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Doctoral Dissertation on Turkish Restaurants in the U.S.


Ethnic Restaurant Corporatization: A case study on Turkish Cuisine.

Rationale

Although ethnic food has an increasing popularity and a long-term trend in the U.S. (NRA, 2017a), Turkish ethnic restaurants are not as well-known as they are in Europe (Albayrak, 2013). Turkish restaurants have been seen in the U.S. food market for a few decades. Though there are a few successful Turkish restaurants in a few metropolitan areas such as New York and Chicago, Turkish restaurants are not widely popular among U.S. consumers. There could be many reasons not to be successful, and there is not a single magic recipe for success in the U.S. food market (Huiskamp, 2001). However, (1) ignorance and misconception (2) need for adaptation and (3) ignoring business standards seem to be major obstacles that Turkish restaurant and all ethnic restaurant owners need to focus. On the other hand, there are three (Italian, Mexican, and Chinese) ethnic restaurants that became mainstream with corporatizing their businesses (NRA, 2017b).

To help ethnic restaurant operators, this study aims to develop a success model for ethnic restaurants in the U.S. This model will serve as a guide for new ethnic restaurants, helping them to overcome the challenges they face in opening and to achieve healthy growth like other successful corporate ethnic restaurant chains in the U.S. Though the model this study develops hopes to generalize to any ethnic cuisine in the U.S., it is developed using Turkish cuisine as a case study.

Research Question(s)

  • What are American customers' perception of Turkish restaurants?

  • How can the operators of Turkish restaurants present Turkish cuisine to American consumers recognizably and comprehensively?

  • How can Turkish cuisine be successfully corporatized?

Significance of the Study

The study will develop a corporate success model for ethnic restaurants in the U.S., using Turkish restaurants as the base for an array of case study analyses. It will be one of the first studies to integrate opinions and perceptions from customers and restaurant operators to form a holistic understanding of the current situation of and projected expectations on ethnic restaurants in the U.S. This foundation study will provide valuable insights and market intelligence for the ethnic restaurant industry in their endeavor to build corporate businesses.

Method

The researcher will use a mixed-methods design to acquire a deep understanding of operational complications. The results will help prepare the ground for a long-term research series designed to help build a strong corporate Turkish restaurant chain.

The researcher will contact the restaurant operators (owners, managers, and chefs) and will make appointments 10 in-depth interviews. The interviews will occur face to face and each interviewee will also be asked to complete a Turkish restaurant operator’s survey prior to the interview.

Information on consumer perceptions will be obtained by administering a nationwide survey online. After the Texas Tech University Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects approves the protocol for this study, subjects will be recruited through an online mechanism by Qualtrics.com. Subjects must be at least 21 years of age and dined in a Turkish restaurant in last 12 months. Each potential subject will be provided a detailed description of the research before they are asked to participate, and they will be informed that their participation is voluntary and that their responses will be kept confidential. They will also be informed that they have the right to refuse to answer any question and that they will be free to withdraw at any time without penalty.

Contact

If you are interested to know the findings of this research, or you want to have an in-depth interview with the researcher, please contact with John Palabiyik at (817) 360-4936 or email at john.palabiyik@ttu.edu.


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