BSc (Honours) Hospitality Business Management - VTC

Faculty of Organisation and Management

BSc (Honours) Hospitality Business

Management

Title: The study of the success of the fast food industry in Hong Kong

Name: Chan Kai Wah, Eric

Student No: 91203406

Month Year April 2009

Sheffield Hallam University

Faculty of Organisation and Management

Title: The study of the success of the fast food industry in Hong Kong

FULL NAME: Chan Kai Wah

STUDENT No; 91203406

Supervisor: Professor Ray Pine

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in

Hospitality Business Management.

Month Year April 2009

1

Abstract

The aim of this research study was to analyze the success of fast food industry in

Hong Kong. The objectives were to define the relationship between Hong Kong

eating culture and the success of fast food industry, and to give suggestions to “cha

chaan tengs” , the Hong Kong style restaurants, which were under the thread of fast

food restaurants. This research study provided the basic history and information of

fast food restaurants and “cha chaan tengs”, and the keys to their success and its

relationship to Hong Kong culture. The research result was come from the collection

and analysis of quantitative data from a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of

thirty-eight questions including twelve likert scale questions. The Questionnaire were

taken place in interviewer-administered interview and self-completion surveys.The

results of conducting this questionnaire may help to find out if our eating culture was

linked to the success of the Hong Kong fast food industry. For example, sixty five

percent of the participants like eating fast food. It may be an effective strategic

initiative that enables long-term success, enhances value, and helps to increase an

organizations competitive advantage. It can also provide “cha chaan teng” some

suggestions to improve their own management, such as, improving the hygiene level

of the restaurant and reduce the waiting time for the food production. It may let them

know how to survive in the economic environment nowaday.

2

Contents

Abstract 2

Contents 3

List of Figures 6

List of Tables 6

Chapter 1: Introduction

Rationale 9

Aim of research 10

Objective of research 10

The subject area & the areas in which the research will cover 10

The overall structure of the report 12

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Introduction 13

Culture 13

Success 14

Fast food 15

Cha chaan teng 16

History of fast food industry in Hong Kong 17

Factors make fast food become success 20

3

The link between culture and the success of fast food industry in

Hong Kong

24

Chapter summary 29

Chapter 3: Methodology

Research method 30

Primary research 31

Secondary research 31

Research instrument 32

Target interviewee 32

Sampling 33

Data collection media 34

Questionnaire design 35

Data analysis 36

limitations 36

Chapter summary 37

Chapter 4: Results

Introduction 38

Quantitative data collection 38

Questionnaire-Part A 39

4

Questionnaire-Part B 52

Questionnaire-Part C 55

Questionnaire-Part D 59

Chapter summary 63

Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions 64

Recommendations 65

Recommendation for further research 67

References 68

Appendices

Appendix 1. The final questionnaire 78

5

List of Figures

Figure 1: Monthly purchase frequency for fast food and drinks in Hong

Kong

28

List of Tables

Table 1: Top ten global markets for weekly fast food consumption 27

Table 2: Frequency Distributions-Demographic Questions 40

Table 3: Frequency Distributions-Monthly Income & Occupation 42

Table 4: Frequency Distributions-Do you like eating fast food? 42

Table 5: Cross tabulation of Length of Stay in Hong Kong & ‘Do you

like eating fast food?’

43

Table 6: Frequency Distributions- ‘Have you visit fast food restaurant

before?’, ‘Could you find a fast food restaurant near your

working place or school?’ &‘How often do you visit a fast food

restaurant?’

44

Table 7: Cross tabulation of Occupation & ‘How often do you visit a

fast food restaurant?’

46

Table 8: Frequency Distributions-‘Which meal do you usually have in

fast food restaurant?’

47

6

Table 9: Frequency Distributions- ‘How much time do you have for

meal?’ & ‘How much do you usually spend on each time?’

48

Table 10: Cross tabulation of Respondent's Age & ‘How much time do

you have for meal?’

49

Table 11: Frequency Distributions- ‘Do you think that the new fast food

products can attract you to visit fast food restaurants?’

50

Table 12: Frequency Distributions-‘What is the most important thing

when you choose a fast food restaurant to dine?’

50

Table 13: Cross tabulation of Respondent's Age & ‘What is the most

important thing when you choose a fast food restaurant to

dine?’

51

Table 14: Descriptive Statistics-Questionnaire Part B-means 52

Table 15: Frequency Distributions-Questionnaire Part C 56

Table 16: Frequency Distributions-‘In your opinion, why is fast food so

popular among Hong Kong?’

60

Table 17: Frequency Distributions-‘What thing do you think the fast

food restaurants need to improve most?’

61

Table 18: Frequency Distributions- ‘Which places do you prefer to have

meal, fast food restaurant or cha chaan teng?’

61

7

Table 19: Cross tabulation of Occupation & ‘Which places do you prefer

to have meal, fast food restaurant or cha chaan teng?’

62

Table 20: Frequency Distributions- ‘Have you ever been affected by the

financial tsunami?’

62

Table 21: Cross tabulation of ‘Have you ever been affected by the

financial tsunami?’ & ‘What is the most important thing when

you choose a fast food restaurant to dine?’

63

8

Chapter 1

Introduction

Rationale

All people need to eat. Eating is an essential need for people’s life. The Hong

Kong economy is now influenced by the financial tsunami. Many restaurants are now

facing their own financial problems and some of them choose to close their business

to avoid further loss. According to Wong (2008), a Japan chain restaurant was closed

because of the financial problems. Although the financial tsunami affected the Hong

Kong economy, it seemed not having much effect on the fast food industry. According

to the Standard (2008), 1,000 companies included the Fast food companies planned

not to cut manpower in the coming year and provided more than fifty thousand jobs to

the unemployed people. The fast food industry was challenged with complex and

dynamic operating environments. The restaurant location, taste of food, eating culture

of people, price and etc influenced the success of the fast food industry.

According to Lumpur (2005), the type of cuisine, price and convenient location

were found to be the most important choice criteria across around the globe. Because

of the Firebaugh (2006) said that success depended on what you were searching for in

life, and searching for in business. “Ongoing development and improvement is

essential if the catering industry is to continue its positive growth trend.” (First

9

National Bank, 2009).

Aim of the research

The aim of the research is to discover why the fast food industry is successful in

Hong Kong.

Objectives of the research

The objectives of the research are to find out how Hong Kong culture is linked to

the success of the fast food industry and to provide some recommendations to the

“cha chaan teng”, the traditional Hong Kong style restaurant.

The subject area & the areas in which the research will cover

The subject area of the research was to find out how the Hong Kong eating culture

is linked to the success of the fast food industry. It was because many restaurants

chose to close their business or cut their budget but only the fast food restaurants

chose to expand their business during this hard time. According to Scent (2008), the

senior investment strategist of DBS Bank (Hong Kong), Daniel Chan Po-Ming said

that only the fast food industry could have a good performance. According to the Café

de Coral Final Report to Shareholders (2008), they have planned to build a new food

10

processing plant and open new branches. The success of fast food industry was not

only because of the price of food and the large financial support. It was also because

of the eating culture of the Hong Kong people. According to Goodman et al (1991),

fast food first appeared in 1950. Due to a long history of establishment in Hong Kong,

the fast food industry must have its own key factor to be successful. According to the

Swiss Association for Nutrition (2003), the success of the fast food was related to the

living conditions of people, such as, more working people, short meal time and etc.

Other area of the research is to provide some recommendations to “cha chaan

teng”, the traditional Hong Kong style restaurant. The recommendations were in

chapter 5. Understanding what the key factors to success are can help the fast food

companies to make improvement. The fast food companies may know more about

what they need to do more to cater the customers’ needs. It may also help “cha chaan

teng” to know what they need to improve. It was because learning from the strengths

and weaknesses of the competitors can help the company to find out which strategy

they need to choose. Also, it can help to boost the economy of Hong Kong because of

the keen competition among the industry.

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The overall structure of the report

The report was divided into five chapters. Chapter one was the introduction. It

was to introduce the overall structure of the report. It included the aim and objectives

of the research and the rationale and the areas in which the research would cover.

Chapter two was the literature review. The information in this chapter was collected

from the internet, chapters in books, newspaper, statistical digests and research report

from the agent. It was divided into seven parts and there was a small conclusion in

each part. This chapter was to find out the link between culture and the success of the

fast food industry.

