REVIEW OF LITERATURE OF FAST FOOD INDUSTRY Previous Research on fast food Industry has shown us a light in this project: The Research done by UCLA Anderson assistant professor Raphael Thomadsen.
He presented the result in the paper entitled, ³Seeking an Aggressive Competitor: How Product Line Expansion Can Increase All Firms¶ Profits.´ According to him, if a McDonald¶s and a Burger King compete in the center of a small town, and a Burger King opens in the suburbs, it can boost profits for the McDonald¶s store.
In previous research, Thomadsen demonstrated that prices at fast food outlets located near other outlets belonging to the same chain often charge high prices to avoid cannibalizing sales between the two outlets. These price differences can be large, with prices at many restaurants 20 percent or more higher than they would be if the restaurant owners did not worry about cannibalization. Now he finds that a firm may also charge higher prices when faced with a new competitor or product. He said that product-line expansion would affect profits .He said that when a firm adds products to its line, the profits of the incumbent firms in the market must go down. He used a standard economic model in this study. ³Consumers have different utility preferences,´ He explains that some people like one type of food while other people like a different type. There are also variations in location. So model consumers based on preferences, location and other factors likely to affect their behavior.´ He explains that his findings can be generalized to a variety of markets. According to him it is does not necessarily mean that competitors will lose profits and market share. There are conditions in which a new Tide might increase everyone¶s profits. Kellogg¶s can profit when a new type of Wheaties hits the shelves. And the opening of an Albertson¶s in the right location could mean higher profits for a nearby Ralph¶s. In fact, retail competition is one of the places where one firm¶s expansion is most-likely to increase a competitor¶s profits.
The exploratory Study conducted by Anita Goyal and N.P.Singh on the topic of Consumer perception about fast food in India:
The Purpose of the study was to estimate importance of various factors affecting the choice of fast food outlets by Indian young consumers. The Methodology includes statistical tools to estimate importance of various factors affecting the choice of fast food outlets by Indian young consumers. In addition, the authors analysed the consumption patterns, impact of hygiene and nutritional values, and rating of various attributes of McDonald's and Nirula's. The Findings by the study indicate that the young Indian consumer has passion for visiting fast food outlets for fun and change but home food is their first choice. They feel homemade food is much better than food served at fast food outlets. They have the highest value for taste and quality (nutritional values) followed by ambience and hygiene. Three dimensions (service and delivery dimension, product dimension, and quality dimension) of fast food outlets' attributes are identified based on factor analysis results. The two fast food outlets' rating differs significantly on the seven attributes. McDonald's scores are higher on all attributes except ³variety´. Further, consumers feel that fast food outlets must provide additional information on nutritional values and hygiene conditions inside kitchen.
The Practical implications of Fast food providers need to focus on quality and variety of food besides other service parameters. There is need to communicate the information about hygiene and nutrition value of fast food which will help in building trust in the food provided by fast food players. The Value Estimates importance of various factors affecting the choice of fast food outlets by Indian young consumers.
The Study conducted by R.V. Sudershan , Pratima Rao and Kalpagam Polasa on topic of Food safety research in India
The researchers concluded that with growing international trade, food safety has emerged as an important global issue. The present research was an attempt to study the food safety research in India in the past ten years during 1995-2005.
Many studies were focused on detection of pathogenic microorganisms, adulterants and contaminants in food. However, there is a striking paucity of reliable data on important issues like evaluation of risks through adulterants, additives and contaminants. Consequently, the protection of diets from these hazards must be considered one of the essential public health functions of any country, which emphasizes the need for total diet studies. The Methodology include the status of food safety research in India was reviewed by assessing data published in journals, websites and published data from universities in the form of doctoral theses and dissertations at the post-graduate level. For this, literature for the years 1995-2005 was reviewed. The studies that were included for this review were those with a representative sample size and carried out by scholars studying in well-reputed universities, doctoral theses, original research articles in peer reviewed journals, annual reports of research organizations and institutions. Qualitative reviews were reviewed in similar topics and the results were tabulated and compared to get a better understanding of the research carried out in these issues. The findings by researchers Health Risk( probability of an adverse event of diarrhea),Hazard Identification: (pathogens, adulterants, contaminants and their health effect),Industrial food safety(existing laws, standards, sanitation and hygiene practices, specific hazards),Hazard Exposure Assessment(how much people eat, what food they consume and where they consume.),Consumer Behaviour ( hand washing, hygiene.)
The Study conducted by Mark D. Jekanowski on topic ³Causes andConsequences of Fast Food Sales Growth´, January1999.
Concluded that in today¶s hectic lifestyles, timesaving products are increasingly in demand. Perhaps one of the most obvious examples is fast food. Today the demand for the, hectic lifestyles, timesaving products are increasingly. Obliviously one of the examples is Fast Food Industry. The rate of growth in consumer expenditures on fast food has led most other segments of the food-away-from home market for much of the last two decades. Since 1982, there is growth rate in consumer spending at fast food. The consumers spent at fast food outlets grew at an annually he proportion of away- from-home food expenditures on fast food also increased.
Everyone eats Fast Food even knowing that it is not healthy for them. Reasons are because of speed, convenience and price. However, fast food has many hidden costs, including the high price of bad health. Not to mention the fact that for such cheap food, you're actually being overcharged by a big amount. So the real reason is not price, but convenience. You can get much cheaper food by cooking for yourself, but you are not always at home to do the cooking, or you do not always feel like cooking.