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Reconceptualising the Commercial Meal Experience in the Hospitality Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2012

Marc B. Stierand  and
Roy C. Wood
Marc B. Stierand*
Affiliation:
NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
Roy C. Wood
Affiliation:
NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
*
Address for correspondence: Marc Stierand, Academy of Hotel and Facility Management NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, Sibeliuslaan 13, 4837 CA Breda, Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article critically reappraises a key concept in hospitality management (and specifically food and beverage management) — that of the meal experience. Focusing primarily on the commercial sense and applications of the concept, while recognising the many other contexts that provide a basis for much wider study of the phenomenon, the discussion questions the status of the meal experience as part of the ‘received wisdom’ of hospitality management on the grounds that empirical support for the concept, as represented in the published research literature, is limited both in quantity and evidential persuasiveness.

Keywords

meal experiencehospitality managementindicative research evidencesubstantive research evidence
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management , Volume 19 , July 2012 , e14
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2012

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