Chapter three was the methodology. This chapter included the research method,

the primary and the secondary research, research instrument, Data collection method

and the research method. The research method was quantitative method and

questionnaire would be used to discover the factors that linkage between the eating

culture and the success of the fast food industry. Chapter four was the results. It was

the data collected form the questionnaires. These findings were presented and related

to the literature review through evaluation. The last chapter was the conclusion and

recommendations from the findings. This was the sum up of the research and made

some realistic and viable recommendations. It also provided the recommendation for

further research on this topic.

12

Chapter 2

Literature Review

Introduction

This literature review consisted of seven parts with a short conclusion. The first

and second parts explained my points of view of culture and success. Then, it would

be parts to explain the definition of “cha chaan teng” and fast food. The sixth and

seventh parts gave details of the factors make fast food a success and how the Hong

Kong culture contributed toit. Finally, there was a conclusion of the literature review.

Culture

Oak (2008) said that culture was shared by a group of people. She also said that

culture was depending on the region they lived in, the climate of the region and their

history. It forms a set of values and beliefs of their life and shapes their culture.

According to Dictionary.com (2009), culture had different meanings. Culture was

the quality in a person on society that arises from a concern for what was regarded as

excellent in arts, manners and etc. it can also be the beliefs and behaviors

characteristic of a popular social, ethnic, or age group. It was the totality of socially

13

transmitted behavior patterns and all other products of human work and thoughts.

To sum up, culture was a development or improvement of the mind by education

or training. It was shared by a group of people who lived in the same society and

depended on their life and their history.

Success

Firebaugh (2006) said that success depended on what you were searching for in

life, and searching for in business. For the fast food company, their success depended

on the profits they made and the market share they can get within the industry.

According to Answer.com (2009), success means the achievement of something

desired, planned or attempted and the gaining of frame or prosperity and etc.

According to Isidro (2008), success for small business can be based on 10 rules,

such as, product differentiation, good reputation, constant improvement, being

innovative, having plan for success and listen to their customers and etc.

To sum up, success was the achievement of something. It can be attaining a goal

of a business plan or project. It depended on what you are searching for and can be

based on some rules.

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Fast food

Fast food had many different definitions. According to Hill and Jones (2007), fast

food industry was under the category of fragmented industry. It is consists of a large

number of small and medium sized companies. The Swiss Association for Nutrition

(2003) suggested that fast food required little time, offered a limited selection and the

silverware and plates were disposable.

According to Ball (1992), he had a set of meaning about fast food quoted from

several people who from Hyam, J, Ratcliffe, M and Thompson, J. Hyam (1985) said

that fast food should be freshly prepared at the point where it should be suitable for

eating with fingers and quickly prepared. Ratcliffe (1982) mentioned that fast food

was basically a system of technology and not a product. Based on the above, fast food

was a product which is freshly and quickly prepared and can be produced under a

system of technology. Thompson (1988) stated that for many catering business, fast

food was defined as that sold over the counter.

In a recent study, Leung (2004) said that fast food in Hong Kong was cheap fast

and convenient. The fast-food operations in Hong Kong can be divided into two

categories: international chains and local chains. They have different management

style.

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The major products sold of international fast-food chains are hamburger, chicken,

and pizza. The three major local fast food chains are Cafe de Coral, Fairwood, and

Maxim's. They are all Chinese-style fast-food restaurants.

To conclude, fast food is a food product which is cheap, fast, quickly prepared

under a set of food processing system and sell over the counter. It is also a small and

medium sized business.

Cha chaan teng

In cha chaan teng (2009), it explained that cha chaan teng was a type of Chinese

tea restaurant commonly found in Hong Kong. It can also call tea restaurant because

they provide tea to customer as soon as they seated. It served to distinguish itself from

Western restaurants that provided water to customers instead of tea. The customers

would like to use the tea to wash their utensils. Also, the customers can choose the

table they like.

Next, cha chaan teng allowed different people to share the same tables. These are

the difference between the western restaurants. These can increase the number of

customers come to cha chaan teng.

The menus include many dishes from Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style

Western cuisine. Cha chaan teng serves a wide range of food, from steak to wonton

16

noodles to curry to sandwiches. Both fast food and a la carte dishes are available. The

drinks like yuan yang, Hong Kong style milk tea, iced coffee with lemon and

Coca-Cola with lemon are invented by cha chaan teng. Today, cha chaan teng can also

be found in many chins towns.

Generally, cha chaan teng is a kind of restaurant found in Hong Kong. It can also

call tea restaurant. The founder of cha chaan teng is Hong Kong people and it can be a

kind of Hong Kong style restaurant. The famous drinks are yuan yang and Hong

Kong style milk tea.

History of fast food industry in Hong Kong

According to Ball (1992), fast food first appeared in Britain in the Industrial

Revolution. Fish and chips were the original fast food. In Cuisine of Hong Kong

(2009), it stated that the cuisine of Hong Kong can trace its origins to its founding as a

Britain colony. The British culture has influenced the cuisine in Hong Kong. The start

of the history of fast food can be referred to the 1950s.

According to Goodman et al (1991), it stated that during the period between 1951

and 1981 women started to work outside to earn money. Their wages rose from under

one-third to roughly a half. They did not have time to manage the housework, so, they

chose eating out during this period. The words “eating out” became what we call fast

17

food today. It was an important time for the start of fast food.

Also, during 1960 to 1970, the rapid industrialization in Hong Kong speeded up

the effect of fast food culture. It encouraged the government to change the land use of

the New Territories from agriculture to industrial and commercial use. Because of the

change of land use, more women went to work outside. Because of less time to do

their home work, eating out became their only choice. Goodman et al pointed out that

Chinese take-away service was the outcome of social and demographic changes

during 1960s and 1970s. Many fast food chains started their operation in Hong Kong,

such as, Café de Coral, Maxim’s and etc.

The British also helped to develop the service industry and its outcome was the

Chinese catering. The North American fast-food chains, such as, Mc Donald’s and

KFC competed with the local fast food restaurant. It formed the fast food market

nowadays. It was similar to the situation of the invasion of Britain’s high streets by

North American fast food mentioned in Ball (1992).

During 1980s-90s, one of the fast growing industries in Hong Kong had been the

fast-food industry. In a recent study (Lan et al, 1995), it found that fast-food receipts

increased from HK$488 million in 1980 to HK$6,422 million in 1991 according to a

report by the Hong Kong Department of Census and Statistics. They also said that the

number of fast-food restaurants jumped from 377 to 1,040, and the number of

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employees in the fast-food industry increased from 3,848 to 22,247. 90 percent of the

population ate out at least once a week, more and more people visited the fast food

restaurants.

Besides, they said that the rapid economic development in the Pacific Rim over

the past 30 years, the lifestyle of Hong Kong residents had changed dramatically. In

1990 the average Hong Kong household spent 56 percent of its food budget on eating

out. That was twice the level of the Japanese and three times that of Americans. With

the high speed of life in Hong Kong, working couples and single professionals began

to eat out, especially for lunch. Most of them preferred Chinese food as their main

diet, and local fast-food chains responded to the demand. As a result, many local

Chinese fast food chains changed their operating system to attract more customers but

also competing directly with the international chains. The three major local chains'

share of the fast-food market is estimated to be 50 percent in an extremely

competitive market.

In conclusion, fast food first appeared in Hong Kong during 1950s. It first called

eating out. The fast food appeared because many people go to work outside during

1950-1980. They do not have time to cook and choose to eat outside. The concept of

fast food service was brought by the west. Now, fast food industry becomes one of the

large industries in Hong Kong.

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Factors make fast food become success

Fast food becomes successful based on different factors.

According to the Swiss Association for Nutrition (2003), the success of fast food

arose from the changes in our living conditions. It was because many women or both

parents now need to work and the number of single-parent households was increased.

In a recent study (Population By-census, 2006), it stated that the numbers of people

who divorced and separated have been increased from 1.9% to 3.8% during the past

10 years. The adults needed to look after their family members and work. They did

not have time to cook at home and therefore they chose fast food.

Also, the Swiss Association for Nutrition (2003) stated that the lunch time of

working people and student were usually short. People needed to have quick meals

and they chose fast food. The lunch hour in Hong Kong started from 12:00 noon and

finished at 1pm. Having only one hour for lunch, people would have their lunch near

their workplace and schools. Apart from the working people, the fast food culture also

affected the young people.

According to The Effect of the Fast Food Culture on Young People (2008), it

stated that fast food affected most of the secondary school student. They did not have

enough time to have meal if the teachers keep on talking after the bell ring. They may

need to meet the teachers during the lunch time. Therefore, they would choose to eat

20

fast food because of convenience.

Ritzer (2004), it suggested some factors which made the fast food success. The

higher profits and lower costs was one of the factors. The food cost was very low but

the food was produced in mass production. Therefore, it was easy to get a large profit.

The prices of fast food products were low and affordable for common people, this

lead to fast foods being alternative sources of food consumption for both residents and

tourists. Other factor was the continuing promotion of the products on mass media. It

can attract more people to visit the restaurant.

In a recent study (The Knowledge @ Wharton, 2006); it stated that

standardization was one of the factors for the success of fast food industry.

Standardization can help the company to set strict rules on raw material and

management. Due to standardization, all the food production process can be

simplified and the preparation time can be shortened to match the short meal time of

Hong Kong people.

Lan et al. (1995) said that production and distribution related to the success of fast

food industry. The concept of mass production and central distribution of food in the

local fast food chains were brought by the West. It was because most Chinese dishes

involved many steps in washing, chopping, seasoning, and cooking. It spent too much

time on such preparation work. Therefore, local Chinese fast food chains tried to

21

centralize food processing and ordering to minimize such labor-intensive work. As an

example, Cafe de Coral relies on its central food processing plant to do most of the

food preparation, leaving only some last-minute cooking and heating to be done at the

individual outlets.

According to the 10 rules for small business success provided by Isidro (2008),

the fast food companies have followed some of the rules.

Firstly, the fast food companies in Hong Kong have good reputation. Because of

the long history of establishment in Hong Kong, they have developed a good

relationship among the community, such as; the Hong Kong Ronald McDonald House

and they seldom have any food poisoning news in Hong Kong.

Secondly, listen to their customers was also one of the key points to make them

success. Customers need to feel that they are important to the companies. When you

came to every fast food shop, they can find a comment box in the counter and it

allowed the customers to send their comments by email.

Thirdly, the fast food companies had their plan to develop their business. We can

see their plans in their website or their online annual reports. For example, Café de

Coral, one of the famous fast food shops in Hong Kong, their annual report stated that

the new food processing plants will be open in 2010. Also, we can see their mission

statement and goal in their company website.

22

Fourthly, it is the product innovation. Since the living standard of people and their

expectation of fast food quality have been increased. They had a higher expectation

on food and they require unique food product for their meal. The fast food companies

introduced new food products regularly. They promoted their new food products in

their shops, official website and through mass media. Café De Coral Strategic

Business Units (2005) stated that they would introduce new products on a seasonally

basis in their official website.

To sum up, there were many reasons why the fast food is a success. The increased

number of single-parent household and working parents made the fast food industry in

Hong Kong becomes a success. Because of the rapid development of the society,

people need to spend more time to work and this cause the people chose fast food.

Next, mass production and distribution helped to the development of the fast food

industry. It can help to reduce the time for doing repeating works and the high labor

costs. Besides, the 10 rules for small business success are also the key factors of the

success of fast food industry.

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The link between culture and the success of fast food industry in Hong Kong

Montanari (2006) stated that food was culture when it was eaten because man,

while able to eat anything, did not in fact eat everything but rather chose his own food.

Therefore, fast food can be a culture of a place if the people living there chose to eat

fast food as their meal.

According to Goodman (1991), people in Hong Kong chose eating out since

1950s. Up to now, people in Hong Kong still chose to have meal outside. Because of

the long history of eating outside, it had already developed in our mind. It was one

kind of culture in Hong Kong.

According to Ball (1992), the development of fast food industry in Britain was

affected by the American fast food chain. It is similar to Britain that the American fast

food chains start their business in Hong Kong during 1970s.

To look at the relationship between culture and fast food, the fast food culture in

American could be a good example. Fast Food and American Culture (2007) states

that fast food is popular in American because of the emergence of working mothers.

They did not have time to cook and their children needed to go to the daycare after

school. Therefore, there were no needs to prepare the meal to them. It was easy to see

that why fast-food was popular now just because of their busy life. It also stated that

America's need for speed had changed not only what they ate and how they ate it, but

24

also the way in which they viewed food. The Quality of the food became less

important and they depended more on the quick finished product.

Luke (2008) stated that restaurant chains in the world geared toward quick

production. It was more likely to the situation in Hong Kong because women and men

worked outside home and the speed of life were fast and busy. The time to stay at

home was less than that at the office. It gave them more chance to eat outside. Eating

outside became the trend of Hong Kong eating style. These were the characteristic of

Hong Kong people. It can explain why fast-food became more popular and success in

Hong Kong.

In the recent study (the Swiss Association for Nutrition, 2003); it stated that the

success of fast food industry was because of the short meal time, increased number of

single-parent households and the influence of the working mother and father. The

factors of success matched with the culture of the Hong Kong people. Because of the

increasing number of the working mother, they chose fast food as meal for their

family members. Also, because of the high speed of life in Hong Kong, people had to

spend a lot of time to work.

The Student Standard (2006) said that the advantage of fast food was convenient

which suit the pace of modern life and the fast food culture represents the race for

efficiency in the modern world. The Effect of the Fast Food Culture on Young People

25

(2008) stated that fast food affect most of the secondary school student because of not

enough time to have meal. They may need to meet the teachers during the lunch time.

The time for them to have meal was relatively short. In order to save time, people

would like to choose fast food as their meal.

BBC (2002) said that now individuals had also argued that it was not just the

types of food on offer that had an impact on people's lives, but that the fast food

invasion had also affected the social fabric. The traditional Chinese diet with several

shared dishes was being swapped for convenience food because both parents often

working full-time. “A change in eating practices is an indication that Chinese culture

is being diminished” (BBC, 2002).

According to the survey done by AC Nielsen, Lumpur (2005) said that 34 percent

of Asia Pacific adults ate at take-away restaurants at least once a week. For the top 10

global markets for weekly fast food consumption market percentage of adult

population that ate at take-away restaurants at least once a week, Hong Kong has the

largest number of people with 61% over the other nine markets, including China, U.S.,

Singapore and etc (See Table 1). Hong Kong ranked the world’s No. 1 in terms of

frequency of fast food restaurant visits. “Busy lifestyles and ease of access to a wide

variety of fast food restaurants have proven to be a powerful combination. Where

fast-food restaurants still have a significant advantage, though, is the ease with which

26

consumers can make their purchases. Perhaps we’ll begin to see drive-thru windows

at grocery stores or at least more convenient in-store prepared food sections with

dedicated registers.”(Lumpur, 2005). The associate Director of AC Nielsen Hong

Kong, Ng (2005) said that Hong Kong people made an average of 20 fast food and

drink purchases per month (See Figure 1).

Table 1. Top ten global markets for weekly fast food consumption

Top 10 Global Markets for Weekly

Fast Food Consumption

Hong Kong 61%

Malaysia 59%

Philippines 54%

Singapore 50%

Thailand 44%

China 41%

India 37%

US 35%

Australia 30%

New Zealand 29%

Source: AC Nielsen Online Survey, October 2004

27

Figure 1. Monthly purchase frequency for fast food and drinks in Hong Kong

Source: AC Nielsen Online Survey, 2005

Lumpur (2005) also stated that Europeans were less interested in take-away dining

while people in Hong Kong, Malaysia and United States eating fast food had become

a part of their life. The type of cuisine, price and convenient location were found to be

the most important choice criteria across around the globe. He also found that lunch

time was the popular out of home consumption opportunity, followed by breakfast

and afternoon tea. Also, convenient location was important because the meal time for

people is short. Therefore, people needed a fast food restaurant just near their working

location to save the time for going there.

From the above, we can link the success of fast food industry in Hong Kong to the

culture based on the increasing number of people working outside home, the high

speed of life and having meal outside.

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Chapter summary

In conclusion, the most important issue of the research was that the living culture

of Hong Kong people was related to the success of fast food industry. The number of

single-parent household and the number of both parents need to work have been

increased since 1960s. The speed of life in Hong Kong is busy. The adults did not

have time to manage their housework. Therefore, they chose to eat outside and fast

food became one of their food choices. Also, not only has the high speed of life

affected their choice of meal but also the short meal time. In Hong Kong, many

people only had one hour to have their lunch, especially the students and the working

people. Because of large group of people live with high speed, fast food became a

suitable food choice for them. That was the reason why Hong Kong ranked the

world’s No. 1 in terms of frequency of fast food restaurant visits.

