Attitudes of consumers toward military and other institutional foods

In a series of studies, attitudes of military and civilian consumers toward military and other institutional foods, e.g. foods served in school cafeterias, hospitals, military dining halls, on airlines, etc., were examined. The goals of this research were to (1) quantify the ex:tent and nature of these attitudes in terms of expected acceptability and expected quality of the food; (2) determine whether these attitudes can be classified as stereotypical; (3) assess the relative importance of presumed causes of poor quality and acceptability in institutional food, e.g. skills of food preparers, ingredient quality, consumption environment, etc.; (4) identify the specific aspects of perceived food quality, e.g. flavor, texture, nutritive value, etc., that most differentiate commercial from military institutional food; (5) quantify the relationship between expectations of acceptability and actual acceptability ratings of military institutional food; and (6) detail the empirical effect of institutional vs. brand name food labeling on hedonic acceptability ratings. The results of these studies showed broad and significant effects of institutional food stereotypes on food acceptance and food quality ratings. The results were interpreted within the context of a psychological model of the role of consumer expectations on food acceptability. The implications of the data for institutional and brand name food marketing are discussed.