FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMERS’ PREFERENCES ON FAST FOOD ITEMS IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

Fast food industry is a high growing sector of Bangladesh. It is concerned with the tastes and habits of the people. The food-taking habit especially in fast food segment has been changing very fast over last decade among the people of Dhaka - the capital city of Bangladesh. The reasons could be attributed by the increase of awareness, growth of education, development of information technology, and expansion of television channels and print media in Bangladesh.Hence, this paper aims at identifying the preference factors of fast food consumers living in Dhaka city. This study was conducted among the university students who usually eat fast food at their leisure time. To conduct the study, a total of 250 respondents were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analyzing the data. Multivariate analysis technique like factor analysis was performed to identify the preference factors of the fast food student-consumer of Bangladesh. Multiple regressions were run to identify the relationship between the factors identified and the overall preference of the consumers. Results show that the consumers give most importance on brand reputation of the food followed by nearness to receive and accessibility, similar taste with their previous experience, cost and quality relationship, discount and taste, cleanliness and hygiene,salesmanship and decoration, fat and cholesterol level, and self-service. This study suggests that the brand reputation, nearness and accessibility, similarity in taste, and cost and quality relationship should be emphasized to improve the attraction of the university students towards the fast food consumption in Bangladesh.