• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.49-59
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• 2007

The purposes of this study were to determine the price elasticities of foodcourt-styled university foodservice, and to identify the attributes that affect these price elasticities. Questionnaires were distributed to 700 students at the K University in Masan, from September 21-27, 2006. 478 questionnaires were ultimately included in the final analysis(response rate: 68.3%). For statistical analysis, SPSS(12.0) was used to conduct the descriptive analysis, t-test, and ANOVA. The results of this study were as follows. The average meal price for in-campus foodservice was \ 2,196 and the average meal price for an off-campus restaurant was \3,044. The university students recognized that the proper price for in-campus foodservice and an off-campus restaurant were, respectively, \2,127 and \ 2,884. The price elasticities for foodcourt-styled university foodservice were 4.20(Kko-Bul-Kko-Bul), 3.83(Il-Poom-Hyang), and 4.10(Ne-Mo-Baek_Ban). The factors that affected price elasticity included the frequency of visiting foodservice, foodservice satisfaction, price satisfaction, and customer's responses to increased meal prices. The recommended price strategy for foodcourt-styled university foodservice was to lower meal price, which would attract more students and increase the sales volume. Simultaneously, foodservice managers should attempt to improve and increase customer satisfaction and the customer's perceived value for meal price. Overall, price elasticity may prove helpful in predicting the customer's behaviors on price changes, and may provide useful basic data for foodservice managers when establishing price strategy.