Research Methodology

It denotes the number of elements out of the target population to be included in the study. We

took the sample size more than 10 times as many observations as there are variables (We have 11

variables in our study) according to general rule of "GENERALIZIBILITY".

According to this, we initially took a sample size of 119, but since the KMO measure for this size will was less than that for 102 we finalized the size at 103.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Preliminary Investigation: - This phase involved preliminary investigation of the various

variables which could possibly affect the consumer's preference towards burger consumption. We primarily used focus group discussion to identify the various variables that

consumers find important when they go for a food outlet.

1. Focus Group Interview:

A focus group discussion (FGD) is a qualitative research tool often used in business and marketing. Focus groups are "small group discussions, addressing a specific topic, which usually involve 6-12 participants, either matched or varied on specific characteristics of interest to the researcher.

Advantages:

* It is relatively easy to assemble, inexpensive and flexible in terms of format, type of questions and desired outcomes.

* Open recording allows participants to confirm their contributions.

* Provide rich data through direct interaction between researcher and participants.

* Spontaneous, participants not required to answer every question; able to build on one another's responses.

Disadvantages:

* Findings may not represent the views of larger segments of the population.

* Requires good facilitation skills, including ability to handle various roles people may play ("expert", "quiet", "outsider', "friend", "hostile", etc.).

* Tough rich, data may be difficult to analyze because it is unstructured.

* Possible conformance, censoring, conflict avoidance, or other unintended outcomes of the group process need to be addressed as part of the data analysis.

FGD Questions

What do you think are the factors affecting the success of fast food chains?

- Response: The factors they emphasized most on were quality and timely delivery. As it's a fast food chain they have to deliver best quality food within shortest possible time. The other factors they thought would contribute were high Customer Value Proposition, Smart Service, Capacity Management, menu for Vegetarian people as India has a predominantly vegetarian population. Advertisement, Number of outlets in a city; were some of the other factors that came up in the discussion.

* What would you prefer price or quality?

- Response: All were in consensus that there has to be a trade off between price and quality, but in such a highly competitive market where big players like KFC and Burger King exist and brand loyalty has reduced, they have to provide best quality at competitive price. Since there has been a constant price war in this sector, so Mc Donald's has been forced to reduce the price of its burgers maintaining the same or better quality. They even provide seasonal discounts at times.

* What do you think is/are the indicators of success of fast food chains? How do you propose we can reach these measures?

- Response: The most appropriate indicator of success according to them was Number of Footfalls. Since it suggests the number of people which enter the store on a particular day at a particular time it can be used to measure success of fast food chains assuming the fact that the people who enter end up buying the burger. But some people were of a different opinion. They thought that customer satisfaction was a better indicator. Until and unless your customers are not