LAUSR

Abstract This paper investigates the competitive structure of restaurant retailing by developing and testing a conceptual framework that combines household production economics theory with research on hedonic and utilitarian retail patronage. The results generally support this conceptualization. This study contributes to the literature in three ways. First, the theory of household economics provides the missing theoretical rationale for studying the demographic correlates of hedonic versus utilitarian retail patronage motives. Second, this study also provides evidence that the utilitarian motives underlying research on household economics can be meaningfully supplemented by investigating hedonic patronage motives. Finally, this research adds to the literature on restaurant patronage rooted in household economics by studying empirically the role of retail marketing mix variables in restaurant retailing.