Descriptive language of ‘Thai SELECT Premium’ restaurant menus: Appealing perception and collocations
Abstract
The study examined menu descriptions of Thai restaurants on how appealing the menus communicated with customers. Data were taken from restaurant websites with ‘Thai SELECT Premium’ certifications in the UK. 673 menu items were obtained and analyzed in five categories (nationalism, characteristics, sensory cues, branding, organic and healthy concerns). Sensory cues category was mostly used (68.95%) followed by characteristics (41.9%) and nationalism 17.53%). Six Thai dishes on CNN Travel World’s 50 Best Foods list in 2011 were investigated on appealing perception of menu descriptions via online questionnaire. Of the six dishes, there were 51 menu descriptions, and 26 descriptions were rated as ‘much appealing’. Nationalism (20/26) was mostly found followed by sensory cues (16/26). Menu data were also analyzed by AntConc to extract the high frequency keywords and collocation patterns. Mostly found noun keywords were seven (sauce, chicken, curry, chilli, rice, prawns, and beef) and mostly found adjective keywords were four (sweet, green, red, and spicy). The most frequent collocation patterns were ‘noun + noun’ and ‘adjective + noun’. Respondents requested short and precise menu descriptions, information of food ingredients to help in decision making, and local Thai food names either in Thai words or English transliteration to create exotic experience and to imply the originality.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Anthony, L. (2014). AntConc (Version 3.4.4) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. from http://www.laurenceanthony.net
Bacon, L., Wise, J., Attwood, S., & Vennard, D. (2018). "The language of sustainable diets: A field study exploring the impact of renaming vegetarian dishes on U.K. cafe menus." Technical Note. Washington, D.C.: World Resources Institute. from: https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fspublic/language-sustainable-diets.pdf.
Bahns, J. (1993). Lexical collocations: A contrastive view. ELT Journal, 47(1), 56-63.
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2013). Principles of biomedical ethics (7th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Benson, M. (1985). Collocations and idioms, in R. Ilson (ed.), Dictionaries, lexicography and language learning. British Council: Pergamon Press.
Boonpalit, A. (2018). Appropriate Marketing Strategy for Restaurants in Bangkok. Journal of Suvarnabhumi Institute of Technology (Humanities and Social Sciences). 4(2). 108-123.
Boonyuasaquan, S. (2005). An Analysis of Collocational Violations in Translation. Journal of Humanities, 27(2), 79-91.
Borden, N.H. (1964). The Concept of the Marketing Mix. Journal of Advertising Research, 4, 2-7.
Buakaew, R. (2015). A Study of Collocation Usage in Food and Beverage Advertisements. Panyapiwat Journal, 7(2), 232-244.
Caswell, J.A. And Mojduszka, E.M. (1995). Using Informational Labeling To Influence the Market for Quality in Food Products. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 49.
Choi, S. (2017). Processing and learning of enhanced English collocations: An eye movement study. Language Teaching Research, 21(3), 403-426.
Davis B, Lockwood A, Alcott P, Pantelidis, I. (2008). Food and Beverage Management. (4thed), Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK
Donnellan, M. (2014). An Analysis of Collocations in an Authentic Text. Humanities Review, 19, 227-243.
Froehlich, H. (2015). Corpus analysis with Antconc. Programming Historian. Retrieved from https://programminghistorian.org/lessons/corpus-analysis-with-antconc
Jaidee, D. (2010). Factors Affecting Decision Making of People in Choosing Service of Food Shops in Surat Thani Province. Master Thesis of Business Administration. Graduate School. Suratthani Rajabhat University.
Jendrych, E. (2013). Developments in ESP Teaching. Studies in Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric, 34(47), 43-58.
Josiam, B.M., Foster, C.R., and Bahulkar, G. (2012). For Whom the Menu Informs: A Market Segmentation Approach to Nutritional Information on Restaurant Menus. Tourismos: An International Multidisciplinary Journal of Tourism. 7(2). 237–259
Lasitamas, P. (2016). Service Marketing Strategy of Perceived Value for Thai Fusion Food for ASEAN. SDU Research Journal Humanities and Social Sciences. 12(3). 133-145.
Lakkam, P. (2017). The Lexical Collocations Used in Facial Skincare Product Online Advertisements. Independent Study Paper for Master of Arts in Career English for International Communication. Language Institute. Thammasat University.
Likert, R. (1932). A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes, Archives of Psychology, No. 140. Paris: The University of Western Ontario.
Lockyer, T. (2006). Would a restaurant menu item by any other name taste as sweet? FIU Hospitality and Tourism Review 24. 21-31.
Low, P. (2019). Identifying Specialized Vocabulary in Thai Food Menus Using Computer-Based Approach, Journal of Advances in Information Technology. 10(3), 91-94.
http://www.jait.us/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=192&id=1066
Ma, E., Qu, H., & Eliwa. R.A. (2014). Customer loyalty with fine dining: The moderating role of gender. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 23 (5). 513-535.
