Local consumers’ perceptions and preferences for Asian ethnic foods

Abstract

This study compared the perceptions and preferences of Australian consumers for six types of Asian food, to provide information for the positioning and marketing of ethnic food. The data were collected from 403 customers of 27 ethnic restaurants in Brisbane, Australia. The results are summarized in three aspects: first, the behavioural side of choice shows that the most popular restaurant type was Chinese, the participants had Asian food once or twice a week, and they obtain information about possible choices mainly from word-of-mouth sources; second, Asian food is perceived as flavoursome, tasty, nicely textured and vegetable-based. Respondents perceived pairs of countries as offering similar food: Korea–Japan, Vietnam–China and India–Thailand. Finally, their preference for the six types of Asian food is ranked in descending order as follows: Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Indian and Vietnamese. The results of the study provide insights for developing marketing strategies for the food and related industries.

Keywords:

• Consumer perception
• restaurant attributes
• food preference
• Asian ethnic foods
• Australia