Senior citizens and their dining-out traits: Implications for restaurants

Continuing and rapid growth of the mature population in Taiwan has forced the restaurant industry to prepare for substantial social and demographic changes. This study used a telephone survey to elicit attributes important to the restaurant patronage behaviors of consumers aged 65 and older who lived independently. The variables examined include a battery of demographic and healthrelated variables, a series of motivation attributes, restaurant selection criteria, and measures of consumer’s restaurant patronage behaviors. Two distinctive segments were identified; frequent and convenience restaurant patrons, and occasional and family restaurant patrons. The results of this study of mature consumer’s restaurant patronage behavior have several implications for this increasingly important and prominent segment of the restaurant consumer marketplace. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.