Analysis of Statistical Trends Between Design and Comfort at

Chili’s Restaurant

Asif Hussain

Kristyn Starr

Intro To Brinker

• Brinker International has 5 divisions of restaurants ranging from casual dining to fine dining

• 3.7 billion dollar company

• Recognized by FORTUNE magazine as one of “America’s most admired companies”

Chili’s Grill & Bar

• Has an eclectic menu and casual friendly atmosphere

• 49 states and 23 countries

• Recently opened its 1000th restaurant

Task At Hand

• Does the architecture (prototype) of Chili’s influence a guest’s comfort?

• Find trends in data to answer question

• Give recommendations for changes to be made at Chili’s

Data Source

• Guest Satisfaction Survey (GSS)

• Guests receive survey information on receipt

• Chance to win $25,000

• About 2 million cases

GSS Question Dimensions Restaurant Environment

• Atmosphere

• Cleanliness

• Comfort

• Restrooms

GSS Question Dimensions Staff

• Welcomed upon arrival

• Acknowledged quickly upon being seated

• Attentiveness of server

• Beverage served timely

GSS Question Dimensions Staff

• Food served timely

• Enthusiasm

• Promptness of payment

• Servers knowledge

GSS Question DimensionsCompare to Similar Restaurant

• Overall

• Atmosphere

• Food

• Service

Software Used

• SPSS – Statistical analysis software

– User friendly graphical interface

– Compatible with Brinker software

Crosstabs

• Find correlation between comfort and other variables

• The best Pearson’s r value found is 0.620 for correlation of comfort and overall experience

• Second best Pearson’s r value is 0.605 for comfort and cleanliness

• Due to lots of data and significance=0 this r value shows a correlation

Comfort & Overall Experience

Symmetric Measures

.620 .001 1029.876 .000c

.642 .001 1092.103 .000c

1701257

Pearson's RInterval by Interval

Spearman CorrelationOrdinal by Ordinal

N of Valid Cases

ValueAsymp.

Std. Errora

Approx. Tb

Approx. Sig.

Not assuming the null hypothesis.a.

Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.b.

Based on normal approximation.c.

Comfort & Cleanliness

Symmetric Measures

.605 .001 992.038 .000c

.628 .001 1053.530 .000c

1701257

Pearson's RInterval by Interval

Spearman CorrelationOrdinal by Ordinal

N of Valid Cases

ValueAsymp.

Std. Errora

Approx. Tb

Approx. Sig.

Not assuming the null hypothesis.a.

Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.b.

Based on normal approximation.c.

One-Way ANOVA

• Compare means of variables using prototype as factor to find significance of differences

• Full analysis was done on 19 variables

Food served timely

Prototype

850

800

700

600

550

500

100

14

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

3

2

Me

an

of

qrS

erv

ed

4.2

4.1

4.0

3.9

7.X 8.X8.M6.X

5.A

5.AXSP

Comfort

Prototype

850

800

700

600

550

500

100

14

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

3

2

Me

an

of

Ove

rall

Co

mfo

rt

4.14

4.12

4.10

4.08

4.06

4.04

4.02

4.00

3.98

7.X 8.X

8.M6.X

5.A

5.AX

SP

Atmosphere

Prototype

850

800

700

600

550

500

100

14

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

3

2

Me

an

of

Ho

w w

ou

ld y

ou

ra

te t

he

Atm

osp

he

re?

4.2

4.1

4.0

7.X 8.X

8.M6.X

5.A

5.AX

SP

Compare to similar overall

Prototype

850

800

700

600

550

500

100

14

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

3

2

Me

an

of

qrC

om

pa

reR

est

Ove

rall

4.1

4.0

3.9

3.8

7.X 8.X

8.M6.X

5.A

5.AX

SP

Overall

Prototype

850

800

700

600

550

500

100

14

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

3

2

Me

an

of

qrO

vera

ll

4.10

4.08

4.06

4.04

4.02

4.00

3.98

3.96

3.94

3.92

7.X 8.X8.M6.X

5.A

5.AX

SP

Conclusion

• Prototype 14 consistently scored higher than the rest

– Changed exterior and interior

– Newer look : Stone and perforated metal exterior accents; cook-off/ event pictures, toys and cars spotlighted inside

– 7 stores and 4078 entries

Conclusion

• Prototype 11 and 7.X consistently scored low– 11 only has one restaurant

– 7.X is expanded 7; once again only a few

– 7.X may have scored low because of location and not prototype

Suggestion

• It appears that the prototype does not affect the comfort much

• Benchmarks may help to better separate the strong and weak prototypes

• Look at top 2 boxes of ratings instead of means

Suggestion

• With minor adjustments to staff, air, and table spacing comfort levels could improve

• More detailed questions on GSS or focus group may offer more insight