My wife and kids are loving Salt Lake City — and tonight is our first night getting food from a restaurant since we are so tired unpacking boxes all day!  We’ve had mountain vistas and super friendly mormon neighbors out our window all day, but the sun is setting and now we are ready to eat!  We always opt for Italian food if we are going to eat with our daughter, as it’s her favorite food (and we are also of Italian heritage, and love comparing this cuisine to our favorite Italian restaurants in NYC and Philadelphia).

Now that I am studying Intro to Marketing, I am approaching our quest for the “best” Italian food here in Salt Lake City thru the prism of the “consumer decision-making process,” or “CDM,” which is a “chunked” method of examining how we consumers approach the shopping process.  The CDM is a 5 step process consisting of: 1) need recognition, 2) information search, 3) evaluation of alternatives, 4) purchase, and 5) post-purchase behavior.

We’ve identified our “need recognition”–in this instance, our need for food, and specifically Italian food, since we are eating with our 1 year old daughter Remington, and she loves Italian above everything else.  It’s just easier to get her fed, and keep her happy and thus my wife happy.  Plus, my wife and I love comparing this cuisine to some great places back on the East coast.  Check.

Next, the “information search.”  Even though I don’t trust Google, or any other large technology company for that matter, we are going to let the intrusive, manipulate dweebs & their algorithms know that we are on a quest for Italian food in the greater Salt Lake City metropolitan region.  This is probably the default setting for many American consumers now; don’t bother looking for a Yellow Pages or talking with a long-term resident neighbor for a solid recommendation, just whip out a smart phone and search “best Italian food in Salt Lake City.”  I already know that I’m not going to drive far, and that I’m also looking for a restaurant that has a take-out food option since we don’t want to schlep our infant around and inside new restaurants…on account of the COVID.  I also know that I’m not a Yelper or an OCD foodie critic, so I’m not going to bother going down a rabbit hole for the “truly best” spot.  Google is helpful here; the engine responds with several choices, including a map showing distance from our new, way overpriced home, as well as several other short-hand metrics indicating cost ($$) and quality (****).

Next, I’m “evaluating the alternatives,” the top 3 choices which happen to be close to me: 1) Bucca di Beppo, 2) Caffe Molise, and 3) Michelangelo’s on Main.  Within 1 minute, we’ve settled on Caffe Molise, as they have curbside pickup, the highest number of positive reviews (over 2K, wow!), and they are comparably priced to the other alternatives.  Plus, it sounds like it’s NOT a “chain restaurant,” and Michelangelo’s on Main has a thumbnail pic that looks pretty unappetizing.  We’ll keep Bucca di Beppo in our back pocket for our next Italian food hankering.

In retrospect, I think the CDM is something that is almost unconscious for me as a consumer!  I do this all the time and I never realized there are definitive, discrete steps in the consumption quest!  I think my preferences are fairly well representative of other consumers, in that most shoppers are now online centric in their initial info gathering stage, especially for new items and areas!  What might be interesting is what others search results returned based on the tech companies profiles–I would love to hear if other consumers were “suggested” other restaurants besides what the Silicon Valley info manipulators suggested for me!