This study was conducted in order to promote qualitative and consistent growth of open kitchen restaurant of luxury hotel. Although the verbal components of service encounters had been investigated, the nonverbal aspects of employee-customer interacti...
This study was conducted in order to promote qualitative and consistent growth of open kitchen restaurant of luxury hotel. Although the verbal components of service encounters had been investigated, the nonverbal aspects of employee-customer interactions have remained virtually unexplored in the foodservice marketing literature. The purpose of this study was to understand interrelationship among culinary staff’s non-verbal communication, service quality preception, customer satisfaction, trust and loyalty in open kitchen of luxury hotel. A total of 226 customers were participated in this study from June to July in 2015. The data were analyzed by SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 18.0 statistical analysis program. Factor analysis showed non-verbal communication could be understood in terms of 5 factors each. Results showed that kinesics, proxemics and cooking practice factor had significant effects on service quality preception. Also, service quality preception had significantly affected customer satisfaction and trust. Finally, service quality preception and customer satisfaction had not significantly affected loyalty while trust affected loyalty. These findings offer practical guidelines for effective staff’s education and marketing management in open kitchen restaurant operations. Further, the importance of nonverbal elements is discussed and managerial implications are given. Also limitations are also discussed.