Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

Key Words: 
coffee store, brand attitude, customers’ satisfaction 
INTRODUCTION 
In recent years, due to the rapid growth of economy and the increase of people’s income, people’s life-
style in Taiwan has been largely westernized. The increased purchasing power and the change of catering culture of 
consumers in Taiwan have driven a large consumption of coffee beverages. As a result, various types of coffee 
stores have emerged one after another on the island, people crowd in there to enjoy drinking coffee and to have 
relaxed conversation. Generally, today’s consumers highly recognize the products and services based on their 
experiences and perceptions gained from the brand of coffee chain stores. The major coffee chain stores in Taiwan 
include Starbucks, Seattle, IS coffee, Dante, Ikari and Doutor. The brand names of coffee chain stores still keep 
increasing in Taiwan. This type of coffee business has been developed in various areas in Taiwan, major ones are 
commercial districts, residential areas, office buildings, schools and hospitals (Kao, 2003). 
Coffee has been stereotyped as an adult beverage. Cristovam et al. (2000) suggested that a better 
understanding of the basis of coffee preferences for different consumers is necessary. The same reasons were found 
in the adult students as well. A restaurant provides customers with food, it is also a place where general public can 
conduct parties and other social events. According to some literatures, the research on the customer satisfaction has 
flourished over the past two decades and has become one of the most popular topics in the marketing of service 
sector. It has been realized that increasing the customer satisfaction is the critical factor for the success of a coffee 
shop. Generally, food service companies use the customer satisfaction data to determine the level of the 
service/product quality in order to increase customer retention rate. Brand strategy of a firm is important because of 
its critical impact on the firm’s financial and marketing performance. Effective brand management is gaining 
growing attention because of the increasing number of brand portfolios and it is changing the fundamental structure 
of the hospitality industry (Haussman, 2002; Koonce, 1998; Nardozza, 1998). 
Since most of the coffee chain stores only provide minimum service, the service style is almost 
comparable to fast food restaurants. Thus, it is suitable to relate the review of consumers’ selection of fast food 
restaurants to coffee chain stores. Results of Knutson’s(2000) study on important factors affecting university 
students’ choice among fast food restaurants showed that “ cleanliness and friendliness”, “price”, “service speed”, 
“consistency in menu items” and ”menu variety” were the most important factors. The brand choice process is 
continuous and sequential in that cognitions are formed first, followed in order by attitudes and confidence levels, 

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