As someone unfamiliar with the culinary offerings in Salt Lake City, Utah, the idea of discovering local restaurants was simultaneously thrilling and daunting. Starting my exploration without the guidance of targeted advertisements, I embarked on this journey driven by a keen interest in exploring the varied dining options in this metropolitan region.

The first step in my exploration involved turning to online platforms and review websites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google Reviews. These platforms provided valuable insights into the local dining scene, offering user-generated reviews and ratings. Additionally, I explored local food blogs and articles to gain a deeper understanding of the popular and hidden gems within the city.

Several eateries that stuck out to me during my study each had distinctive ambiances and cuisines. Renowned for its real Mexican food, Red Iguana drew my eye with its glowing reviews and lively atmosphere. Situated in the picturesque Mill Creek Canyon, Log Haven has become a popular destination because to its luxurious dining options and breathtaking natural settings. Considering a variety of options, such as the modern Handle and the eclectic Copper Onion, made my decision-making process more difficult.

The consumer decision-making process in this unfamiliar culinary landscape was marked by several realizations. First, the importance of online reviews and ratings played a significant role in shaping my perceptions of each restaurant. The collective wisdom of previous diners provided a sense of trust and guided my choices. Second, the visual appeal of a restaurant, as showcased through user-generated photos and professional images, played a crucial role in creating expectations and influencing my preferences.

Given the absence of targeted ads shaping my preferences, my decision-making process aligns more closely with organic and authentic reviews. While some consumers may be swayed by promotional content or advertisements, my journey relied on unbiased feedback and genuine experiences shared by fellow diners. The emphasis on diverse cuisines, unique dining atmospheres, and the overall culinary experience places me within a group of consumers seeking authenticity and variety in their gastronomic adventures.

Exploring Salt Lake City’s culinary scene as someone unfamiliar with the options proved to be a gratifying adventure. I encountered a spectrum of dynamic and diverse restaurants, with my decision-making influenced by online reviews, the visual allure of establishments, and a quest for authentic experiences. In a city where targeted ads didn’t steer my choices, this journey highlighted the impact of unbiased information and showcased the abundant culinary treasures available to those willing to venture beyond the familiar.

Finding places to eat in the unfamiliar city of Salt Lake City, Utah, presents a challenge to me as a newcomer. With no prior knowledge of the local area, each step I take becomes crucial to ensure a good experience. The potential consequences of making a bad decision as a consumer ranges from wasting time trying to get refunds or having to suck it up and be dissatisfied with what you paid for. As a consumer with no knowledge on Salt Lake City, Utah I have to start with a blank slate, that means I must rely on the internet for most of my information. I will explain my process in order using the stages of need recognition, information search, and evaluation of alternatives to select the Italian Takeout restaurant that best suits my situation.

I have just moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, my fridge has not yet been stocked; my only other option for food is takeout. What I will be looking for specifically is Italian food; I do not have a lot to spend considering I just paid security so nothing too fancy, and I can only do delivery as I do not want to leave the comfort of my home. I start off my research by searching up on Google for “Italian takeout delivery in Salt Lake City”. I see that Google has filter options, so I put “rating” as “3.5 and up”, and “price” as “$$”. The factors I put the most importance to, is the customer reviews/ratings, and how big the portion sizes are based off pictures.

To evaluate alternatives, i narrowed it down to the best 3 choices based off their ratings. The 3 choices are “Caffe Molise”, “Olive Garden Italian Restaurant”, and “Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant”; I chose these 3 as they have the highest quantity of ratings and over 4+ stars each. I started off by looking at their posted pictures of dishes; “Caffe Molise” had very fancy unrecognizable dishes that would cover about 1/3 of the plate, upon seeing this I decided to cross “Caffe Molise” off the list. On the other hand, “Olive Garden Italian restaurant” and “Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant” had generous portions with dishes that look familiar to me. After looking over the menus for both restaurants, I can see that they serve mostly the same options and are priced relatively the same. That means my final decision will be based off recent customers reviews.

After looking over customer reviews and menu options, I decided that the restaurant of choice that I will be purchasing from is “Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant”. This is mainly because of the fact that many recent reviews on “Olive Garden Italian Restaurant” are people that are saying that their food is very “mediocre and bland”. While “Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant’s” reviews are mostly positive, with some reviews even showing off their finished plates.

After reflecting on my journey as a newcomer searching for takeout, it became clear that the consumer decision-making process plays a crucial role in every purchase. Each consumer has their own taste, so they will more than likely choose the option that best suits them. This experience also taught me that businesses need to think about who they want to attract as customers and what they can do to make sure their target audience keeps choosing them.

