Restaurant attributes influence the perceptions and behaviors of
restaurant customers. Among these attributes are music and its sound level.
Sound level has been known to affect people's behaviors and judgments. The
purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of music sound level on
customers in a restaurant, specifically, where they sit and how long they stay.
The study took place in a restaurant where customers seat themselves
and music sound levels vary across tables. A convenience sample of dinner
customers were observed for three weeks. Each week, speakers were placed in
different locations causing tables that were originally quiet to become loud.
A total of 107 table selections were analyzed using Chi Square tests. The
effects of sound levels on length of stay were analyzed using an ANOVA with 36
dining parties.
The results showed no significant effect regarding table selection except
when speakers were in their usual locations. An explanation of this significant
effect may be that regular customers were familiar with the speaker locations
and the sound levels of restaurant tables, and therefore, chose tables with lower
sound levels over tables with high sound levels. Results from the ANOVA show
that the length of stay of customers at high volume tables was significantly less
than at other tables. Also, there was a negative correlation between length of
stay and sound levels, indicating that the louder the music the earlier customers
would leave.
These findings may indicate that as customers become familiar with a
restaurant's sound levels, tables with high sound levels may be avoided. Also,
in high music levels customer leave sooner. The implications may be increasing
or decreasing table turns or affecting the satisfaction of regular customers.
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