Besides, the price, product and convenient location were also one of the factors

due to the success of fast food industry in Hong Kong. Because of the high speed of

life and the short meal time, a convenient location of fast food shop was important to

the customers to save their time. Also, because of the mass production, the price of

fast food was relatively low and can attract the customers.

The next chapter, Methodology, would introduce the primary and secondary

research, the research method and instrument, the limitations of the research and etc.

29

Chapter 3

Methodology

Research method

Generally, there are two types of research methods, qualitative and quantitative

methods. Clark et al (1998) said that qualitative method relied on the skills of

researcher as an interviewer or observer in gathering data and quantitative methods

relied on the research instruments. The method used in this research was quantitative

method. Berger (2000) said that the data got from the questionnaire result can be

expressed in numbers and it can provide detailed information. Also, the data was

easily to be collected by directly asking people to fill in a questionnaire.

The reason for not choosing qualitative method was because of some reasons.

Berger (2000) had some explanations on this. Firstly, the people may not always tell

the truth. They might want to put their best foot forward and therefore, they lied. Also,

people may not remember things accurately and have useful information. Next, the

people may tell something you want to hear only. Finally, the languages used by the

interviewee may be in different ways. It came out with a communication problem

because the intended meaning might not be the communicated or articulated meaning

and the interviewer might receive the wrong meaning. Therefore, Qualitative research

method would not be used in this research.

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Primary research

Clark et al (1998, p.8) said “Primary research generally refers to that research

which involves the collection of original data using an accepted research

methodology.” They also said that primary data was the data which was collected

specifically in pursuit of the research objectives.

The primary research data would be collected and gathered by using

questionnaires. The interviewee will be asked to fill in the questionnaire and then the

data will be analyzed and presented in percentage or in numbers.

Secondary research

Clark et al (1998, p.8) said “secondary research normally denotes an activity

whereby no new original data is collected but where the research project draws on

existing sources alone”. McKinnon Secondary College (2005) stated that secondary

data was a whole lot cheaper and easier to acquire than primary data.

The data has been collected from external sources, such as, internet, research

articles, newspapers, books and etc which have been used in the literature review

(Chapter 2). The secondary data indicates the link between the culture and the

success of fast food industry in Hong Kong and helped the design of the

questionnaire.

31

Research instrument

The research instrument used is questionnaire. This questionnaire would

investigate about the factors that link the culture to the success of the fast food

industry. The Hong Kong residents who age over eighteen will be invited to answer

the questionnaire. Milne (1999) said that the responses from questionnaires were

gathered in a standardized way. Therefore, the result of the questionnaire was more

objective. Also, the information can be collected quickly and the cost of doing a

questionnaire is cheap.

Target interviewee

The people who are Hong Kong residents with aged over eighteen would be

interviewed and answered the questionnaire. They would be the interviewee of this

research.

32

Sampling

Fridah (2004) said that “Sampling is the act, process, or technique of selecting a

suitable sample, or a representative part of a population for the purpose of

determining parameters or characteristics of the whole population.”

Galloway (1997) said that “A convenience sample is used when you simply stop

anybody in the street who is prepared to stop, or when you wander round a business, a

shop, a restaurant, a theatre or whatever, asking people you meet whether they will

answer your questions. In other words, the sample comprises subjects who are simply

available in a convenient way to the researcher.” Convenience sampling approach will

be implemented as well for collecting samples in this case study. Due to the time limit

and low budget, this method enables collecting information rapidly.

The target interviewees are the Hong Kong residents who are over eighteen.

According to Census and Statistics Department (2008), the number of people who are

over eighteen is 5.6768million. The ideal sampling size should be three hundred and

eighty five but the sampling size was set as one hundred. It was a relatively small in

size of the number of samples because of time limit. The margin of error with a

sampling size of one hundred would be 9.80 percent. According to Raosoft Inc (2004),

“The margin of error is the amount of error that you can tolerate. If 90% of

respondents answer yes, while 10% answer no, you may be able to tolerate a larger

33

amount of error than if the respondents are split 50-50 or 45-55. Lower margin of

error requires a larger sample size.” The common choice of margin of error is five

percent. Therefore, error of this sampling size was still acceptable.

Data collection media

The Questionnaire would be taken place in two ways. One is

interviewer-administered interview and one is self-completion surveys.

Using the interviewer-administered interview has some benefits. “Queries about

the meaning of a question can be dealt with and a misunderstood question may be

corrected.”(Brace, 2004, p.24). For the interviewer-administered interview, it would

be taken part in the parks. It was because the interviewees of the research included all

the people over eighteen. The people who over fifty may not know how to use the

computer or they may spend less time on surfing the Net. Therefore, the

interviewer-administered interview would be done with them. Some misunderstood

question can be corrected and explained. This questionnaire would be carried in the

early March 2009 and last for 2 weeks in every morning. It was because the elder

people like to do exercise in the morning and the questionnaire would be carried in

the morning after doing the exercise.

34

For the self-completion survey, the Web-based self-completion method had been

chosen to conduct this survey. Brace (2004) said that Web-based self-completion

questionnaire allowed complex routing and got fast analysis. The Web-based

self-completion questionnaire would also be carried in the early March and last for

three weeks. The reason for choosing this method was because of the time limit. Also,

the people who were between eighteen to fifty were more often to use the computer

because of their work and study. The questionnaire had been placed on the website

called online-survey.net and my3q.com since the early March 2009.

Questionnaire design

Balnaves et al (2001, 84) said the layout of a questionnaire had to include an

introduction, question instructions, order and a numerical code. They also said that

there were no set rules for the length of a questionnaire and the response rates

dropped rapidly if a questionnaire was too long.

There were thirty-eight questions which had been set for this questionnaire. It had

been divided into four sections. The first and forth parts has twenty single choice

questions. They were used to collect the background information and the point of

view of the interviewees to fast food restaurant. Twelve Likert Scale Questions had

been used in the second part. Articulate Global (2007) stated that a Likert Scale

35

Question was a survey question that allowed the user to choose the response that best

represents his or her opinion relative to a series of statements. There was a minimum

of one and maximum of 10 choices for each question. The questions were used to

investigate the point of view of the interviewee to fast food restaurant and its

competitors, “cha chaan teng”. The third part was used to compare the fast food

restaurant and “cha chaan teng” in different sections and chose who did the best.

Data analysis

The data collected was analyzed by using the system called Statistical Package for

Social Sciences (SPSS) Program and Excel. The data would be presented in the forms

of table. And the information would be analyzed as percentage and made them easy

understand.

Limitations

The time factor was the first limitation. Because of only three weeks time to

conduct the survey, the sample size was set to one hundred instead of three hundred

and eighty five. This will affect the accuracy of the research. Next, it was the

limitation of the primary data. The interviewees might not answer the truth thing.

Because of the time limit, the questionnaire might not be done through with the

36

interviewees. Finally, it was the limitation of the secondary data. The findings of the

books, articles and research might not really point out the link between the link of

culture and the success of the fast food industry. Also, because of the changing

industrial environment had changed rapidly and the information gathered might not

up-to-date.

Chapter summary

This chapter introduced the research method, the primary and secondary research

of the research, the questionnaire design and the limitation of the research.

The next chapter, Results, would analyze the result of the questionnaires. The

findings from the questionnaires were related back to the findings from literature

review through evaluation.

37

Chapter 4

Results

Introduction

The purpose of this chapter, Results, is to present the data collected and analyzed

that answers the research question: How the culture link to the success of the fast food

industry in Hong Kong? To answer this question and provide a better way to

understand the relationship between culture and the success of the fast food industry,

the quantitative method was used. This chapter presents a more in-depth analysis and

provided quantitative data results gathered from the interviewees in the research.

Quantitative data collection

This research included the collection of quantitative data through questionnaires.

All the questions are closed-ended questions. Fink (1995) said that the advantage of

using this type of question was easy to standardize. The quantitative data collection

was conducted in March 2009. One hundred Hong Kong residents were participated

and completed the questionnaire. The participants were allotted five minutes to

complete the survey.

38

The demographic data collected from the questionnaire included the respondents’

gender, age, occupation, length of time in Hong Kong, how much money they spend

on each time, whether they like to eat fast food or not and etc in the first part. There

were twelve likert scale questions about customers’ point of view about the fast food

restaurants and cha chaan teng were collected in the second part. The third part was

about which of these two food sector, fast food restaurant or cha chaan teng

performed better in different parts. Finally, the forth part was about other opinions of

the respondents on fast food.

