste of Food and beverages significantly affects passenger satisfaction.

Taste of food and beverages is another vital factor which influences the satisfaction level of
customers and their decision of whether to buy or not in the future (Kivela, Reece & Inbakaran,
1999). Since there are a number of options available for food today, its taste plays an important role
in a customer’s dining experience (Cortese, 2003). Taste is one of the crucial factors in customer
satisfaction (Zhang et al., 2014). Hence the workers included taste as a test parameter to establish the
hypothesis that the taste of food and beverages significantly affects passenger satisfaction.

Hypothesis Three: Freshness of Food and beverages significantly affects passenger satisfaction.

Freshness is the appearance of food and beverage which includes how fruity, aromatic and firm
it is (Péneau et al., 2006). Flavor is a sensation felt when food and beverages are placed in the mouth.
ISO defines taste like a combination of gustatory, trigeminal, and olfactory sensation which is felt
while consuming (ISO 5492, 1992).
Factors which affect the quality of food were very clear in terms of the sensory characteristic of
food as odor, flavor, taste, texture, and temperature (Brown, 2018). Hence the freshness of Food and
beverages significantly affects passenger satisfaction was included as a hypothesis to study.

Hypothesis Four: Temperature of Food and beverages significantly affects passenger satisfaction.

Temperature is one of the important factors in assessing the food and beverage quality (Johns &
Tyas, 1996; Kivela, Reece & Inbakaran, 1999). Temperature affected the perception of flavor, taste,
and smell (Delwiche, 2004). Odor and overall aroma of the food were enhanced by temperature and
in turn, it increased the pleasantness of food (Kähkönen et al., 1995). Hence the temperature of food
and beverages significantly affects passenger satisfaction was taken up as a hypothesis to evaluate
in the present study.

Hypothesis Five: Price of food and beverages significantly affects passenger satisfaction.

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Price is a major factor which impacts the buying plans of the customer and acts as a link between
the quality of food and beverages and customer satisfaction (Han & Ryu, 2009; Zeithaml, 1988). The
price directly affects the repeat customer intentions and brand association (Beristain & Zorrilla, 2011).
Hence the present workers proposed to verify the hypothesis that the price of food and beverages
significantly affects passenger satisfaction. Figure 1 displays the research model showing determinants
and the hypothesis developed.

OBSERVATIONS

1. Sample Profile

Males (71.3%, n = 159) dominated the overviewed 223 travelers. Majority (30.5%, n = 68)
of the participants were in the age bracket of 20 – 30 years followed by 30 – 40 years (22.9%, n =
51). Shatabdi was the most (54.7%, n = 122) preferred train and most (34.5%, n = 77) people chose
chair car. Ninety-three (41.7%) respondents traveled twice in the last 6 months and 28.7%, n = 64
twice in less than three months. Conferring to Hair et al., (2006) the size of the sample could be 10
times the variables; in this study the total variables for the quality of food and beverage, price and
customer satisfaction were 18, hence a sample of 180 travelers could be sufficient. A higher number
of respondents was preferred for more fair study to represent better the whole of the Indian Railways.

2. Exploratory Factor Analysis

KMO value in this analysis was found to be .901, which shows that the sample size was
adequate and the significance value for KMO test is .000 (Hair et al., 2016). Table 1 shows the
initial Eigen values.

Figure 1. The research model showing determinants and the hypotheses developed

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Table 1. Initial eigen values

Initial Eigen Values Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

Component % of
Total Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative %
Variance
1 6.207 56.428 56.428 2.708 24.622 24.622
2 1.005 9.133 65.561 2.489 22.627 47.249
3 .753 6.848 72.408 1.934 17.579 64.828
4 .665 6.047 78.455 1.499 13.627 78.455

The overall percentage 78.45% of the cumulative variance explained by the constructs
suggested that constructs were well equipped to capture data for the study. Table 2 shows the
rotated component matrix.

3. Rotated Component Matrix

4. Reliability

Cronbach’s (1951) alpha statistic was mostly followed for the reliability of instrument in
quantitative research. The reliability test shows the alpha coefficient value for all the attributes
as 0.93 (Hair et al., (1995), which means the instrument was reliable, a total of 17 attributes were
taken. Table 3 shows Cronbach’s alpha statistic and Table 4 shows Regression analysis for food and
beverage quality attributes.
The coefficient of determination suggests that the variance explained by the independent variables
on the dependent variable is 69.8%. In other words, our model is explaining that almost 70% of the
variance of the dependent variable is being explained by independent variables.

Table 2. Rotated component matrix

Characteristics of Food Served Taste Presentation Freshness Temperature

The level of spices in food and beverages served .810
The level of oil in food .792
The level of salt/sugar in food and beverages served .697
The garnish (decoration) of food served .820
The temptation (mouth-watering) of food and beverages
.758
served
The plating (arrangement & overall styling) of food and
.658
beverages served
The eye appeal (attractive looks) of food and beverages
.575
served
The food and beverages served are freshly prepared .799
The aroma of food and beverages served .682
The food and beverages supposed to be served chilled/
.834
cold are cold enough to my liking
The food and beverages supposed to be served hot are hot
.613
enough to my liking
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Table 3. Cronbach’s alpha statistic

Dimensions Cronbach α Number of Items

Presentation 0.861 4
Freshness 0.813 2
Taste 0.746 3
Temperature 0.804 2
Price 0.918 6

Table 4. Regression analysis for food and beverage quality attributes

Model Summary
Std. Error of the
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square
Estimate
1 .839a .703 .698 .48123
a. Predictors: (Constant), Taste, Presentation, Appealing, Quality

The value of R square is statistically significant as indicated by the F value (0.000) which
shows there is a degree of relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Table
5 shows coefficients.

Y = a + bx
= .278 + .153x1 + .247x2 + .163x3 + .408x4

The equation shows that dependent variable will have significant change if the value of
independent variable gets changed, this results in significant relationship.
The value of the correlation coefficient between the predictors was positive but low, so it was
less significant statistically. 20% value of Adjusted R2 shows Price to be of less significance. The
value of R2 was significant statistically as indicated by P-value (0.000) Table 7 shows coefficients.
The value of R2 is significant statistically as indicated by the P-value (0.000).
All the four constructs of food and beverage quality i.e. Taste, Presentation, Freshness and
Temperature significantly affect passenger satisfaction. As per the standardized coefficients results,
the taste had the maximum significant impact on passenger satisfaction and reuse of railway services

Table 5. Coefficients

Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients
Model Coefficients t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) .278 .116 2.392 .018
Temperature .143 .054 .153 2.619 .009
Presentation .238 .051 .247 4.625 .000
Freshness .160 .058 .163 2.765 .006
Taste .392 .051 .408 7.698 .000
a. Dependent Variable: given the same food and beverage quality, would you prefer to reuse railway services

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Table 6. Regression analysis for price attribute

Model Summary
Model R R 2
Adjusted R2 Std. Error of the Estimate
1 .468 a
.219 .197 .78445
a. Predictors: (Constant), the price charged in accordance with the temperature of food and beverages, the price charged in accordance with the presen-
tation, the price charged for food and beverages in the ticket, the price charged in accordance with taste, the price charged in accordance with freshness,
the price charged for quality.

Table 7. Coefficients

Unstandardized Standardized
Model Coefficients Coefficients t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) 1.684 .174 9.667 .000
Price charged for food and
.127 .075 .171 1.688 .093
beverages in ticket
Price charged for quality -.199 .086 -.250 -2.331 .021
Price charged in accordance with
.169 .076 .212 2.228 .027
presentation
Price charged in accordance with
.155 .078 .198 1.971 .050
taste
Price charged in accordance with
-.037 .085 -.046 -.438 .661
freshness
Price charged in accordance with
.182 .074 .217 2.463 .015
temperature
a. Dependent Variable: given the same food and beverage quality, would you prefer to reuse railway services

by the respondents. The findings are similar to those of Kivela et al. (1999), Cortese (2003), Zhang et
al., (2014) and Namkung & Jang (2008) who found the importance of taste in customer satisfaction.
The presentation was another important determinant of passenger satisfaction because well-presented
dishes enhanced the overall experience of the consumer (Michel et al., 2014). Temperature also had an
impact on passenger satisfaction as it enhanced the taste and freshness of food and beverage served,
these results are in accordance with the study done by Kivela Inbakaran, & Reece (1999); Delwiche
(2004). The freshness of food and beverages significantly affected passenger satisfaction as was
found by Brown (2018). The price of food and beverages, though included in the fare, still affected
passenger satisfaction to an extent, as suggested by Han & Ryu (2009; Beristain & Zorrilla (2011).

DISCUSSION

This study empirically investigated the impact of perceived food and beverages quality on passenger
satisfaction in the Indian Railways. The results showed positive association among the developed
hypotheses and the findings in line with those of Namkung & Jang (2007) that the quality of food and
beverages, as well as customer satisfaction, are important in customer’s behavioral intention towards
restaurants. Table 8 shows the hypothesis.
An outcome of this work was that the price charged for the food and beverages less significantly
affected the passenger satisfaction in accordance with the findings of Han & Ryu (2009) and Beristain,
& Zorrilla (2011). It could be because the price of food and beverages in the trains taken for the study

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Table 8. Hypothesis

Hypothesis t-Value Results

Presentation and passenger
4.625 Accepted
satisfaction
Taste and passenger satisfaction 7.698 Accepted
Freshness and passenger satisfaction 2.765 Accepted
Temperature and passenger
2.619 Accepted
satisfaction
Price and passenger satisfaction 1.688 Accepted

was included in the ticket price itself. Therefore, the railway management should accept the value of
improvement in food and beverage quality and passenger satisfaction, which leads to repeat passengers.
Regression analysis for the relative importance of food and beverage attributes disclosed that
taste and presentation were the most momentous factors to passenger satisfaction. These results are
in line with the findings of Namkung & Jang (2007). Temperature proved to be a crucial factor of
fulfillment; thus, it is vital to present food and beverages at a suitable temperature and to keep it at
the best possible temperature amid utilization. In this manner, train executives need to focus on food
and beverage temperature at the season of administration to passengers. Moreover, they have to utilize
the right gear to keep up the temperature and quality of food and beverages.
The current study is an endeavor to empirically evaluate the relationship between food and
beverage quality attributes, price and passenger satisfaction constructs in express trains. In particular,
the exclusivity of the investigation is in its attention on the essentialness of food and beverage quality
and its attributes.

IMPLICATIONS

1. Managerial implications: Generally speaking, the results propose that train management can
enhance passenger fulfillment by presenting delectable and outwardly engaging food and beverage
with the right flavors and at a suitable temperature. Likewise, management ought to perceive
that passengers see the price of food and beverages as a significantly vital perspective, it should
suffice the food and beverage quality which results in passenger satisfaction. Therefore, from
the managerial point of view, it may be valuable to organize assets by concentrating on the most
imperative food and beverage quality traits alongside key characteristics of administration and
atmospherics, and market train services. It is suggested that the managers should develop some
skill-oriented sessions to enhance the skills of their chefs and service staff. The Indian railway
has been growing for so many years, and will continue to grow; improved services in relation to
food quality attributes will definitely fetch more passengers.
2. Theoretical implications: Studies in the past related to food focused more on the service than the
food quality. Foodservice researchers have regularly disregarded the food and beverage quality
attributes of train venture understanding, halfway on the grounds that they have perceived food as
a focal characteristic yet concentrated more on fringe perspectives, for example, administrations
and atmospherics. Current study on food quality attributes, price, and passenger satisfaction
give researchers a distinct perspective to evaluate food quality attributes viz. presentation, taste,
temperature, and freshness separately. Price in this study is not considered as a moderator, this
can be studied further.

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CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS

The objectives of this study were to establish a correlation amid food and beverage quality attributes,
price, and passenger satisfaction in Indian railways. The concept of expectancy disconfirmation was
taken to guide through the process of understanding passenger satisfaction. Since, this concept is used
widely for examining the customer satisfaction. Current study brings up the findings that presentation,
taste, freshness, temperature and price have an effect over the passenger satisfaction. Overall taste
came out to be a major affecting variable followed by presentation of food and beverages. Though
freshness and temperature have significant affect but less as compared to taste and presentation.
Interestingly price came out to be affecting minimally, the reason could be inclusiveness of price
for food and beverages into the train ticket itself i.e. the passengers do not have to pay separately for
food and beverages.
This examination has a few confinements. The limited data for this examination was collected
from just three railway stations as a preliminary study. But the outcome can be applied to whole of the
Indian Railway network. A higher outer legitimacy of the investigation results can be accomplished by
examining a more extensive scope of passengers with increased sample size at various geographical
locations. Consequently, for future examination, building up an orderly plan that better speaks to the
populace is unequivocally suggested. Rather than field research approach, a qualitative study can
be done as another examination approach. Survey work in other train types although on the same
expected lines may yield more reliable information prompting the service providers to improve for
the much benefit to the travelers.

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Ravi Dandotiya is an Assistant Professor at Chitkara School of Hospitality.

Pranav Aggarwal is an Assistant Professor at Chitkara College of Hospitality Management.

Ram Gopal is an Assistant Professor at Chitkara College of Hospitality Management.

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