HEALTH FOOD PRODUCTS AS A TOOL FOR MARKET GROWTH AMONG RESTAURANTS IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Though research shows that pro i. ion of nutririon informa tion on menus increases the number 01 pcople \\ ho use it to cl 'ct healthier mea l choices. the effect of healti1 fo oe! products on growt h of the h alth food market is not known. Research also shows that bealth eaLing is about fat end energy content of fo d. he re is, however. e idence that health rood market trends have long shift d from fat and energy lev Is in food to other components Ihal ar hased on cu:-wmers' ideas of what constitut es hea lth earing. TI1is srudy sough! to in\'cstigate heald l food produ cts a il t oj fl [ growing th market amo ng restaurant . The study adopt ed a cro , eClioJlal analytical design wl!u~e sample wa~ drawn u:-.i ng r allllofJl and purpo ivc sampli ng procedures for restaw-an ts, head. of department alld targeted customers. Ot t of thc L47 healrh food restaurants in airobi City County , 74 wcre randomly ~a.tnpled and included ill the study. Re pondents for the study entailed 296 heads of department and 382 customers yiclding a total of 6 8 resp onden s. Data was cull ct cl using structured questionna ires anti observation checkli (S . The coneeted data was screened an d analysed by irequencles. perce ntages. correlation, cross tabu atlOn. chi-square and multiple logistical regression. Data was presented by u se of tables. graphs anti prose explanations. W hereas 678 ljll s[ionnai res were administe red to respondents. a respon,: e rate of 97c k was achieved, accounting for (15 7 respondents. On the othe r hand. observation checklists that 74 health food product reo(aurants had 84o/r rc:spon se rate (6 2 health food product restaurants). Results of the study I'll w that the products on orfer perceived by restaurant cu to mers as health were: traditional foods, III di cinaL products cooked using health cooking methods (59%); vege tarian food products (19. 2%): gluten free products ( 12.2%) and sea food (9.6%). The tu dy eSLablished that a sign ificant relationship existed beLwee n health food products on offer jn restaurants in N airobi City and customer needs (a Pearson carrel ati on r value of -0 093 , a regression p valu =OOOL Li near logistic r value of 0.000 and X2. 0.443; a= 0.05 ). actors tha t signi ficantly in fluenced custom r needs for h alth food products were: desire to lead a hea lth hfestyle. family culture ; medical prescription: media, school and book ' (con-el ation p 'JlLlc of 0.001 ; o. = 0.( 5) Variables uf the . LUd y lhat were fOLlnd to be significant in growth If the he alth food product market were : capacity- menus (p =00(0), equipmetlt (p = OOOU ), rr duct quality (p == 0.000), raw ma terials (p = 0.01 3) and trained -taft' (p = 0.05); cllsromcr ,.Itisfaction- salisfied (p =0.(00). dis.-atisfied (p = 0.00 1). cmd vel') d issatisfied (p = 0.000). Oln r va riab l ~ [hat were significant iT marke t growth we re : loyal ty- non loyallY (p =0.0(0) ,mJ minimal 10 'aity (p = 0.( 15); intcrv lu ng factors-meeling frien Is (p == 0.(02) and l.Ul1\enience of restau ra nt locati on (p =0.000); ma rket re::;pon'ie: amI 'orlo-economic fac tors -(1r HOD and cm:tomers. The sLudy further fou nd th at marke t growth depended on the '1e~llt hy tood products on offer. It was. however, e stablished [ha t only 3.5 '70 (R:' = 0.035) of rlJrk l growth of the sampled restauranb could be accounted for by the health food product.s , lrfer. Tn order to significantly grow the hea.l th food market in reslauranb, there is need to I -.:rease the number of res aurants that offer he althy food products as well as restaurant .: _pa 'ity (inte nsify training of staff in health food and ss i t restaurants to source for _~[ ro li ate equipment) to offer this cadre of products. The study further concluded that _..11th f) d products 011 offe r in rc taurants in tl is ru l1~t category shoul cl cnt. it traditional. l~dkl L rroduc(s co k'd lIsillg he( Ith coo ing me thods, v get. rian, glute n i'ree and sea pr1 1duct.- tLlne vari tIes (l , lOw~ er. be pnJ vld tl hased 011 lli P r 'ei ve r! cus!omer