The Problem Pizza Quik is a regional chain of pizza restaurants operating in seven states in the

Question:

The Problem Pizza Quik is a regional chain of pizza restaurants operating in seven states in the Midwest. Pizza Quik has adopted a total quality management (or TQM) orientation.18 As part of this orientation, the firm is committed to the idea of market-driven quality. That is, it intends to conduct a research project to address the issue of how its customers define quality and to learn from the customers themselves what they expect in regard to quality.

Research Objectives The objectives of the proposed research are:

• To identify the key determinants of customer satisfaction

• To measure current customer satisfaction levels on those key satisfaction determinants

• To determine the relative importance of each key satisfaction determinant in deriving overall satisfaction

• To provide recommendations to management regarding where to direct the company’s efforts

Methodology The first objective was met by means of qualitative research. A series of focus groups were conducted with customers to determine which attributes of Pizza Quik’s product and service are most important to them. Based on this analysis, the following attributes were identified:

• Overall quality of food

• Variety of menu items

• Friendliness of Pizza Quik’s employees

• Provision of good value for the money

• Speed of service

In the second stage of the research, central-location telephone interviews were conducted with 1,200 randomly selected individuals who had purchased or eaten at a Pizza Quik restaurant (in the restaurant or take-out) in the past 30 days.
Key information garnered in the survey included:

• Overall rating of satisfaction with Pizza Quik on a 10-point scale (1 = poor and 10 = excellent)

• Rating of Pizza Quik on the five key satisfaction attributes identified in the qualitative research, using the same 10-point scale as for overall satisfaction

• Demographic characteristics.

Results and Analysis Extensive cross tabulations and other traditional statistical analyses were conducted. A key part of the analysis was to estimate a regression model with overall satisfaction as the dependent variable and satisfaction with key product and service attributes as the predictors. The results of this analysis were: