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2020-1115 IJOI https://www.ijoi-online.org/

TASTE OF : A CASE STUDY OF INDIAN IN TAIWAN

Anita Mandal* Department of Tourism and Leisure, Chung Hua University, Taiwan 30012 *Corresponding author: [email protected]

Yao–Hsu Tsai Department of Tourism and Leisure, Chung Hua University, Taiwan 30012 [email protected]

Abstract

This study discusses localization of and their impact on customer satisfac- tion in Taiwan based on the information gathered from field survey and online portals. Three aspects of Indian cuisine were explained. First, it describes how Indian cuisine is localized over Taiwan. Second, how Indian cuisine is maintained and presented to the local customer. Third aspect describes perception and satisfaction of local customers over Indian cuisine. It is observed that the authenticity of Indian cuisine is greatly compro- mised to attract local people in the business. Preparation of Indian cuisine is altered by use of locally available ingredients including and which, modifies the and aroma of cuisine. A special unique style is adopted to represent Indian cuisine in Taiwan. Different restaurant settings are introduced to symbolize Indian culture irrespec- tive of different Indian cuisine. In some cases, a single restaurant provides variety of cui- sine e.g. Panjabi dishes along with Bengali . The study determines that authentic In- dian cuisine no longer exists and localized version of Indian cuisine is evolved. The sur- vey shows that majority of the customers are satisfied over food quality and prefer to dine at Indian cuisine at least once in a year. It is believed that physical and environment set- ting of restaurant enhances customer satisfaction even though authenticity of the Indian cuisine is compromised while, high cost of food is dominant factor for less frequent re- turning behavior of customers.

Keywords: Authenticity, customer satisfaction, food survey, Indian cuisine.

280 The International Journal of Organizational Innovation Volume 13 Number 2, October 2020

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Introduction records. Reports showed that around three decade ago first Indian cuisine was Taiwan is one of the beautiful is- setup in Taipei area with a big success land country in ranking 15th in (Ferry, 2018). The food served by the GDP per capita. Quick industrialization restaurant was so demanding that cus- and rapid growth of Taiwan happened tomer usually queued-up long time to try during latter half of the 20th century. the food. Looking the popularity of the People living and working in Taiwan are Indian food, more and more restaurant generally very busy due to sudden eco- had been opened. Due to complexity of nomic boom. The behavioral pattern of Indian cuisine, especially the spices used people in Taiwan changes rapidly based for , the food was very expen- on socio-economic status and heavy in- sive. With increasing number of restau- dustrialization. One of the tremendous rant and cost reduction strategy, the change among other behavioral patterns complexity of cooking is reduced along is food habit. People started dinning out- with authenticity of the food. Therefore, side due to lack of personal time from customer expectation and overall satis- their work. Rapidly, restaurant business faction of dining experience was severe- gained very popularity within locals. ly compromised. Due to industrialization and globaliza- tion, Taiwan became lucrative destina- A variety types of customer visit tion for foreigners. Foreigners are estab- Indian restaurant daily with their own lishing their livings along with their expectation and imagination. big most essential food culture. Therefore, country with diverse geographies and restaurant brings another opportunity to climates. Indian cuisine differs from locals to taste different cuisine with little each other, not only taste but also cook- effort. Indian cuisine is one of them. ing method (Dubey, 2011). There are different kind of food establishment Popularity of Indian cuisine is available in Taiwan e.g. North Indian massive throughout the world. It is im- cuisine, , Punjabi agined as spicy, colorful, aromatic, cuisine, etc. Indian res- greasy, and hot food. Indian food mostly taurants in Taiwan claims themselves to combined with and/or (also serve authentic cuisine to their customer. known as ‘nan’, a handmade baked However, no details study has been car- food). Rice is a common element in In- ried out on authenticity of Indian cuisine dian and Taiwan food habit. Indian cui- in Taiwan and their impact on customer sine in Taiwan is one of the popular des- satisfaction. In this study three aspect of tination among local people because of Indian cuisine is described. (i) How In- its aroma and nice taste. Localization of dian cuisine is localized, (ii) How Indian Indian cuisine is observed very similar to cuisine is presented to the customer, and Indianization of Chinese food (Sankar, (iii) how customers are satisfied over 2017). It is very hard to say when and Indian cuisine? where exactly first Indian restaurant was setup in Taiwan due to lack of official 281 The International Journal of Organizational Innovation Volume 13 Number 2, October 2020

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Literature review The typical meaning of authentici- The popularity of Indian food in ty is the genuineness, honesty, or sinceri- Taiwan is increasing as evidenced by the ty of an object (Zhang, Chen & Baoliang, growing number of restaurants in the is- 2019). Mc. Connell firstly introduced land within last decade. It is believed that authenticity and proposed the theory of restaurant business is one of the hard and “staged authenticity” in which authentic- competitive business among others (Josi- ity is an inherent property of tourism ob- am, Sohail & Monteiro, 2007; Gregoire, ject and obtaining authenticity experi- Shanklin & Greathouse, 1995). India is a ence is regarded as fundamental goal of big country with unity in diversity and tourism (Chhabra et al., 2013). Authen- sometimes called a small world due to ticity gives expression of originality, diverse culture, belief, language and eth- unmixed. The quality of being genuine nicity (Bijoy, 2015). In India, there are from original. People likes to eat authen- 29 states and 7 union territories. A varie- tic food and authenticity plays a very ty of traditional and regional Indian cui- positive role in a restaurant. Authenticity sine are noticed over . is conceptualized into four categories These different cuisine or culture namely (i) objectivism (objective au- are originated by the diversity of this thenticity emphasized the authenticity of subcontinent e.g. culture, occupation, the objects visited by tourist), (ii) con- climate, locally produced , structivism (constructive authenticity is and spices which significantly de- the result of social construction rather pend on soil and climate (Krisnakumar, than objective things identity of objec- 2019). Another influential factor to im- tive by tourism or tourist producer in pact Indian cuisine is Indian or term of their preferences, effects, expec- cast system (Md. Taufique, 2019). Every tation, imagery, beliefs etc.), (iii) post- state has a very individual method of modernism, (postmodernism authenticity cooking based on locally obtainable in- deconstructs the conception of authentic- gredients which makes a vast variety of ity by blurring the boundaries between Indian . The variety of taste of re- the original and depilated, and (IV) exis- gional Indian food are not only due to the tentialism, (existentialism is the degree different curry powder or spices or herbs to which an individual’s actions are con- but, the way of cooking. It is seen that gruent with their beliefs and desires, de- the environment also plays a crucial role spite external pressure (Wang, 1999). on quality and authenticity of cuisine Authenticity is one of the important per- (Josiam & Moteiro, 2004; Jain & Bagler, spective of the culinary tourism research. 2015). Indian cuisine is widely available throughout the world as a result of the It is well known that customer sat- progress of the Indian diaspora, mostly isfaction is the most important part of in the countries of the previous British any restaurant business. Starting from Empire (Josiam, Sohail & Monteiro, cuisine selection to visit, the customer 2007; Basu, 2011; Ray & Srinivas, make some imagination in their mind. It 2012). is well known that the hospitality service 282 The International Journal of Organizational Innovation Volume 13 Number 2, October 2020

2020-1115 IJOI https://www.ijoi-online.org/ especially very much rely The data for this study were col- on three elements (Bujisic, Hutchinson lected through the field questionnaire & Parsa, 2014; Berry, Carbone & survey. Two different sections were de- Haeckel, 2002). First element is food signed in questionnaire sheet. First sec- quality which signifies how fresh and tion was designed to survey customer healthy food or dishes are served. In a status e.g. age, occupation and second restaurant, customer always demand and section was dedicated for satisfaction expect good quality food and services assessment e.g how customer will grade (Lei & Hu, 2010). It is very difficult to quality of food in number scale from 1 to make all customer satisfied over same 5 while 1 for poor quality and 5 for ex- food and quality since each customer cellent. Three popular different Indian carries their unique opinion of taste. It is restaurants in Hsinchu, Taiwan namely observed that customers have become Chillies, , and Mayur Indian more and more classy, value conscious Kitchen were selected for data collection. and easily find alternative services in Hsinchu, a well-known industrial city, is case of single mistake (Mhlanga, Hat- one of the most populous cities in Tai- tingh & Moolman, 2014). Second is ser- wan. First questionnaire were issued to vice quality indicating how customers customer on April 2018 to survey their are greeted or taken care by the restau- satisfaction over Indian restaurant. A rants? In restaurant or hospitality indus- total 250 question sheets were issued try, service quality has been confirmed while only 189 were collected due to to be one of the very important aspects customers’ poor willingness to response for customer satisfaction. It was found over period of one year. No Indian cus- that improved service quality creates ex- tomer data was recorded in this research cellent customer satisfaction (Bujisic, to remove the country bias. All respons- Hutchinson & Parsa, 2014; Zeithaml, es were collected from Taiwanese adult Berry & Parasuraman, 1996). Third im- individual customer. Apart from cus- portant elements is physical environment tomer survey, restaurant managers were or setting of the restaurant including, personally interviewed to understand the interior decoration, cleanness and at- cuisine. Additional data for restaurant mosphere. It was observed that the phys- menu were collected online from five ical environment is very influential to different restaurants. See Figure 1: Sur- create positive image and behavior on vey results for nature of customer customer especially for services such as hotel, restaurant, professional office, Findings and discussion banks, retail store etc. (Bitner, 1992). Other researcher described price tag of A total 189 customer responses were food or overall services as fourth ele- recorded and categorized in two distinct ment for customer satisfaction (Correia categories. First set of questions includ- et al., 2008). These are the key elements ing nationality, sex, age group, and directly related to customer satisfaction. Methodology

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Figure 1: Survey results for nature of customer profession were designed to understand rant. See Figure 2: Survey results for the nature of customer, as shown in Fig- customer satisfaction ure 1. It was observed that majority of customers are middle aged at their 30’s High customer satisfaction is also with stable source of income and Taiwan evidenced by the willingness of custom- national. No particular pattern was ob- ers to recommend cuisine to others. Au- served in customer gender suggesting thors believed that customer satisfaction the popularity of food to everyone. It over Indian cuisine is related to the qual- was also observed that over 50% cus- ity of the food served by the restaurant. tomer were high valued customer as evi- However, it was surprising that majority denced from their profession indicating of the customers (>88%) do not visit the higher price of food. Second set of ques- restaurant within a year. Cost could be tions were designed to see the customer the key factor for this behavioral pattern satisfaction over Indian cuisine. As of the customer as evidenced by the cus- shown in Figure 2, more than 95% cus- tomer profile described above. tomer expressed their satisfaction on overall service provided by the restau- To cross verify the above results, further analysis was carried out on data

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Figure 2: Survey results for customer satisfaction collected from personal interview of res- food quality was well maintained as ob- taurant managers and online portals. A served from the survey. This is very question set was carefully arranged to much achievable when any particular look into cuisine authenticity, food type of cuisine is localized based on de- quality and service quality of the restau- mand of local customers. One of the res- rant. Restaurants were asked to specify taurants clearly mentioned about local the cuisine type. All restaurants served food in their menu list, which verifies Indian cuisine rather particular cuisine author assumption of food localization. suggesting non-authentic nature of res- taurant. It was observed that restaurants To further understand the service under this study have had good attrac- quality of the restaurant, business expe- tiveness as Indian cuisine. However, rience and employee type was investi- making all type of Indian cuisine in sin- gated. The restaurants in this study were gle restaurant is very much impractical experiencing business in Taiwan ranging due to vast variety of Indian cuisine and from 5 years to over 30 years. Majority needed experience. Therefore, authentic- of the employees of all the businesses ity of Indian cuisine was spoiled as were part-time worker with very little or claimed by the business entity. Despite no experience about the Indian cuisine. of compromised authenticity of cuisine, An interesting pattern was seen about 285 The International Journal of Organizational Innovation Volume 13 Number 2, October 2020

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Figure 3: Full-time employee ratio in Indian cuisine service part-time to full-time employee ratio tion. Commonly, ordering individual over these restaurants. The business with food resulted higher cost compare to set longer experience had lower full-time which benefitted customer. There- employee ratio, as shown in Figure 3. fore, customers had have very few choices when they look for daily or fre- This could be related to business quent dining solution. Table 1 shows demand. Once restaurants get popularity summarized menu list extracted from among locals due to localization of food, different Indian cuisine served in Taiwan. they need more local employees rather Any Indian cuisine have very interested experienced personnel to fit the custom- meal system. In general, a single full er demand. Local part-time employee of Indian meal consists five dif- can understand the customer demand ferent taste of saltiness, bitterness, savor- well for better service quality, while iness (umami), sourness, and sweetness. make business expenditure lower. To taste Indian cuisine, one must order a See Figure 3: Full-time employee ratio complete courses of food including ap- in Indian cuisine service petizer, main course, accompaniments and alike five different taste To understand non-returning cus- where main course correspond to bitter- tomer behavior despite good food quali- ness and umami. As can be seen in the ty, cost analysis was carried out based on summarized menu list, customer has to data collected from online portal. Res- spend big amount which is more than taurant menu is an important aspect to daily wage of normal Taiwanese as per have influence on customer satisfac year 2020 data.

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Table 1: Summarized and categorized Indian restaurant menu from Taiwan

Food course/Type Minimum listed Maximum listed Calculated aver- cost collected cost collected age cost (TWD) from all menu from all menu list list (New Taiwan (TWD) Doller, TWD) Appetizer 90 290 162 Accompaniments 220 590 362 Main course (Cur- 195 420 323 ries) Main course 80 250 138 () Desserts 55 120 86

Conclusion over food quality and dine at Indian cui- sine once in a year. It is believed that According to survey results, a good high cost of food is dominant factor for customer satisfaction is observed. Based non-returning behavior of customers. on customer feedback during survey, it Based on the discussion above including is believed that good food qualityand customer type, restaurant menu and ser- localization of Indian cuisine are key vicescape analysis, it is believed that In- factors for higher customer satisfaction. dian restaurant serves as high profile Interview with business owner indicates type of restaurant Taiwan. To attract that cuisine authenticity is highly com- more customer and to deliver high satis- promised as claimed by the business. It faction, authors recommended to im- is observed that a vast variety of Indian prove servicescape of the business entity cuisine and poorly trained employees while maintaining resent food quality. make it difficult to keep and serve au- Few easy to achieve improvements such thentic Indian food in Taiwan. Prepara- a adding parking facility, providing extra tion of Indian cuisine is altered by use of amount of food etc. will certainly im- locally available ingredients including prove customer satisfaction. spices and herbs which, modifies the taste and aroma of cuisine. In some cas- es, a single restaurant provides variety of References cuisine e.g. Panjabi dishes along with Bengali food. The study determines that Basu, S. (2011). Curry: The Story of authentic Indian cuisine no longer exists Britain’s Favorite Dish. New : and localized version of Indian cuisine is Rupa. evolved. The survey also shows that majority of the customers are satisfied

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Mhlanga, O., Hattingh Z., and Moolman ty, Tourism and Leisure, 3(1), J. H., (2014). The effect of restau- ISSN: 2223-814X. rant attributes on customer experi- ence and experiences in formal full Sankar, A. (2017). Creation of Indian- service restaurant in Port Elizabeth, : Chinese food in South Africa. Journal of Hospitali- an Indian city. Journal of Ethnic Foods, 4(4): 268-273.

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