Questionnaire-Part A

Question one to sixteen belonged to Part A. The quantitative data collected from

all one hundred questionnaires were valid. A descriptive analysis of the demographic

data (questions 1-16) from the questionnaire enabled to develop a demographic

profile of the respondents.

The first five questions of the survey provided the participants’ gender, age,

marital status, length of stay in Hong Kong (See Table 2). The one hundred

respondents were all Hong Kong residents and all over eighteen. There were forty

nine women (49%) and fifty one men (51%) who participated in this survey, fifty two

were between the ages of 18-25 (52%), ten were between the ages of 26-35 (10%),

39

thirteen were between the ages of 36-45 (13%), twelve were between the ages of

46-55 (12%), and thirteen were fifty six or above (13%)(See Table 4). Marital Status

was as follows: fifty seven was single (57%), nine was divorced (9%), and thirty four

was married (34%). The length of stay in Hong Kong was as follow: eight people had

lived in Hong Kong for less than 10 years (8%); thirty five people had lived for 11-20

years (35%), twenty six had lived for 21-30 years (26%), eleven had lived for 31-40

years (11%), eight people had lived for 41-50 years (8%), and twelve had lived for

over fifty one years (12%).

Table 2. Frequency Distributions-Demographic Questions

Question and variable Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

1 Are you a Hong

Kong resident?

Valid Yes 100 100.0 100.0 100.0

Female 49 49.0 49.0 49.0

Male 51 51.0 51.0 100.0

2 Gender Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

18-25 52 52.0 52.0 52.0

26-35 10 10.0 10.0 62.0

36-45 13 13.0 13.0 75.0

46-55 12 12.0 12.0 87.0

56 or above 13 13.0 13.0 100.0

3 Respondent's

Age

Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

40

Table 2. Frequency Distributions-Demographic Questions

Valid Cumulative

Question and variable Frequency Percent Percent Percent

Single 57 57.0 57.0 57.0

Divorced 9 9.0 9.0 66.0

Married 34 34.0 34.0 100.0

4 Marital Status Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

Less than 10

years

8 8.0 8.0 8.0

11-20 years 35 35.0 35.0 43.0

21-30 years 26 26.0 26.0 69.0

31-40 years 11 11.0 11.0 80.0

41-50 years 8 8.0 8.0 88.0

51 years or

above

12 12.0 12.0 100.0

5 Length of Stay in

Hong Kong

Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

41

Question six and seven were about the monthly income and the occupation of the

participants were shown in the following table (see Table 3).

Table 3. Frequency Distributions-Monthly Income & Occupation

Question & variable Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Below $5,000 51 51.0 51.0 51.0

$5,001-$10,000 12 12.0 12.0 63.0

$10,001-$15,000 17 17.0 17.0 80.0

$15,001-$20,000 8 8.0 8.0 88.0

Above $20,000 12 12.0 12.0 100.0

6 Monthly

Income

Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

Student 46 46.0 46.0 46.0

Housewife 8 8.0 8.0 54.0

Professionals 17 17.0 17.0 71.0

Service

Representatives

8 8.0 8.0 79.0

White-collar 3 3.0 3.0 82.0

Blue-collar 7 7.0 7.0 89.0

Others 11 11.0 11.0 100.0

7 Occupation Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Question eight was about whether the participants like to eat fast food (See Table 4).

Table 4. Frequency Distributions-Do you like eating fast food?

Question & variable

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

No 35 35.0 35.0 35.0

Yes 65 65.0 65.0 100.0

8 Do you like eating fast

food?

Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

42

To see how the length of stay in Hong Kong relate to the people eating fast food,

the results of question five and eight combined by cross tabulation (See Table 5).

From the result, forty three percent of people who had lived in Hong Kong for 11-30

years would like to eat fast food. It was related to the rapid industrialization and the

fast growing of fast food industry during 1970s and 1990s stated by Goodman et al

(1991). It was because the parents at that time needed to work and more working

women appeared at that time. The people do not have time to cook at home and chose

eating out. Therefore, these two groups of people who had lived in Hong Kong for

11-30 years liked to eat fast food.

Table 5. Cross tabulation of Length of Stay in Hong Kong & ‘Do you like eating

fast food?’

Count

Do you like eating fast food?

Question & variable No Yes Total

Less than 10 years 1 7 8

11-20 years 15 20 35

21-30 years 3 23 26

31-40 years 7 4 11

41-50 years 1 7 8

Length of Stay in Hong Kong

51 years or above 8 4 12

Total 35 65 100

43

Question nine to eleven were about whether they have visit fast food restaurant

before and whether they can find a fast food restaurant near their working place or

school and how often the participants visited fast food restaurants per week (See Table

6).

Table 6. Frequency Distributions- ‘Have you visit fast food restaurant before?’,

‘Could you find a fast food restaurant near your working place or school?’ &‘How

often do you visit a fast food restaurant?’

Question & variable Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

No 9 9.0 9.0 9.0

Yes 91 91.0 91.0 100.0

9 Have you visit fast

food restaurant

before?

Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

No 7 7.0 7.0 7.0

Yes 93 93.0 93.0 100.0

10 Could you find a

fast food restaurant

near your working

place or school?

Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Never 14 14.0 14.0 14.0

1-3 times per

week

52 52.0 52.0 66.0

4-6 times per

week

18 18.0 18.0 84.0

7-9 times per

week

8 8.0 8.0 92.0

More than 10

times per week

8 8.0 8.0 100.0

11 How often do you

visit a fast food

restaurant?

Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

44

According to the result of question nine and ten, ninety one percent of participants

had visited fast food restaurant and ninety three percent of participants could find a

fast food restaurant near their working place and school. From question eleven, fifty

two percent of participants visited a fast food restaurant 1-3 times per week and

eighteen percent visited a fast food restaurant 4-6 times per week.

The cross tabulation of question seven and eleven showed that thirty four percent

of participants who were students visited fast food restaurant 1-3 times a week (See

Table 7 on the next page). The reason for the majority people visited a fast food

restaurant because of the convenient location and the five days of working or studying

a week. Also, Lumpur (2005) stated that one of the most important choice criteria of

people chose fast foot restaurant was location.

45

Table 7. Cross tabulation of Occupation & ‘How often do you visit a fast food

restaurant?’

Count

How often do you visit a fast food restaurant?

Question & variable Never

1-3 times per

week

4-6 times

per week

7-9 times

per week

More than

10 times

per week Total

Student 6 34 5 0 1 46

Housewife 2 5 0 1 0 8

Professionals 2 4 7 2 2 17

Service

Representatives

1 2 3 1 1 8

White-collar 0 0 0 2 1 3

Blue-collar 0 3 1 1 2 7

Occupation

Others 3 4 2 1 1 11

Total 14 52 18 8 8 100

Question twelve was a multiple-choice question about which meals the

participants usually had in fast food restaurant (See Table 8 on the next page). From

the result, eighty one percent of participants usually had lunch in fast food restaurant,

forty four percent for breakfast and thirty three percent for dinner. This result was

similar to the report of Lumpur (2005) about the out of home consumption

opportunity. It was because the people needed to work and studied during the day

time. Therefore, most of the people usually had lunch in fast food restaurant.

46

Table 8. Frequency Distributions-‘Which meal do you usually have in fast food

restaurant?’

Question & variable Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

No 56 56.0 56.0 56.0

Yes 44 44.0 44.0 100.0

12 Which meal do you

usually have in fast food

restaurant?

Breakfast Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

No 19 19.0 19.0 19.0

Yes 81 81.0 81.0 100.0

Lunch Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

No 67 67.0 67.0 67.0

Yes 33 33.0 33.0 100.0

Dinner Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

47

Question thirteen and fourteen was the question about how much time and money

they spent for each meal (See Table 9).

Table 9. Frequency Distributions- ‘How much time do you have for meal?’ & ‘How

much do you usually spend on each time?’

Question & variable Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

less than 30 minutes 37 37.0 37.0 37.0

30 minutes to 1 hour 46 46.0 46.0 83.0

1 hour 11 11.0 11.0 94.0

more than 1 hour 6 6.0 6.0 100.0

13 How much time

do you have for

meal?

Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

$0 2 2.0 2.0 2.0

$1-10 1 1.0 1.0 3.0

$11-20 14 14.0 14.0 17.0

$21-30 53 53.0 53.0 70.0

$30 or above 30 30.0 30.0 100.0

14 How much do

you usually

spend on each

time?

Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

From question thirteen, forty six percent of participants spend 30 minutes to 1

hour for their meal. From that group of people, twenty seven percent out of this forty

six percent of people were student (See Table 10 on the next page). It was because

most of the student cannot spend all the time on having meal during lunch time. The

reason was same as The Effect of the Fast Food Culture on Young People (2008). Also,

it was exactly equal to one of the success factors provided by Swiss Association for

Nutrition (2003) about the short meal time.

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Table 10. Cross tabulation of Respondent's Age & ‘How much time do you have for

meal?’

Count

How much time do you have for meal?

Question & variable less than 30

minutes

30 minutes to

1 hour 1 hour

more than 1

hour Total

18-25 20 27 3 2 52

26-35 4 5 1 0 10

36-45 5 5 1 2 13

46-55 4 3 4 1 12

Respondent's Age

56 or above 4 6 2 1 13

Total 37 46 11 6 100

Question fifteen was about whether the new fast food products can attract people

to visit the fast food restaurants (See Table 11 on the next page). Seventy five percent

said that the new product can attract them to come to the fast food restaurant. It was

matched to the 10 rules for the small business success provided by Isidro (2008). It

stated that the product innovation can help the small business success. From the result

of question fifteen, it showed that the innovative products could attract most of the

people to visit fast food restaurant. Therefore, the result showed fast food restaurants

did well in producting innovation.

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Table 11. Frequency Distributions- ‘Do you think that the new fast food products can

attract you to visit fast food restaurants?’

Question & variable Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

No 25 25.0 25.0 25.0

Yes 75 75.0 75.0 100.0

15 Do you think that the new

fast food products can

attract you to visit fast food

restaurants?

Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Question sixteen was about the important things that affect the participants to

choose the fast food restaurant (See Table 12). The most important thing when they

chose a fast food restaurant was taste of food. It was quite different from the previous

research done by Lumpur.

Table 12. Frequency Distributions-‘What is the most important thing when you

choose a fast food restaurant to dine?’

Question & variable Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Price 19 19.0 19.0 19.0

Taste 30 30.0 30.0 49.0

Hygiene 13 13.0 13.0 62.0

Location 13 13.0 13.0 75.0

Variety of food 11 11.0 11.0 86.0

Efficiency 14 14.0 14.0 100.0

16 What is the most

important thing

when you choose

a fast food

restaurant to

dine?

Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Lumpur (2005) stated that the type of cuisine, price and convenient location were

50

found to be the most important choice criteria across around the globe. But according

to the result from question sixteen, only the price of food was the same as the

Lumpur’s result. Price, taste of food and efficiency were the three important factors

that affect people to choose fast food restaurant. The efficiency of fast food provided

to the customer was important in Hong Kong because of the high speed of life and the

short meal time. The Student Standard (2006) stated that fast food was convenient

which suits the pace of modern life.

Table 13. Cross tabulation of Respondent's Age & ‘What is the most important

thing when you choose a fast food restaurant to dine?’

Count

What is the most important thing when you choose a fast food

restaurant to dine?

Question & variable Price Taste Hygiene Location

Variety of

food Efficiency Total

18-25 11 20 4 4 7 6 52

26-35 2 1 1 3 1 2 10

36-45 2 1 4 3 1 2 13

46-55 3 3 0 3 2 1 12

Respondent's

Age

56 or above 1 5 4 0 0 3 13

Total 19 30 13 13 11 14 100

From cross tabulation of question three and sixteen (See Table 13), most of the

people who chose the taste of food as the important thing was the ages of 18-25. This

group of people was mostly the student and they did not need to afford the financial

51

load of their family. Therefore, they thought the taste of food was important.

Questionnaire-Part B

Part B was the Likert scale questions. Question seventeen to twenty eight were the

Likert Scale questions about the participants’ degree of agreement of the statements

about the fast food restaurants and “cha chaan teng”. This section was set to provide

some recommendations to both fast food restaurant and “cha chaan teng”. This

section (question 17-28) was analyzed through statistical data. The survey in this

research was set-up with higher scores of the answers to the questions in the

questionnaire (5=strongly agree, 4=agree, 3=neutral, 2=disagree, 1=strongly disagree)

(See Table 14).

Table 14. Descriptive Statistics-Questionnaire Part B-means

Question N Mean

17 Fast food restaurant has a wide variety of food provided. 100 3.68

18 Cha chaan teng has a wide variety of food provided. 100 3.60

19 The price of fast food is reasonable. 100 3.45

20 The price of cha chaan teng is reasonable. 100 3.10

21 The time for waiting fast food is reasonable. 100 4.03

22 The time for waiting cha chaan teng food is reasonable. 100 3.29

23 The hygiene level of fast food restaurant is good. 100 3.73

24 The hygiene level of cha chaan teng is good. 100 2.78

25 The location of fast food restaurant near your working / studying place is good. 100 3.66

26 The location of cha chaan teng near your working / studying place is good. 100 3.72

27 The taste of fast food is good. 100 3.54

28 The taste of cha chaan teng food is good. 100 3.49

Valid N (listwise) 100

52

When compare the result of these questions, the mean of the questions were very

close. From question seventeen and eighteen, the mean were 3.68 and 3.60

respectively. The participants’ degrees of agreement of the wide variety of food

provided by fast food restaurant and cha chaan teng were close but the score of fast

food restaurant was still higher than that of cha chaan teng. It was because most of the

fast food restaurants introduced their own innovative food product regularly. But the

menu of cha chaan teng usually remained the same for the whole year with a large

variety of food.

Question nineteen and twenty was about the price of fast food restaurant and cha

chaan teng and the means were 3.45 and 3.10 respectively. The mean of price of fast

food restaurant was higher than that of the cha chaan teng. This meant that the degree

of agreement of participants about the price was higher than that of the cha chaan teng.

It was because the fast food restaurants in Hong Kong were operated by medium sized

companies. They can produce the food products in mass production and the cooking

procedures were standardized. The cha chaan teng in Hong Kong usually operated in

family style and owned by the owner not a company. Because of the large financial

support, the fast food restaurant can change their selling price in a reasonable level.

Therefore, the participants thought that the price of fast food was reasonable.

53

According to the result of question twenty one and twenty two, the means are 4.03

and 3.29 respectively. The mean of question twenty one was higher than that of

twenty two because fast food restaurant produced the food in a system. It was related

to Ball (1992). Ball (1992) stated that fast food was basically a system of technology

and not a product. Because of the system and with the help of the equipment, the fast

food products can produce in a fast way and therefore, the mean of question twenty

one was higher than that of the cha chaan teng.

According to question twenty three and twenty four, the mean were 3.73 and 2.78

respectively. The mean of question twenty three was higher than that of question

twenty four. These two questions were about the hygiene level of the eating

environment. The average score was three and the mean of question twenty four was

below average. Cha chaan teng (2009) stated that only some of the cha chaan teng

operated in chains most of them operated in family style. The hygiene standard of

each cha chaan teng was different. Therefore, the participants dissatisfied with the

hygiene level of cha chaan teng.

From question twenty five and twenty six, the mean of question twenty five and

twenty six were 3.66 and 3.72 respectively. These two questions were about the

degree of agreement of the location of fast food restaurant and cha chaan teng. The

participants’ degree of agreement of the location of cha chaan teng was higher than

54

that of fast food restaurant. It was because the number of cha chaan teng was not

evenly distributed in Hong Kong and they were not operated by a large company.

Therefore, there were no limitations for the number of cha chaan teng in each district.

This might be the reason for the participants to have a higher degree of agreement

about the location of cha chaan teng.

Finally, the mean of question twenty seven and twenty eight were 3.54 and 3.49

respectively. The mean of these two questions were very close. It was because the

point of view of the participants on the taste of food were different, therefore, the

result of the mean of these two questions were nearly the same.

Questionnaire-Part C

Question twenty nine to question thirty four were the questions about which parts

the cha chaan teng or fast food restaurant did well (See Table 15). These questions

including the areas, such as, wide variety of food provided, reasonable price of food,

waiting time for food, the hygiene level of the restaurant, convenient location of

restaurant and the taste of food.