When selecting an Italian takeout restaurant, my preference leaned heavily toward affordability, considering I had just recently moved to an urban apartment. Going for a low-budget option, my focus was on something not too fancy yet big in portion. However, I recognize that preferences when considering dining are very diverse and can vary.  For some, the sit-in experience, with food served fresh from the kitchen, may be more important than getting food delivered to their home. There are even those who lean towards the fancier side, prioritizing quality over quantity with smaller portions. These varying preferences show the importance of consumer’s individual tastes, and/or financial situations, and how they can greatly influence whether they purchase something or not.

Choosing food for delivery is something I do frequently both as a personal consumer and as part of my job. My needs and concerns for either situation are often on opposite ends – low price is a concern when ordering for myself, whereas it is not a concern when ordering for my job, in favor of ease of setup and taste.

My research thus starts from one of those two points. For myself, as a non-driver pickup is not an option, so delivery is a must. DoorDash is my go-to first step for personal orders, whereas EZCater (designed for ordering for large groups) is my first step for work orders. With that in mind, I looked through the personal-order scenario, described below. I used the Salt Lake City court as the delivery address, as that is close to where I would be if I were ordering for work and likely nearby for a personal order as well.

Needs recognition: Personal ordering is always prompted by my immediate hunger. In this example, I have a strong craving for Italian food (unusual for me) and – being hungry – would prioritize delivery that is closer/faster.

Information search: Cost is a factor for me, and using DoorDash I give some priority to those restaurants that have a $0 delivery fee. I found a significant number of restaurants searching “Italian” on DoorDash for my SLC address, so I set the filter to “under 30 minutes” (this cut the options approximately in half, to 99 results). To further lower the number of options, I set the “Ratings” filter to only show restaurants rated 4.5 stars or above. This got me down to 66 results. After that, I just scrolled. The majority of the first results were pizza (something I am skeptical of anywhere outside the tri-state area) and various pubs, none of which seem particularly Italian to me, so I just kept scrolling. I did place a high priority on the photo that each restaurant chooses as their display pic, and found that I preferred a photo of pasta (to me, that reads as Italian food).

Evaluation of alternatives: I ultimately considered Zaffo’s Artisan Pasta or Antica Roma. In choosing between them, I noted that Antica Roma had over 1,000 reviews whereas as Zaffo’s had only 62. However, Zaffo’s had  two pesto dishes featured in their “popular items” choices that I found very appealing based on the picture and the description (“reginette” is not a very common American-Italian option in my experience which suggested to me that it the restaurant as a whole is more authentically Italian, as well as the desserts – only three, two panna cotta options and one tiramisu, listed under the title “Dolci”). Antica also looked to have great pasta dishes, but at more than twice the cost ($25 versus $11) and no panna cotta in the dessert options.

Purchase decision: I opted for Zaffo’s – the menu options gave me confidence despite the lower number of reviews, and additionally I strongly prefer pesto-based pasta dishes over tomato-based or cream-based sauces, which Zaffo’s had solid options in. Additionally the cost difference was substantial, a definite consideration when ordering for myself and especially if I am ordering for family members as well.

If I was ordering for work, I would have likely ordered from Antica – they had bruschetta and other appetizers (much more important when ordering for a team meal), and while I did not check, it seems likely they offer catering via EZCater, and going with the more expensive but also more reviewed choice is my standard approach for work.

I presume for other consumers, they would have additional options based on being able to do pickup if desired. Consumers with more disposable income would possibly also turn to Antica more quickly than I would. I also skipped a restaurant that chose a meatball sub image for their picture (Moochie’s Meatballs and More); I am not a big fan of meatballs or sandwiches, and presumably consumers who find those items more enticing would be more likely to consider that restaurant (or, pizza, if they are more willing to risk Utah pizza than I am – since there were 5 pizza options outside of the larger chain options, I presume others are interested in that where I am not!)

First-image photos definitely had a larger impact on me than I expected, as well as name choices!

I recently moved to Salt Lake City, Utah and I have been traveling around looking for things to do and places to eat. I wanted to see what the Italian cuisine here is like, so I decided to look for a restaurant in advance to take my family to. For me to find the best Italian restaurant successfully and efficiently, I had to follow the steps of the consumer decision making process.

The first step is the recognition of the problem. The problem here is that my family and I are craving Italian food. We would like to find a casual Italian restaurant where we can dine-in, has a welcoming environment, has at least a 4-star rating, has a great wine selection because my parents love their wine, and delicious, good quality food. Although we are looking for something causal, we want a restaurant that keeps the authenticity of the Italian food. The second step is the information search. I started off by entering “best Italian restaurants in Salt Lake City, Utah” into the search bar on google. I proceeded to scroll through the different websites with lists of restaurants. I decided I wanted to use websites that I have experience with when looking for somewhere to go, so I then went to yelp.com and tripadvisor.com. I clicked on several restaurants, looked at the ratings and reviews left by people that ate at those places so it would be reliable. I also made sure to pay attention to the images of the inside of the restaurants and images of the food. All these factors come into play when deciding the best place to go. The third step is the evaluation of alternatives. I looked at a few of the high rated Italian restaurants in Salt Lake City, Utah and evaluated them. After looking at ratings, reviews, photos, and the menus, I was able to cut my list down to 4 restaurants. These restaurants are:

• Salt & Olive: 4.3 stars, welcoming environment, reasonable prices, small wine selection.
• Matteo Ristorante: 4.6 stars, high quality/authentic, welcoming, owner and staff make you feel at home, large wine selection.
• Sicilia Mia: 4.3 stars, nice Italian vibe, large wine selection, menu has high variety.
• Bartolo’s: 4.3 stars, smaller menu, inside not too welcoming, high quality/ authentic, small wine selection.

After much consideration, I decided to take my family to Matteo Ristorante. I made this decision because it had the highest rating at 4.6 stars, the food looked very high quality and looked like authentic Italian food. It is also a very welcoming restaurant, as I read in multiple reviews that the owner and staff make you feel at home. Lastly, they had the best wine selection out of all the restaurants I looked at. The process of consumer decision making helped me to realize that although people have different preferences, this process can be used by anyone and will still be efficient and helpful. It is important to be aware of all aspects of a place when searching for somewhere new to go because even a small factor can have a huge impact on one’s overall liking of it. One preference that most likely made my decision different than the decision of other consumers is the large wine selection I was looking for. My family and I were very happy and satisfied with the restaurant I chose to go with, all the factors I loved about it, they also enjoyed, thanks to my successful use of the consumer decision making process.

Liling liu

MAR 100 – B050

Professor Buckler

November 19,  2023

      Relocating to Salt Lake City brought with it the excitement of exploring new culinary landscapes. As someone with a profound appreciation for high-quality dining experiences, I embarked on a quest to find the perfect Italian restaurant in my new city. This paper narrates my journey, reflective of the consumer decision-making process, as I navigated through various choices to satiate my craving for Italian cuisine.

Recognizing the Need

      My quest began with a simple yet compelling need: to find an Italian restaurant that not only offered exceptional food but also boasted a delightful dining environment. As a consumer who values both taste and ambiance, my preference leaned towards an upscale, fine-dining experience. This need became the driving force behind my exploration.

Information Search

      The first step was to scour through reliable sources for potential options. Turning to popular review platforms such as Google Reviews and social media, I sought restaurants renowned for their culinary excellence and inviting atmosphere. This search led me to uncover several enticing prospects: Sicilia Mia, Caffe Molise, Osteria Amore, Valter’s Osteria, and Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana. Each establishment presented its unique charm, reflected through customer reviews and star ratings.

Evaluation of Alternatives

      The decision-making process intensified as I delved deeper into evaluating each restaurant. Sicilia Mia (4.6 stars, 1805 reviews) and Osteria Amore (4.6 stars, 796 reviews) promised authentic Italian flavors, whereas Caffe Molise (4.5 stars, 2967 reviews) and Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana (4.5 stars, 3191 reviews) were praised for their diverse menu offerings. However, it was Valter’s Osteria (4.6 stars, 1506 reviews) that truly caught my attention. Its blend of an upscale environment, rave reviews, and the promise of an exquisite culinary journey aligned perfectly with my preferences.

Purchase Decision

      My choice eventually settled on Valter’s Osteria. The deciding factors were its stellar reputation for delivering a high-end dining experience and its culinary acclaim, which resonated with my desire for a memorable meal. The decision to dine at Valter’s Osteria was a testament to its ability to meet my specific dining criteria.

Reflections and Personal Insights

      Reflecting on this experience, I realized the significant impact of personal preferences and the power of online reviews in the decision-making process. As someone new to the area, without prior exposure to local advertising, these online resources were instrumental in guiding my choice. This journey underscored the importance of thorough research and understanding one’s preferences in decision-making. It also highlighted how my priorities, such as ambiance and culinary excellence, might differ from other consumers who may value convenience or budget-friendliness more.

Conclusion

     In conclusion, my exploration into Salt Lake City’s Italian dining scene was not just about finding a place to eat; it was a journey shaped by specific needs and informed by meticulous research. This experience was a practical application of the consumer decision-making process, revealing the intricate layers of consumer behavior and the diverse factors that influence our choices. As I enjoyed my meal at Valter’s Osteria, I not only indulged in delightful Italian cuisine but also gained a deeper appreciation for the nuanced process of consumer decision-making.

I’m new to Salt Lake City, Utah and I’m looking for an Italian restaurant, the process of finding the right restaurant for me involves the numerous steps of the consumer decision-making process. First I need to take some things into account like is there any certain type of Italian food I want, am I looking for someplace casual or a place more upscale, am I looking to have the food delivered and what is my budget looking like.

Then the first stage of the consumer decision making process is Problem Recognition, and I would recognized that I am hungry and am looking for Italian takeout preferably pizza so I would need to find a place that does takeout and I also recognize that I recently moved so I am not familiar with the food options around me. So the second stage is an Information Search in which I went on google and searched for Italian restaurants in Salt Lake City, Utah and I found the website trip advisor which has a list of the 10 best Italian Restaurants in Salt Lake City, Utah. So I went through the list and chose the best restaurants based of the reviews and quality of food and the restaurants reputation. The Third step is evaluation of alternatives so I chose two that I would possibly eat from, Settebello Pizzeria and The Pie Pizzeria Underground and ultimately went with Settebello Pizzeria because it had over 800 reviews with majority of them being positive and they offered takeout which is what I was looking for.

I realized that the consumer decision making process includes research and evaluation of many criteria’s like food type, setting, reviews, and personal preferences and it ultimately helps out immensely when making decisions on things like choosing where you want to go out and eat. When it comes to comparing preferences to other consumers there are many things other individuals would prioritize based on their interests and preferences like some may want a fancy dining experience and some may just want something casual. But ultimately there is always multiple options for people to choose from based on there preferences and it can always be found and that shows the importance of the consumer decision making process.

Ouriel Blum,

MAR 100 – B050

Professor Buckler

November 18, 2023

Consumer Decision Making

As new residents of Salt Lake City, Utah, my family and I wanted to transport a little bit of our former lives in New York City to our new home and that entailed finding the same food that we love.  We always enjoyed the many authentic Italian restaurants in NYC and so began a search to find something similarly appealing in Salt Lake City.  The type of Italian restaurant I was looking for would serve authentic, southern Italian cuisine – not too fancy or too casual.  It would also be a place that paid attention to the source and quality of its ingredients.  Ideally, it would be a restaurant where the chef would occasionally come out and greet the guests.  Since I would be busy with integrating into a new job, I needed a place that could offer delivery service as well.  I also was not prepared to pay the same in Salt Lake as I was in NYC, so the price point would have to be below that of my local NYC Italian restaurant.  Lastly, the restaurant needed to be within driving distance of my new home.  All these factors defined the first step in the consumer decision making process, “need recognition”.

For the next step of the consumer decision making process, “information search”, I turned to my attention to the internet.  There are many online resources to consider, for example: OpenTable (www.opentable.com), TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com) google (www.google.com) as well as many local online magazines that rank the many Italian restaurants in the city.  I did not spend too much time on TripAdvisor because that seems to target people who have a short time in the city and want to experience something more “special” since they are on vacation.   I was looking for a restaurant that I could return to, time and again.  My first google search brought up three different restaurants on the first page.  I paid attention to the ratings that the restaurant had as well as the number of ratings, since the more ratings a restaurant has, the more I trust the rating itself.  The first restaurant I looked at was Caffe Molise.  I checked the ratings (4.5 with over 3,000 ratings) and the location through Google, and I also saw that they offered pickup and delivery in addition to in-restaurant dining.  Then I looked at the menu on the restaurant website which seemed authentically southern Italian.  The other two restaurants that showed up on Google had lower ratings, so I did not follow up with those.  However, when I clicked on “more restaurants”, I saw that Olive Garden had a 4.4 rating, which made me wonder about the 4.5 rating for Caffe Molise.  The next one I looked at was Osteria Amore, which had a 4.6 rating and similar dining options to Caffe Molise.  However, they moved to the top of my list because they noted on their menu that “all pastas are homemade using fresh organic local eggs and Caputo flour”.  That alone was enough to put them at the top of my list but the fact that their price point was also lower than Caffe Molise was also a plus.  Lastly, I cross-checked both restaurants against a two local magazine’s lists of the best Italian restaurants and read their reviews.  Both of the ones I chose were on the list so I felt that I could not go wrong with either option.

What I realize about the consumer decision making process is that internet search results can significantly impact how a restaurant is discovered.  Local news pieces can supplement that online search, but the initial restaurants that show up have a distinct benefit.  I also realize that ratings can have a huge impact on a new consumer, who might have little else on which to base a decision.  Lastly, I think that restaurants should do more to differentiate themselves upfront.  For example, fresh, authentic ingredients are important to me, but it was very hard to find a restaurant that advertised that, and I had to search on the menus.  It is possible that Caffe Molise also uses authentic ingredients, but since they did not advertise as such, I did not choose it.  My preferences are driven by my experience in NYC, which might not be the same taste or flavor profile as local people have in Salt Lake, which might also be why Olive Garden got a 4.4 rating.  My conclusion is that differentiation helps with online searching, which is how many people look for restaurants today.

As I did my research on Italian restaurants in Salt Lake City, Utah I narrowed it down to 3 restaurants I found on google that I felt would be perfect for me. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, just a good restaurant with good reviews. I also took in account the looks of the food and restaurant and being able to order. I also made sure to check for reviews that actually talk about if the food actually tasted good.
The three restaurants I picked were caffe Molise, stoneground Italian, and settebello pizza and found info on them through TripAdvisor. Out of all of them, caffe Molise was superior to me. All of these restaurants were in the same price range but the other two just lacked variety. They were also all rated a 4.5 which is fairly high. All of them had some pretty nice pictures and the food looked very presentable. All also had good reviews and people did talk about the food actually being good. Caffe Molise however overall, to me was better considering it had the best variety on the menu with lunch and some dinners under 20$ and the biggest portions according to the reviews and the pictures I saw. Stoneground definitely had very pretty presentations and a nice-looking restaurant but lacked more things on the menu and smaller portions, not to mention it was the most expensive. Settlebello pizza however I do love pizza and it did look appetizing with a nice-looking place. I was definitely looking for something with more things on the menu rather than a majority of pizza and salad.
I felt the whole consumer decision process was definitely longer than I thought, and many factors came into play. If I had to compare my decisions to others, it is that since in this instance I just moved to Salt Lake City I’m going to look for the better places. Someone who’s native to Utah might stick with a place regardless of reviews and more of their personal experience.

Without any knowledge of the demographics of the city of Utah, I tend to follow the same criteria when looking for a new restaurant to visit. I started my search with the keywords best Italian dining restaurant in Salt Lake City Utah. This method narrows the seo down to your specific terms quite significantly. After obtaining the search results, I sorted the list by the number of reviews the restaurant has. Now every customer doesn’t leave a review, however for those that do they want their experience to be known to the public for some reason or another. This is a direct indicator of previous patrons who may have eaten at the establishment, discussing their overall dining experience.  When customers say positive things about the quality of the food, service, and if they will visit the restaurant again, are the 2 settling things I look for at this point. This then will make me look further into the images of restaurant, and just imagine myself eating there.

My next step is to look at the menu of the restaurants that I’ve narrowed my search down to. The menu is very important in my decision-making process because I want to see authentic Italian made food. Is it written in Italian? How many true Italian dishes are listed on the menu? A restaurant that specializes in Italian food should not be making hamburgers, and to some extent, they should have real Italian chefs making the food. I do understand the division of labor, EOE policies, but for this instance I’m looking for a restaurant that feels as close to Italy as possible. Once satisfied with my search so far, I go back to the google to look at the amount of dollar signs that are next to the restaurant’s reviews. This indicates the price of the average dish on the menu. A restaurant with (4) $$$$ signs next to the reviews will tell you that it’s at least $100 per person on average. I prefer quiet intimate dining, with an upscale level of prestige. So, the 4 $$$$ rating is definitely what I’m willing to always pay for.

Now that I’ve chosen the restaurant, I look at the hours of operation. Are they open all day? Do they open after 5pm? A restaurant that is open all day 9am-11pm may be considered a franchise, and that is not what I’m looking for! I want to be able to make a reservation be greeted by the host upon entry, seated by an experienced waiter/waitress, and enjoy a glass of cognac while I wait. These final needs are what will determine my choice of a restaurant.

The restaurant that met my criteria was Valter’s Osteria. This establishment has the quality menu I’m looking for, the private setting, and a tremendous amount of positive reviews from previous customers. The reviews expressed the level of customer service that was delivered, and their food satisfaction level. When I visit Salt Lake City, I will definitely go to this restaurant.