So imagine this: I just made a cross-country move from New York City to Salt Lake City, Utah. Packed my bags, had moving services set up for my furniture to arrive at my new apartment, and said goodbye to New York and got on a plane. I arrived in Utah safely, and although I’m excited I don’t know anyone in the area. I’m tired from the long travel so grocery shopping is out of the question. With nothing in my fridge and feeling hungry, I decide that I’m craving Italian food. Specifically, I would like to get a small pepperoni pizza pie for the night. I have no idea what restaurant to choose, but I would prefer to order from an establishment with good food reviews based on my cravings, and that is also within close proximity to my new apartment. Delivery or pickup doesn’t make a difference to me personally because I’m extremely picky about where I eat and picking a restaurant that suits my standards is very important. This is the first stage of the consumer decision-making process called problem recognition.
Now that I know I would like a pepperoni pizza pie, I start taking the necessary steps. Step one is to do some research online to find a restaurant nearby that I deem (based on customer reviews) to be clean, serve delicious fresh out of the oven pepperoni pizza that isn’t dry, doesn’t have an overly hard crust or isn’t greasy, is within a decent price range for my budget and still has an open delivery window for that day. For my research I utilized search engines like Google, less commonly I use a website like Yelp. I simply typed into Google, “salt lake city utah pepperoni pizza” which provided many results. The first thing I looked at is photos of the food and the establishment to see if it meets my standards. I wanted to buy from a casual setting that looked clean and provided fresh pizza that doesn’t look like it’s drowning in grease. After a few pass the test I looked at customer ratings and reviews. There must be an overwhelming amount of good reviews versus bad reviews or I won’t bother. Customer service is important to me, but not as important as the food being good and clean. Out of over 40 options, I narrowed it down to two pizza restaurants. This is the second stage of the consumer decision-making process called information search.
The first restaurant I picked was Free Wheeler Pizza with a 4.4 rating at 386 reviews and the second restaurant was Villaggio Pizzeria with a 4.6 rating at 668 reviews (and apparently the owner grew up in Little Italy in the Bronx, the borough where I’m also from). This told me that Villaggio was a bit more popular than Free Wheeler but I still had to consider other factors. Both met my expectations for cleanliness and delicious looking pizza in photos, and this was also confirmed by previous customers of both restaurants who left reviews. The size of the pizzas were also large and about the same. The next thing I looked for are the price points and if they offer delivery, pickup or both. Free Wheeler offered both delivery and pickup but Villaggio only offered curbside pickup. The price from Free Wheeler was $14.99 for a 14″ pie ($1.84 extra for additional topping such as pepperoni) bringing the total to $16.83 with free delivery. Villaggio charged $15.50 for a plain 14″ cheese pizza pie ($3.00 extra for pepperoni) bringing the total to $18.50 for pickup. My next thought was about how far away both restaurants were from the apartment, but to be honest I’m willing to travel far if I feel like the food is worth the hype. Both restaurants had varying times they were open depending on the day of the week, with Villaggio having earlier closing times on average. I estimate that I would have still been able to make the delivery window for Free Wheeler and take a bus or Lyft car service to pickup my pizza pie at Villaggio, assuming my car hadn’t arrived to Utah yet and assuming it wasn’t within walking distance. However, that wouldn’t have been cost effective to add extra transport fees. This is the third stage of the consumer decision-making process called evaluation of alternatives.
In the end, based on all the factors taken into consideration including budget, I decided to choose Villaggio Pizzeria for a pepperoni pizza pie. The reason why I choose Villaggio over Free Wheeler Pizza is because I felt Free Wheeler’s pizza was slightly greaser looking, and there were some very slight complaints about customer service. I figured it wouldn’t be so bad, if Villaggio Pizzeria wasn’t within walking distance, that I could take the Utah TRAX bus for $5.00 total ($2.50 both ways) and pick up the pie. In total I would’ve paid $23.50 for a 14″ small pepperoni pizza from Villaggio versus $16.83 at Free Wheeler. Some may say this is highway robbery for the price, but I’m a very picky eater and honestly felt Villaggio’s pizza looked better, so I am willing to pay extra. Plus I’d have the pizza all to myself and hardly eat out so not too bad. My budget was $30.00 (especially since inflation has occurred everywhere and eating at restaurants is getting more expensive) and I would have enough money left over to buy water or juice with my order. I didn’t mind the pricier option because eating out is a rare occasion for me, as well as a luxury. I perceived Villaggio as the better option because it had more glowing reviews and the presentation of the food appealed to me. This was the fourth stage of the consumer decision-making process called purchase.
As a consumer who has never been to Utah, I did not find it difficult to find a restaurant that fits my wants and needs. Both restaurants are not well known or heavily advertised (that I’m aware of) but I feel that anyone who is well versed with technology (a computer) can easily find these restaurants online within two minutes of research. Even if someone didn’t have the same preferences as me, perhaps they were looking for more affordable pizza options in Salt Lake City which is understandable, they would likely go with a less pricier option, especially if they are feeding a family. It really comes down to certain variables like how much you are willing to spend, how many times a week/month do you eat out and how many people are you ordering for. These are the differences in how consumers make decisions, in addition to what they like. I learned that in order for a restaurant (and businesses in general) to maximum their profits and word of mouth, it’s important to offer good service, competitive pricing, high quality food/products, listen to feedback from consumers to give them what they want, and offer as many attractive options as possible to beat other competitors. As a restaurant/business, you have to ensure that your consumers feel happy and satisfied with their purchase, as well as the customer service, and would buy it again and recommend your business to others. This is the final stage in the consumer decision-making process called post-purchase behavior.