55

Table 15. Frequency Distributions-Questionnaire Part C

Question & variable

Which one do you think is doing better in the following areas? Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Cha Chaan Teng 30 30.0 30.0 30.0

Fast Food Restaurant 41 41.0 41.0 71.0

The Same 29 29.0 29.0 100.0

29 Wide variety of food

provided

Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

Cha Chaan Teng 18 18.0 18.0 18.0

Fast Food Restaurant 47 47.0 47.0 65.0

The Same 35 35.0 35.0 100.0

30 Reasonable price of

food

Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

Cha Chaan Teng 12 12.0 12.0 12.0

Fast Food Restaurant 52 52.0 52.0 64.0

The Same 36 36.0 36.0 100.0

31 The waiting time for

food

Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

Cha Chaan Teng 7 7.0 7.0 7.0

Fast Food Restaurant 59 59.0 59.0 66.0

The Same 34 34.0 34.0 100.0

32 The Hygiene level of

the restaurant

Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

Cha Chaan Teng 8 8.0 8.0 8.0

Fast Food Restaurant 46 46.0 46.0 54.0

The Same 46 46.0 46.0 100.0

33 Convenient location

near your working

place / school

Valid

Total

100 100.0 100.0

Cha Chaan Teng 14 14.0 14.0 14.0

Fast Food Restaurant 31 31.0 31.0 45.0

The Same 55 55.0 55.0 100.0

34 Taste of food Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

56

For question twenty nine, about forty percent of the participants thought the fast

food restaurant provided a wide variety of food. The result is the same as questions

seventeen and eighteen. Therefore, fast food restaurant did better in the areas of

providing a wide variety of food.

Question thirty was about the price of food provided by fast food restaurant and

“cha chaan teng”. From the result, above forty percent of participants thought that the

price of fast food was more reasonable than that of “cha chaan teng”. It was because

fast food restaurants had a large financial support and their competitive advantages

were higher than that of “cha chaan teng”.

For the result of question thirty one. More than half of the participants believed

that the waiting time for fast food was faster than that of the cha chaan teng food.

Only twelve percent of the participants thought that the waiting time for cha chaan

teng food was better. It had the same result as question twenty one and twenty two. It

was also similar to The Student Standard (2006). The participants chose fast food

restaurant because it was convenient and suited their life.

Question thirty two was about the hygiene level of the restaurant. Nearly sixty

percent of the participants agreed that the hygiene level of fast food restaurant was

better than that of cha chaan teng. The result was the same as the question twenty

57

three and twenty four. The Knowledge @ Wharton (2006) stated that the factor led to

the success of fast food industry was standardization. It also said that standardization

prevented the uneven levels of quality within the individual stores. Therefore, the

participants thought that the hygiene level of fast food restaurant was better.

Apart from the above, question thirty three was about the participants’ point of

view on the location of fast food restaurant and “cha chaan teng”. Forty six percent of

participants who thought the location of both fast food restaurant and “cha chaan

teng” were convenient. It was the same from the result of question twenty five and

twenty six.

Question thirty four was about the taste of food of fast food restaurant and cha

chaan teng. Over half of the participants believed that the taste of food of both fast

food restaurant and cha chaan teng were the same. It was because the points of view

of participants about the taste of food were not the same and it might be difficult for

them to judge which food was better. Therefore, over half of the participants thought

that was the same.

58

Questionnaire-Part D

This part consisted of four questions. The questions were about the participants’

opinion on why eating fast food was popular in Hong Kong, the thing fast food

restaurants needed to improve, which place they preferred to have meal. The last

question of the questionnaire was a closed-ended question. The question was asked if

they had been affected by the financial tsunami. The purpose of asking this question

was to clarify the information they provided. Nowadays, many people have been

affected by the financial tsunami, most of them chose fast food restaurant because of

the cheap price. The aim of the research was to find out the link between the culture

and the success of Hong Kong people not the financial tsunami. This question was

used to find out how many participants chose fast food because of own financial

problem.

Question thirty five was about why eating fast food was popular in Hong Kong

(See Table 16 on the next page). More than half of the participants believed that the

reason for fast food to become popular in Hong Kong was because of fast. It showed

that fast food was now affecting the life of the people. Luke (2008) stated that

restaurant chains in the world geared toward quick production. Therefore, this

convenience food suited the high speed of life of Hong Kong people.

59

Table 16. Frequency Distributions-‘In your opinion, why is fast food so popular

among Hong Kong?’

Question & variable Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Tasty 11 11.0 11.0 11.0

Fast 56 56.0 56.0 67.0

Cheap 25 25.0 25.0 92.0

Healthy 1 1.0 1.0 93.0

Great Variety 7 7.0 7.0 100.0

35 In your opinion, why is

fast food so popular

among Hong Kong?

Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Question thirty six was about what thing the participants wanted the fast food

restaurants need to improve (See Table 17 on the next page). Twenty eight percent of

the participants thought that more food choices provided was the most important thing

fast food restaurants needed to improve. Although the taste of the food was the things

the participants chose the fast food restaurant in this research, more food choices

provided also affected the participants to choose fast food restaurant. It was related to

the research done by Lumpur (2005). The research stated that the type of cuisine was

one of the most important choice criteria around the world. Therefore, more food

choice provided can attract more people to visit the fast food restaurant.

60

Table 17. Frequency Distributions-‘What thing do you think the fast food

restaurants need to improve most?’

Question & variable Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Time 12 12.0 12.0 12.0

Location 7 7.0 7.0 19.0

Taste of Food 12 12.0 12.0 31.0

More Food Choices 28 28.0 28.0 59.0

Lower the Food Price 26 26.0 26.0 85.0

Hygiene of the Eating

Environment

15 15.0 15.0 100.0

36 What thing do you

think the fast food

restaurants need to

improve most?

Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Question thirty seven was about which place they preferred to have meal (See

Table 18). More than sixty percent of the participants preferred to have meal in Hong

Kong. Nearly half of the participants who were students and working people chose to

have meal in fast food restaurant (See Table 19 on the next page). It was because the

fast food restaurant provided fast and convenience food to this group of people. It

could suit their life.

Table 18. Frequency Distributions- ‘Which places do you prefer to have meal, fast

food restaurant or cha chaan teng?’

Question & variable Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Cha Chaan Teng 37 37.0 37.0 37.0

Fast Food Restaurant 63 63.0 63.0 100.0

37 Which places do you

prefer to have meal,

fast food restaurant or

cha chaan teng?

Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

61

Table 19. Cross tabulation of Occupation & ‘Which places do you prefer to have

meal, fast food restaurant or cha chaan teng?’

Count

Which places do you prefer to have meal,

fast food restaurant or cha chaan teng?

Question & variable Cha Chaan Teng Fast Food Restaurant Total

Student 21 25 46

Housewife 3 5 8

Professionals 5 12 17

Service Representatives 1 7 8

White-collar 1 2 3

Blue-collar 4 3 7

Occupation

Others 2 9 11

Total 37 63 100

Finally, it was question thirty eight. About half of the participants have been

affected by the financial tsunami (See Table 20). Only seven percent of the

participants have been affected by the financial tsunami and chose the price of food as

the important thing when they visited a fast food restaurant (See Table 21). It would

not be a problem that affected the result of the research.

Table 20. Frequency Distributions- ‘Have you ever been affected by the financial

tsunami?’

Question & variable

Frequency Percent

Valid

Percent

Cumulative

Percent

No 49 49.0 49.0 49.0

Yes 51 51.0 51.0 100.0

38 Have you ever been affected by the

financial tsunami?

Valid

Total 100 100.0 100.0

62

Table 21. Cross tabulation of ‘Have you ever been affected by the financial

tsunami?’ & ‘What is the most important thing when you choose a fast food

restaurant to dine?’

Count

What is the most important thing when you choose a fast

food restaurant to dine?

Question & variable Price Taste Hygiene Location

Variety

of food Efficiency Total

No 12 15 4 7 5 6 49Have you ever been

affected by the financial

tsunami?

Yes 7 15 9 6 6 8 51

Total 19 30 13 13 11 14 100

Chapter summary

The quantitative data had been collected and analyzed through the questionnaires.

The data results from this chapter provided the best answer to the research questions:

“What is the relationship between the culture and the success of the fast food industry

in Hong Kong?” Finally this chapter provided quantitative data results to better

understand the relationship between the people choices of choosing fast food

restaurant, the people’s living culture and the success of fast food restaurant under the

research.

The final chapter, Conclusions and Recommendations would draw conclusions

and make recommendations for future research. The relevant conclusions would be

drawn from the data analysis and the recommendations for future research would be

identified.