McCall, M. and Lynn, A. (2008). The Effects of Restaurant Menu Item Descriptions on Perceptions of Quality, Price, and Purchase Intention. Journal of Foodservice Business Research. 11:4, 439-445.
Muhamad Saufi yudin Omar et al. (2016). Service Quality, Customers’ Satisfaction and the Moderating Effects of Gender: A Study of Arabic Restaurants. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 224, 384 – 392.
Murray, E.V. (2007). Thailand-The Kitchen of the World: Origin and Growth of the Thai Food Industry &Lessons for India. Cab Calling. April-June, 16-26.
Musiker, J.C. and Kesa, H. (2014). The Impact Nutritional Information Has on Customers’ Behaviours towards Their Food Choices in Restaurants. Global Review of Research in Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure Management. 1(1). 34-57.
Ninemeier, J.D. (1990). Management of Food and Beverage Operations, 2nd ed. Lansing, Michigan: Educational Institute American Hotel and Motel Association.
Norrina, D, M.Z. Salehuddin Mohd, and S. Shariff Mohd. (2012). Customer Perception on Nutritional Information in Restaurant Menu. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 42. 413 – 421.
Omar A.A. Jawabreh, Taghreed Al Jaffal, Haitham Abdelrazaq, Rami Muneer Mahmoud. (2018). The Impact of Menus on the Customer Satisfaction in Restaurants Classified in Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA). Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Sports. 33. 29-39.
Ozdemir, B. and Caliskan, O. (2013). A review of literature on restaurant menus: Specifying the managerial issues. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science. 2. 3-13.
Rapp, G. (2016). How to Write Powerful Menu Descriptions That Increase Profits. Menu Cover Depot. Retrieved on 24 July 2019 from https://www.menucoverdepot.com/resource-center/articles/how-to-write-menu-descriptions/
Risko, T.C. and Wiwczaroski, T.B. (2014). Integrating Language Learning and Culture into an ESP International Marketing Course Syllabus. English for Specific Purposes World. 43(15).
Salmani Nodoushan, M.A.S. (2011). The place of genre analysis in international communication. International Journal of Language Studies, 5(1), 63-74.
Singsomboon, T. (2015). The Use of Thai Food Knowledge as Marketing Strategies for Tourism Promotion. Thammasat Review. 18(1). 82-98.
Sirisoontorn, S. (2012). Thai Food Culture…from Past to Present. Bangkok: Office of Printing Mill. The War Veterans Organization of Thailand.
Svasti S. (2010). The principles of Thai cookery. Nonthaburi, Thailand: Mc Dang dot Com Company, Limited. p. 1–304. ISBN 978-6-16906-010-9
Tešanović, D., Banjac, M., Kalenjuk, B., Radivojević, G. (2016): The impact of the names of dishes on the guest’s choice of restaurant food. Singidunum international tourism conference 2016. September 30, 2016, Belgrade, Serbija. ISBN: 978-86-7912-641-2. pp. 169-173.
Van Ittersum, K., Candel, M. J. J. M. and Meulenberg, M. T. G. (2003). The influence of the image of a product’s region of origin on product evaluation. Journal of Business Research. 56. 215–226.
Van Vliet, V. (2011). Marketing mix, the 4P’s (McCarthy). Retrieved 22 July 2019 from toolshero: https://www.toolshero.com//marketing/marketing-mix-4p-mccarthy/
Wansink, B., Painter, J., and Ittersum, K. (2001). Descriptive Menu Labels’ Effect on Sales. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. 42(6). 68-72.
Wansink, B., Ittersum, K., and Painter, J. (2005). How descriptive food names bias sensory perceptions in restaurants. Food Quality and Preference. 16. 393-400.
Warawudhi, R. and Praditwiengkham, W. (2017). Thai EFL Learners’ Writing Styles via Corpus Driven Approach: Proceeding of the 6th International Conference on Language, Education, Humanities and Innovation, 176-187.
Watcharakaweesilp, W. (2013). Collocations Used in English for Business Communication. Humanities and Social Sciences, 30(3), 53-80.
Yang, S.S., Kimes, S.E., and Sessarego, M.M. (2009). Menu price presentation influences on consumer purchase behavior in restaurants. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 28.157-160.
Yang, J. and Lee, J. (2019). Application of Sensory Descriptive Analysis and Consumer Studies to Investigate Traditional and Authentic Foods: A Review. Foods. 8(2): 54.
Zhong, Y. and Moon, H.C. (2020). What Drives Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Happiness in Fast-Food Restaurants in China? Perceived Price, Service Quality, Food Quality, Physical Environment Quality, and the Moderating Role of Gender. Foods. 9(4): 460.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
ISSN 1305-578X (Online)
Copyright © 2005-2022 by Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies