Applying ANP to analyse sensory experience in restaurants

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relative importance of the five types of sensory experience in restaurants and the differences between experts and customers. Design/methodology/approach Analytic network process was used to select the critical factors for the five types of sensory experiences. Expert and consumer questionnaires were compared to examine the differences between expert opinions and customer awareness. Findings Restaurants consider taste and smell to be important senses, whereas hearing was considered to be the least important. Originality/value Experts paid more attention to criteria and sub-criteria that resonated with consumers’ memories and emotions. Consumers paid more attention to intuitively obtaining emotional experiences during each purchase.