63

Chapter 5

Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions

The aim of the research was to discover why the fast food industry is successful in

Hong Kong. If the fast food restaurants better understand the relationship of the living

culture of the Hong Kong people, their opinions about the fast food product, and the

factors that can make the success, they could enhance the value and provide more

success to their company.

The findings from the literature review concluded that the living culture was

related to the success of fast food industry. Oak (2008) said that culture forms a set of

values and beliefs of people’s life. Montanari (2006) stated that food was culture if

people chose the same type food as their meal. Because of the long history of the fast

food industry in Hong Kong, fast food had influenced people’s life and became the

culture of Hong Kong people. Lumpur (2005) said that Hong Kong ranked the world’s

No. 1 in terms of frequency of fast food restaurant visits. It was a survey done by AC

Nielsen in 2005. The factor led to the success of the fast food industry included the

increasing number of working people, short meal time and high speed of life. The

number of single-parent household and the number of both parents needed to work

have been increased since 1960s. Therefore, they chose to eat outside and fast food

64

became one of their food choices.

The quantitative analysis findings from the questionnaire concluded that

sixty-three percent of participants preferred to have meal in fast food restaurants (see

table). Most of the participants did not believe price as the important thing when they

chose a fast food restaurant to dine although half of them had been affected by the

financial tsunami (See Table 20). They thought that the taste of food was more

important than the price of food. Most of the participants visited fast food restaurants

at least 1 to 3 times per week. The people who preferred to have meal in fast food

restaurants were mostly the student and the working people. Over half of the

participants believed that the reason of the popularity of fast food among Hong Kong

was because of the fast production. Also, nearly thirty percent of the participants

thought the thing fast food restaurant needed to improve was to provide more food

choices, followed by lower the food selling price, the hygiene of the eating

environment, taste of food, production time and the location of shop.

Recommendations

Based on the result of the questionnaires and the findings from the literature

review, here were some recommendations to the fast food industry and cha chaan teng

in Hong Kong. In order to provide more success to the fast food industry, there were

65

some recommendations to the fast food industry. Firstly, the fast food restaurants

should know who their target market was. According to the research done by Lumpur,

Swiss Association for Nutrition and the questionnaire, we can conclude that the target

market should be the students and the working people. It was because they were the

people who usually visited the fast food restaurants. Next, they should reduce the

waiting time for the fast food products because of the short meal time of the students

and working people. Finally, the fast food restaurants should consider opening more

branches around the commercial and industrial districts. This can help them to capture

more market shares.

To survive in the changing business environment in Hong Kong, there were some

recommendations that can help the traditional Hong Kong style restaurant, “cha chaan

teng” to improve. Firstly, the hygiene level of “cha chaan teng” should be improved.

According to the question twenty four, the mean the degree of agreement of the

participants on the hygiene level of “cha chaan teng” was below average. It meant that

the participants did not satisfy with the hygiene level of “cha chaan teng”.

Also, waiting time for the “cha chaan teng” food should be improved. Only twelve

percent of the participants believed that “cha chaan teng” did well in this part. They

should shorten the waiting time for the cha chaan teng food. One thing they could do

is to increase the efficiency of food production. They should standardize the recipe of

66

their food product and guided the staff about the cooking procedures.

Finally, it was about the price of food. It was difficult for “cha chaan teng” to

compete with the fast food restaurants because of no large financial support. Lumpur

(2005) stated that the price of food was found to be one of the most important choice

criteria around the world. Therefore, if “cha chaan teng” slightly put down the price, it

will help them to attract more customers to visit. From the above, these were the

recommendations that provided to the fast food restaurant and cha chaan teng based

on the primary research and literature review.

Recommendation for further research

The quantitative data analysis was reported in this research study even though the

sample size was small. The data was analyzed and run by the SPSS system.

One recommendation for further research of these quantitative analysis findings to

examine what characteristics of “cha chaan teng” could attract people to visit. It was

because this study was mainly about the success of the fast food industry and it

seemed that there were still a group of people who prefer to have meal in “cha chaan

teng”. The further research study on this area could expand this topic and provide a

better understand on both fast food restaurants and “cha chaan teng”.

67

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Appendix 1. The final questionnaire

The Success of Fast Food Industry in Hong Kong

Author: Chan Kai Wah Eric

I am a final year student of a degree course in Hospitality Business Management

from Sheffield Hallam University. I am now conducting a survey on The Fast Food

Industry in Hong Kong for my dissertation. Fast food is the food product which is

convenience and quickly prepared. It would only take about 5-10 minutes to fill in

this questionnaire. It consists of 4 parts. All the information collected would be

treated as highly confidential and just for research use. Your comment is valuable.

Part A (Choose One box only)

1. Are you a Hong Kong resident?

○ Yes

○ No (Thank you for your kindness help)

2. Gender

○ Male ○ Female

3. Age

○ 18 – 25 ○ 26 – 35 ○ 36 – 45

○ 46 – 55 ○ 56 or above

4. Marital status

○ Single ○ Divorced ○ Married

5. Length of stay in Hong Kong

○ Less than 10 years ○ 11 – 20 years ○ 21 -30 years

○ 31 – 40 years ○ 41 – 50 years ○ 51 years or above

6. Monthly income

○ Below $5000

○ $5001-$10000

○ $10001-$15000

○ $15001-$20000

○ Above $20000

78

7. Occupation

○ Student

○ Housewife

○ Professionals

○ Service representatives

○ White-collar

○ Blue-collar

○ Others

8. Do you like eating fast food?

○ Yes

○ No

9. Have you visit fast food restaurant before?

○ Yes

○ No

10. Could you find a fast food restaurant near your working place or school?

○ Yes

○ No

11. How often do you visit a fast food restaurant?

○ Never ○ 1 - 3 times per week ○ 4 - 6 times per week

○ 7 - 9 times per week ○ More than 10 times per week

12. Which meal do you usually have in fast food restaurant? (You can take more than

one box)

○ Breakfast

○ Lunch

○ Dinner

13. How much time do you have for meal?

○ Less than 30 minutes ○ 30 minutes to 1 hour ○ 1 hour

○ More than 1 hour

14. How much do you usually spend on each time?

○ $ 0 ○ $ 1-10 ○ $ 11-20

○ $ 21-30 ○ $ 30 or above

79

15. Do you think that the new fast food products can attract you to visit fast food

restaurants?

○ Yes

○ No

16. What is the most important thing when you choose a fast food restaurant to dine?

○ Price

○ Taste

○ Hygiene

○ Location

○ Variety of food

○ Efficiency

Part B (Please choose the suitable box only for the following statement according to

your degree of agreement.)

Strongly

Agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Disagree

17. Fast food restaurant has a wide

variety of food provided.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

18. Cha chaan teng has a wide

variety of food provided.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

19. The price of fast food is

reasonable.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

20. The price of cha chaan teng food

is reasonable.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

21. The time for waiting fast food is

reasonable.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

22. The time for waiting cha chaan

teng food is reasonable.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

23. The hygiene level of fast food

restaurant is good.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

24. The hygiene level of cha chaan

teng is good.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

25. The location of fast food

restaurant near your working /

school is good.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

26.

The location of cha chaan teng

near your working / studying

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

80

81

place is good.

Strongly

Agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Disagree

27. The taste of fast food is good. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

28. The taste of cha chaan teng food

is good.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Part C (Please choose one box according to your point of view of the following areas)

Which one do you think is doing better in

the following areas?

Fast Food

Restaurant

The Same Cha Chaan

Teng

29. Wide variety of food provided ○ ○ ○

30. Reasonable price of food ○ ○ ○

31. The waiting time for food ○ ○ ○

32. The hygiene level of the restaurant

environment

○ ○ ○

33. Convenience location near your

working place / school

○ ○ ○

34. Taste of food ○ ○ ○

Part D (Choose one box only)

35. In your opinion, why is fast food so popular among Hong Kong?

○ Tasty

○ Fast

○ Cheap

○ Healthy

○ Great variety

36. What thing do you think the fast food restaurant need to improve most?

○ Time ○ Location ○ Taste of food ○ More food choice

○ Lower the food price ○ Hygiene of the eating environment

37. Which places do you prefer to have meal, fast food restaurant or cha chaan teng?

○ Fast food restaurant

○ Cha chaan teng

38. Have you ever been affected by the financial tsunami?

○ Yes ○ No

-Thank you-