Experience accounting: an accounting system that is relevant for the production of restaurant experiences

Restaurants are clearly part of the experience industry but managers get little information and support from the accounting system in their efforts to create memorable meal experiences for their customers. The objective of this study is to empirically assess how an accounting system can be better aligned with the production of customer experiences. First, total costs are allocated to the production of four major types of experiences in a restaurant: basic food, culinary finesse, atmosphere, and service. This is followed by an analysis of customer evaluations of a meal experience categorised into the same four components. The study is based on empirical accounting data from three restaurants and an explorative study of how their customers evaluate an ideal as well as an actual meal experience they had in that restaurant. Experience evaluations are made in monetary terms, using the contingent valuation method, and the value of an experience can be compared with the cost of producing it. The analysis of the production cost compared with the value created indicate that, on average, the restaurants need to reallocate resources from service and basic food expenses to invest in the interior atmosphere of the restaurant to meet customer expectations.